THE BEATLES MEET THE QUEEN
We all kind of liked the Queen. It’s an age thing. We were kids when she was crowned, so to us she was like a glamorous film star.
– Paul McCartney
On 12 June 1965, the news broke that all four Beatles were to be awarded The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. It baffled them, but they were happy to accept. Some previous recipients of the MBE were not pleased with this decision, particularly those from the military and the House of Lords, and sent theirs back to Buckingham Palace in protest.
Nervous and unsure, The Beatles arrived at the palace for their investiture. When Paul and Ringo walked up to the Queen, she asked them both how long the band had been together. Without missing a beat, they broke into the first line of the old music hall song ‘My Old Dutch’: ‘We’ve been together now for forty years, and it don’t seem a day too much.’ The Queen’s thoughts on their wit have not been recorded.
Later, John claimed that to calm their nerves, they’d smoked a joint in one of the palace’s bathrooms, but the others quickly refuted it, saying they’d only smoked cigarettes.
In 1969, John, who had always been the most uncomfortable with accepting the honour and said that Epstein persuaded him, returned his medal with a letter saying:
I am returning this MBE in protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts.
With love,
John Lennon of Bag
The Beatles show off their MBEs. Alamy