Tuesday, October 26, 1965
The Beatles receive their MBEs
Last updated on January 1, 2026
Tuesday, October 26, 1965
Last updated on January 1, 2026
Location: Buckingham Palace • London • UK
Previous article October 23 - Mid November 1965 • Designing the "Rubber Soul" cover
Session Oct 24, 1965 • Recording “I’m Looking Through You”
Article Oct 26, 1965 • The Beatles receive their MBEs
Interview Oct 26, 1965 • Press Conference following the MBE Awards
Next article Oct 31, 1965 • Tickets for The Beatles' UK tour are on sale
It’s a keen pad… Cyril Lord could make a fortune in this place, say the Beatles
The Beatles went to Buckingham Palace this morning to see the Queen. The occasion was the presentation of their MBEs. But the confrontation was inevitable, for the Beatles are the Queen’s most famous subjects.
The meeting took place on her home ground. But the Beatles provided their own homely touches in the shape of many hundreds of fans, who, in their usual anoraks and school blazers and white socks, crowded the gates of the Palace uttering their usual little squeaky cries.
“I have never seen those little people before,” said a man to be decorated, marvelling. Rock ’n’ roll, after 10 years of adult disfavour, had become respectable.
The Beatles liked the Queen very much indeed. To each of them in turn she said: “It’s a great pleasure to give you this.” And she pinned on their medals. She asked John Lennon if they had been working hard. And he said they had just had a holiday. She asked Paul McCartney how long they had been together. And he said: “Many a long year.”
“Forty years,” said Ringo—at which the Queen laughed. Then she asked Ringo if he’d started it all. “No,” Ringo said. “They started it. I was the last to join. I’m just the little one.”
The Queen shook hands, the boys bowed their heads, took four steps backwards, bowed again, and departed.
They had arrived half an hour earlier in John Lennon’s black Rolls-Royce. They wore dark suits and black ties. They were briefed separately by a man whose name they think was Major Penn. They described him thus: “In drainpipes, about 6ft. 6in. He was great, though. We were in this room with an old-fashioned piano and every time he said ‘Mr. Ringo Starr’ he laughed. He had told us that when we got to a sailor who was standing near the Queen to stop; and then, on the cue ‘Starr’ to walk forward, turn left, bow in front of the Queen, and take four steps up close so she wouldn’t fall off the platform thingy. And then he said she would probably shake hands, and when she did to take four steps back and bow and leave.”
Which is exactly what they did.
They liked Buckingham Palace. “A keen pad,” said Paul. They were impressed by the number of carpets. “Cyril Lord could make a fortune in this place,” Ringo said.
John liked the staff. “I thought they’d be dukes and cousins,” he said. “But they were all just fellers.”
They liked the other people being decorated, and they signed millions of autographs.
“They didn’t mind us getting decorated at all,” George said. “They were all from Liverpool and Scotland, and there was a great little doctor from the Outer Hebrides who said he’d be murdered if he went back home without an autograph.“
The occasion was a solemn one—and it went without a hitch. It took place in the ballroom at Buckingham Palace, a huge cream-and-gold room with a throne at one end and an organ at the other. It was filled with kith and kin of those to be decorated—the favourite hat seeming to be aquamarine velvet.
No Beatle relatives were present. “They get in the way,” they said. “Just sitting round like bricks in hats and things.”
The band of the Coldstream Guards played daintily and discreetly—Bitter Sweet, My Fair Lady and Ave Maria. Not a single snatch of She Loves You or anything like that.
At 10.30 Brian Epstein arrived and was spotted by a lady who had the advantage of lorgnettes. “That’s Brian Epstein,” she said. “Brian Bernstein?” said an American lady with great interest. Mr. Epstein sat down and gazed about him.
At 10.50 the Beefeaters arrived. And at 11 o’clock, the Queen. She wore a yellow-gold dress and looked very attractive.
She started with the knights. The Beatles were presented all together, after many middle-aged ladies, at 11.47. The atmosphere heightened considerably.
“There they are,” said all the relatives. They appeared, looking small among all the soldiers and sailors and, for that matter, extremely long-haired. They marched in jauntily, gazing about them with interest at the chandeliers, the tapestries and at the Queen.
