07 December 2017
Newsdesk
Ed Sheeran was officially made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Prince Charles on Thursday (07Dec17).
The 26-year-old was named in Queen Elizabeth II's birthday honours list in June last year (16) but waited until now to pick up his medal at an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London.
After accepting the award, given to Ed for services to music, he spoke to reporters and said receiving the honour was especially meaningful as it was the anniversary of his grandfather's death.
He told The Press Association, "Do you know what I love, my grandfather was a massive royalist, he had all the commemorative plates and stuff, and he died on this day four years ago, so it's actually quite a nice full circle thing, I guess he'd be pretty proud."
Asked about what had made him a star worthy of royal recognition, Ed added, "I don't have a vast amount of talent compared to other people, I think talent is like 30 per cent of it and persistence, drive and self-belief are the other ones, which I guess are all the same thing."
The Thinking Out Loud singer also revealed he'd be prepared to perform at the wedding of Charles' son, Prince Harry, and actress Meghan Markle, as the couple recently announced their engagement.
The investiture ceremony went rather better than Ed's last brush with royalty too, as he was left needing stitches after an incident at a party held at the home of Charles' younger brother Prince Andrew in November 2016.
Initial reports stated that Andrew's daughter Princess Beatrice cut the popstar's face with a sword while attempting to perform a mock ceremony granting fellow singer-songwriter James Blunt a knighthood.
James later said that partygoers had made the crazy story up to spare Ed's blushes, telling Britain's Shortlist magazine, "Ed was drunk, messing around, and he cut himself. We made a fancy story up; people fell for it. It was very embarrassing."
