Ringo Starr, the legendary drummer of The Beatles, was knighted on Tuesday in Buckingham Palace, London in recognition of his services to music. Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge, performed the knighthood.
After the ceremony, Ringo spoke to the BBC and said: “It means a lot actually. It means recognition for the things we’ve done. I was really pleased to accept this.”
A week before the ceremony, Ringo allegedly met former bandmate Sir Paul McCartney for dinner in LA. McCartney told Ringo what he could expect after receiving the honor 21 years ago. The two laughed about how they ended up in Buckingham Palace as “Sir Paul and Sir Richard”. McCartney gave Starr the simple advice “Keep Smiling.”
The rumor was also brought up that 53 years ago when the band was in the palace they snuck a marijuana joint in the men’s toilet to calm their nerves. Starr set the record straight saying:
“We never smoked marijuana at the investiture,” he said. “What happened was we were waiting to go through, standing in an enormous line with hundreds of people, and we were so nervous that we went to the toilet. And in there we smoked a cigarette – we were all smokers in those days.”
Starr isn’t sure how he will use the honor but knows how he will be using the medal. The drummer joked: “I’ll be wearing it at breakfast.”
