--- title: Prince William Knights Ringo Starr Interview description: Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr officially received a knighthood from Prince William — and he already has a plan for his new medal. canonical: https://time.com/5207582/ringo-starr-knighthood/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-20T19:38:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:51:30.494Z og:title: Newly Knighted Ringo Starr Has a Perfect Plan for His Medal og:description: Prince William performed the honor in an investiture ceremony for the Beatle og:url: https://time.com/5207582/ringo-starr-knighthood/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a750d2a673d39f2/69892b6c4ee26271433113fd/ringo-starr-medal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2500 og:image:height: 1406 og:image:alt: TOPSHOT-BRITAIN-ROYALS-HONOUR og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Newly Knighted Ringo Starr Has a Perfect Plan for His Medal twitter:description: Prince William performed the honor in an investiture ceremony for the Beatle twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a750d2a673d39f2/69892b6c4ee26271433113fd/ringo-starr-medal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Prince William Just Knighted Ringo Starr and He Has the Perfect Plan for His New Medal > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Mar 20, 2018 7:38 PM UTC  Richard Starkey, better knonwn as Ringo Starr, poses with his medal after being appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire at an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London on March 20, 2018. Richard Starkey, better knonwn as Ringo Starr, poses with his medal after being appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire at an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London on March 20, 2018. JOHN STILLWELL—AFP/Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Mar 20, 2018 7:38 PM UTC Beatles drummer [Ringo Starr](http://time.com/5082447/ringo-starr-barry-gibb-knighted/) had a busy day: he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in a ceremony at London’s Buckingham Palace. The honor was bestowed upon the famous musician, real name Richard Starkey, by none other than [expecting father](http://time.com/5156818/kate-middleton-royal-baby-due-date/) [Prince William](http://time.com/5198019/prince-george-police-dream-job/) in an event called an “investiture.” (The knighthood was announced [back in December.](http://time.com/5082447/ringo-starr-barry-gibb-knighted/) The grounds? [“Services to music.”](https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment%5Fdata/file/671148/NY18%5FQueens%5FList%5F-%5FFinal%5F.pdf)) This is not the first time [Ringo has had a brush with royalty](http://www.instyle.com/news/ringo-starr-knighted-prince-william); the whole Beatles crew were introduced to the Queen back in 1965, when they received all became Members of the British Order, called an MBE. Starr, who is one of two remaining members of the Beatles, was beat to the knighthood punch by bandmate Paul McCartney, who received the title “[Sir” in 1997](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/paul-mccartney-knighted). They are the only two Beatles to be knighted; [George Harrison](http://time.com/3018265/george-harrison-memorial-tree-beetles/) and [John Lennon](http://time.com/4595435/john-lennon-death-strawberry-fields-dakota/) passed away in 2001 and 1980, respectively. But just because the honor is coming late doesn’t mean Ringo isn’t appreciating it fully. When [asked by the BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-43472196) about his plans for the medal that goes along with the title, Ringo had the best answer. “I’ll be wearing it at breakfast,” he joked to reporters. As for whether he’ll want people to call him “Sir Ringo” from now on? He hasn’t come to a decision yet on that front — but he fully expects respect. “I expect _you_ to use it,” he told a reporter. > [](https://twitter.com/ringostarrmusic/status/976089488882532352) > [](https://twitter.com/ringostarrmusic/status/976092158297083904) Yep, just another day in the life filled with peace, love and royal accolades. > [](https://twitter.com/RoyalFamily/status/976088790002479105) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5207582/ringo-starr-knighthood/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5207582/ringo-starr-knighthood/"},"headline":"Prince William Just Knighted Ringo Starr and He Has the Perfect Plan for His New Medal","datePublished":"2018-03-20T19:38:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:51:30.494Z","description":"Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr officially received a knighthood from Prince William — and he already has a plan for his new medal.","url":"https://time.com/5207582/ringo-starr-knighthood/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Music","royals"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a750d2a673d39f2/69892b6c4ee26271433113fd/ringo-starr-medal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a750d2a673d39f2/69892b6c4ee26271433113fd/ringo-starr-medal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TOPSHOT-BRITAIN-ROYALS-HONOUR","caption":"TOPSHOT-BRITAIN-ROYALS-HONOUR","creditText":"JOHN STILLWELL—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5207582/ringo-starr-knighthood/","name":"Prince William Just Knighted Ringo Starr and He Has the Perfect Plan for His New Medal"}}]}] ```