Sir Elton John to receive high honour from Prince Charles for music career and Aids work

Sir Elton John will receive the honour from Prince Charles (Picture: Rob Grabowski/Invision/AP, File)

Sir Elton John is set to receive the Order of the Companions of Honour from Prince Charles in recognition of his career in music and work for Aids.

The legendary entertainer, 74, will receive the honour from the Prince of Wales during an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle. 

The Order of the Companions of Honour is one of the highest a person can receive and was established in 1917 by George V in recognition of service of national importance.

It is sometimes regarded as the junior honour to the Order of Merit and it is made up of the sovereign, plus no more than 65 members, who may use the letters CH after their names.

Sir Elton will receive it in recognition of his services to music as well as the work he has done with the Elton John Aids Foundation. 

The Rocketman star set up the foundation 1992 to lobby for action on HIV and Aids, which still claims hundreds of thousands of lives per year, and to encourage people to get tested. 

Sir Elton has dedicated his life to music and charity work (Picture: Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage)

Sir Elton was knighted for services to music and charity in 1998, and has sold more than 300 million records worldwide during his career.

Past recipients of the Order of the Companions of Honour include broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, actress Dame Judi Dench, Beatles star Sir Paul McCartney and cook Delia Smith.

Sir Elton is currently on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour – The Final Tour, which was announced in 2018 as his last tour, but is still ongoing due to cancellations caused by the coronavirus pandemic. 

The Order of the Companions of Honour is one of the highest a person can receive (Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)

While his final tour may be emotional, theres’s one song he can’t wait to see the back of – Crocodile Rock.

Discussing some of his more famous tunes, Elton said: ‘I’m lucky to have so many great songs to play every night. But there is a point in time where you think, “I don’t really want to play this anymore.”

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‘There are things like Original Sin or (Gotta Get A) Meal Ticket that I haven’t really played before – not enough anyway. But if I have to go back and play Crocodile Rock again, it’s like, “I’m gonna kill myself.”

‘So, after I’ve finished this tour, I don’t want to play some of these songs any more. I’d like to do something like Kate Bush, where I can do a show and play some of these songs that are deep cuts.’

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