A hard day’s knight: Sir Ringo finally gets his gong
HIS fellow Beatle became Sir Paul McCartney two decades ago – but Ringo Starr said he didn’t mind the wait after finally becoming a knight himself.
The drummer, 77, accepted the honour from Prince William at Buckingham Palace yesterday, 53 years after the Fab Four were made MBEs. ‘It means a lot,’ he said. ‘I’m sort of shocked in a way. I was sitting in LA and the letter came and I was so surprised.
‘A lot of people I don’t know wrote letters saying “congratulations, it’s about time” but for me the time is when it arrives, and that’s now. I just never thought of it. I just got on with my life and here we are.’
The Beatles’ history with the honours system has not always been smooth. George Harrison turned down an OBE in 2000, three years after Sir Paul was given the more prestigious knighthood, while John Lennon returned his MBE in protest at the Vietnam War. Despite this, Sir Ringo spoke fondly of collecting his earlier honour with his bandmates in 1965.
‘The four of us came here and it was a thrill then. It was crazy because we were just four lads who played music and then suddenly we’re at the Palace,’ said Sir Ringo, who was accompanied yesterday by his wife of 37 years, Barbara Bach. The pop legend was knighted under his real name Richard Starkey, having been named in the New Year honours list for services to music.
He said he had already discussed his new status with Sir Paul. ‘I had dinner with him last week and we were both actually laughing about where we came from ... we’ve ended up in the Palace and it’s now Sir Paul and Sir Richard. We never even thought of that,’ he said.