The Beatles’ Ringo Starr has told of his “shock” at receiving a knighthood at Buckingham Palace.
Described as the “most overdue knighthood of all time” by 
musical writer Sir Tim Rice, the honour was presented by the Duke of Cambridge.
But Starr, 77, who received the honour under his real name, Sir Richard Starkey, for services to music, insisted it had come as a complete surprise.
“It means a lot. I’m sort of shocked in a way. I was sitting in LA and the letter came and I was so surprised.
“But I think it’s an honour,” said the drummer after the ceremony on Tuesday.
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“A lot of people I don’t know wrote letters saying ‘congratulations, it’s about time,’ but for me the time is when it arrives, and that’s now.
“I just never thought of it. I just got on with my life and here we are. As I said, I’m just really surprised.”Starr, real name Richard Starkey, collected the award on Tuesday morning
Bandmate Sir Paul McCartney urged the Queen: “Look, love it’s about time.” Macca was knighted in 1997 but Ringo, 77, had given up all hope before a letter arrived from the Palace a few weeks ago. The star, real name Richard Henry Starkey, got his first drum kit as a Christmas present aged 17.
Just five years later he was a part of the world’s biggest rock’n’roll band in the Beatles. Despite being only the second of the Fab Four to receive the honour, his former bandmate John Lennon famously returned his MBE to the Queen.
While Paul McCartney accepted his in 2004 and George Harrison, also awarded an MBE in 1965, died of cancer in 2001.
Ringo’s last visit to the Palace was in 1965 when all the Fab Four were awarded the MBE.
A source said: ‘Sadly, two of the Beatles, John Lennon and George Harrison, are no longer here to be honoured in a similar way. ‘But giving Ringo a knighthood will go some way towards recognising the enormous contribution The Beatles made to popular music.’
A source added: “He’ll feel ten feet tall when he goes back.
Lennon gave back his medal in 1969 in protest at the Vietnam War . Ringo said: “I was never sending mine back it meant lot"
