Sir Elton John awarded major honour by Prince Charles

Sir Elton John has been awarded one of the country’s most prestigious honours in recognition of his outstanding contribution to music and his charity work on AIDS.

At a ceremony at Windsor Castle today (November 10), the Prince of Wales endowed the Order of the Companions of Honour upon Sir Elton. Limited to 65 members (plus the sovereign), the order – often viewed as second only to the Order of Merit – allows him to use the post-nominal letters CH.

Sir Elton was appointed to the order in December 2019, but was only formally awarded the position at today’s investiture ceremony. He joins Sir Paul McCartney among the current companions, as well as the likes of Sir David Attenborough, Dame Judi Dench and Margaret Atwood.

Back in September, he was forced to postpone the UK and European legs of his last-ever tour, ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road’, after sustaining a hip injury in a fall over the summer. He walked with a gold cane at the ceremony, where he was joined by his husband, David Furnish. The delayed shows, which were set to run from October to December of this year, will now take place in the spring and summer of 2023.

The award recognises the 74-year-old’s storied career, which began in 1962 and has seen him sell more than 300 million records. His 32nd studio album, ‘The Lockdown Sessions’, hit number one on the UK album chart in October. When its lead single, his Dua Lipa collaboration ‘Cold Heart’, became his first to top the charts in 16 years two weeks prior, he joined a select number of artists to have had top ten hits across six different decades.

He was knighted in 1998, again for services to music and charity. His Elton John AIDS Foundation has raised has raised over $600 million since it was established in 1992, helping to support HIV-related programmes in 55 countries.