Glastonbury founder, Sir Michael Eavis, receives knighthood
He has been knighted at Windsor Castle today (23 April)
Today, the founder of Glastonbury Festival has been knighted - after being mentioned by the King on his New Year's Honours list.
The 88-year-old dairy farmer has been honoured with a knighthood for services for music and charity - more than five decades after holding his first event now in the infamous Somerset countryside - and was today given the medal by the Princess Royal at Windsor Castle.
The festival started all the way back in 1970 and has since grown to become the largest greenfield festival in the world.
Annually, more than 200,000 festivalgoers descend on Worthy Farm every year - alongside the great and the good of the music world.
In 2023, some of the celebs who were spotted descending on the Somerset countryside include Stormzy, Paul McCartney, Sean Dyche, Louis Theroux - and even Princess Beatrice.
Speaking to the official Glastonbury website earlier this year, when the New Year Honours List was announced, he said: "When I got the CBE in 2007, I went and told my mother, who was 95 at the time. And she just said, “Oh that’s a pity, I thought you would have got a K"!
"I have had a good life and managed to keep the Festival going for 53 years. It’s all gone so well in the end. It took 25 years for the public to catch on. We started with 500 people in 1970 and we’ve finished up with millions wanting to come every year now. That’s quite extraordinary isn’t it?
"I think William might do the ceremony. He’s made a few mentions of wanting to come to the Festival. So I’ll probably take a couple of tickets in my pocket!"
More than £3.7 million was donated to a range of charities and charitable causes in 2023 through Glastonbury Festival - whilst Sir Michael Eavis himself is still active in the running of the event.
More here: Glastonbury co-founder made Knight in New Years Honours
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