He was honoured for his career, which spans over five decades.
Sir Elton John has received the highest honour possible in this year’s New Year’s Honours list. The singer has been appointed to the Order of the Companion of Honour to honour his career, which spans over five decades.
Posting on Twitter, he said: “I’m humbled and honoured to be among such highly esteemed company in receiving the Companion of Honour.
“2019 has turned out to be a truly wonderful year for me and I feel extraordinarily blessed.”
The Companion of Honour is the highest honour that can be bestowed, and celebrates the best of Britain’s notable public figures in the arts, science and political worlds. The honour can only be held by 64 different people, excluding the monarch, at any one time.
Earlier this year, a biopic about Elton John, Rocketman, was released. The film held nothing back when it explored Sir Elton’s sexuality, something which led to scenes being cut in several countries.
Elsewhere in this year’s honours, Carl Austin-Behan, the former Lord Mayor of Manchester and current LGBT advisor to the Greater Manchester Mayor, received an OBE for services to charity, LGBTQ+ equality and the community in Greater Manchester.
Carl told the Manchester Evening News: “As a 16-year-old boy growing up in Crumpsall, people would have been said it was unattainable. It just goes to prove that anybody can achieve, no matter their background.”
Catherine Sandra Tomlin, a sustainable business and development manager at the Environment Agency was awarded an MBE for services to the LGBT community.
And David Hastings, the inspector and chair of the LGBT+ Network for the Care Quality Commission was awarded a BEM for services to the LGBT+ community.