In 1997, Queen Elizabeth II knighted Paul McCartney. He became the first of two Beatles to receive a knighthood and has described the experience as an honor. Still, he admitted that he felt a bit embarrassed about it. He shared why he winced at some people’s reaction to the news.

Paul McCartney said getting knighted was a bit embarrassing

When McCartney was knighted in 1997, he said he found people’s reactions to it embarrassing. He was already famous — and had been for decades — but people he knew began questioning if they should treat him differently.

“At first, the whole thing was a bit embarrassing, to be honest,” he told the LA Times in 2006. “Even the people on my farm went, ‘Do we have to call you Sir Paul?’” 

Ultimately, though, he said most people he knew were happy for him.

“The great thing for me was that in sniffing around once it was announced, people seemed to like it,” he said. “That incredible warmth was the best thing about the honor for me.”

Paul McCartney shared his experience of being knighted

McCartney said that when he first heard Queen Elizabeth II would knight him, he had to keep the news a secret. It thrilled him, though.

“It’s amazing because the first thing you hear, you got a letter through the post, saying ‘You’re gonna be knighted, but don’t tell anyone,’” McCartney told Wired. “So, that’s a pretty buzzy letter to get. It’s very exciting. You have to be a bit of a royalist. You have to think that the queen is cool. Some people actually turn it down.”

He recounted the ceremony.

“The guy comes in, the equerry, some kind of military guy, and explains what you have to do, how you have to approach the queen. You have to kind of walk in and then look at her, and then walk straight ahead, and then just bow your head a little bit,” McCartney elaborated. “The queen takes a sword. At this point, you have to be very trusty. She can do anything with that sword. One shoulder, the other shoulder, and then she says, ‘Rise, Sir Paul McCartney.’”

Another Beatle received the same honor

Ringo Starr is the second Beatle to receive knighthood. Before it happened, he wrote the song “Elizabeth Reigns” about the royal family.

“They’re just like everyone else, the royal family,” he told Goldmine in 2003. “I wanted to get in the line, ‘We’ll point the finger no more ’cause all of our sins are as big as the Windsors,’ you know, the divorces, and the madness and the kids. So that’s what it was all about, and the track turned out really cool.”

He joked that the song lost him any chance at knighthood.

“And in the end I say, ‘There goes the knighthood’ [laughs],” he said. “So I feel you’ll only ever see Sir Paul McCartney. [laughs].”

Fifteen years later, however, Prince William knighted him. Starr said it was an honor.

“It means a lot actually,” Starr said, per BBC. “It means recognition for the things we’ve done. I was really pleased to accept this.”