Arise Sir Lars Ulrich! Metallica drummer knighted in his native Denmark
Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has been knighted in his home country of Denmark.
According to a report on the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, Lars was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Dannebrog back on Friday 26th May by Margrethe II, the Queen of Denmark.
Other famous recipients of the prestigious honour include Hannibal actor Mads Mikkelsen and Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen.
The Order of Dannebrog recognises faithful servants of the modern Danish state for meritorious civil or military service, for a particular contribution to the arts, sciences or business life or for those working for Danish interests.
Born in Gentofte, Denmark in December 1963, Lars discovered his love for rock music when he attended a Deep Purple concert aged nine at Copenhagen stadium.
A prodigious tennis player as a child, having been wowed by the Deep Purple show, Lars bought ‘Fireball’ the following day and it ignited his passion for hard rock and metal.
As a result of his new found love for music, he ditched his tennis racket and was bought his first drum kit by his grandmother in the late seventies.
Founding Metallica in 1981 after emigrating to Los Angeles, Lars has retained his strong ties with his home country and just this February took part in Danish TV charity fundraiser Danmarks Indsamling 2017, raising money for child poverty, where he manned the phone lines to collect money from callers.
> Lars and the wonderful Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen appearing right now on Danmarks Insamling, a TV charity show going out on DR1 here in Copenhagen. Money made via this telethon event goes to a coalition of 12 charities , focusing on their work with children worldwide. A GREAT cause! #dkindsamling #metallica > > A post shared by Metallica (@metallica) on Feb 4, 2017 at 11:46am PST
You can see Lars Ulrich’s boyhood home in Denmark alongside the childhood homes of Axl Rose, Mick Jagger, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, Kurt Cobain and more in our photo gallery below.