They were announced as Mr. George Harrison, Mr. John Lennon, Mr. Paul McCartney and Mr. Ringo Starr. She talked to them longer than she did to anybody else. I think they were most impressed by the Queen. Lighting up grateful cigarettes the minute they got into the fresh air, they said they felt sorry for her having to work so hard.
“She’s been pinning those things on people for weeks,” Paul said.
“She was the most friendly of all,” George said. “Sort of motherly and smiling to put us at our ease. You felt that definitely.”
They hopped into the air-conditioned Rolls-Royce en route for the Saville Theatre for a Press conference. They waved their medals out of the windows; a small girl flung the car in return. The Beatles hung it out again. George leaned back and announced: “It’s all experience, definitely.”
From Evening Standard – October 26, 1965
QUEEN LAUGHS WITH THE BEATLES – She was just like a mum to us, says Paul – PALACE SIEGE AS FANS STORM GATES
With a mass of screaming teenagers clinging to the railings outside Buckingham Palace, the Beatles received their M.B.E’s from the Queen this morning.
And later, as they emerged from the Palace, the newly-decorated pop-stars gave it as their unanimous opinion that the Queen was “Great.”
“She was so very sweet and put us all completely at our ease,” they added.
At a Press conference later, Paul said: “The Queen was like a mum to us.“
In the white and gold stateroom where the famous four received the silver crosses with the rose pink and grey striped ribbon, Ringo made the Queen laugh when in reply to her question “How long have you been together ?” he said “Forty years.”
Thousands of screaming fans besieged the Palace gates as the Beatles left after the investiture. As the car was driven through the crowd, John Lennon waved his M.B.E. for the fans to see. Mounted police held the teenagers back from the car as it turned from the Palace gates and went down Constitution Hill.
No Beatle relatives were among the audience of more than 350 family and friends watching the bestowal of honours. But the group’s manager. Mr. Brian Epstein, watched the investiture.
Dozens of policemen had linked arms to hold back a surging crowd from the main entrance as taxis and limousines arrived for the investiture. V.I.P.s stared pop-eved from their ears as the teenagers – mostly girls – swarmed up the Palace railings and shrieked out the names of the pop group A solemn-faced veteran Palace policeman said “I’ve never seen anything like it at an investiture before.“
The Beatles’ Rolls Royce swept through the main gate before the fans realised their idols had arrived. Shrieks went up as the car disappeared into the courtyard.
After the Lord Chamberlain had called the Beatles’ names, they walked forward together, stopped in front of the Queen, bowed and then advanced to where she stood on the dais. The timing was immaculate. The Queen, wearing a short-sleeved frock of dull gold silk with a diamond brooch at the left shoulder, smiled at them all and then placed the insignia in turn on the lapels of the modern style, thin, waisted suits of George, John, Paul and Ringo.
To George, the Queen said “It is nice to give you this.“
And then turning to John, she asked, “Have you been working hard lately?“
John replied: “Well, we’ve just had a holiday, ma’am.“
To Paul, the Queen also said, as she had to John: “It is a pleasure to give you this.” and then asked, “how long have you been together now?“
The Queen joined in the laughter when Paul replied, “Oh, for many years,” and Ringo added, “Forty years.“
To Ringo, the Queen said “Are you the one that started it all?“
Ringo replied: “I was the last to join — I am the little fellow.”
The Queen smilingly shook hands with each of them and the four, in perfect timing, stepped back, bowed once more, and walked from the ballroom to an adjoining gallery, where their insigna was placed in small leather boxes for them.
Asked afterwards how they felt, the Beatles said: “Yes, we were nervous. I think everybody feels nervous at a time like this.“
And Ringo added with a laugh, “We marched in like soldiers – of course we were drilled by the guards beforehand.“
This was probably a reference to the explanation of the procedure which had been given in the picture gallerv to all recipients before the investiture by Lieut.-Colonel Eric Penn, of Grenadier Guards, who is comp-troller to the Lord Chamberlain.
As the Beatles came into the grand entrance to leave they were asked for autographs by some of the palace footmen and in the inner quadrangle the staff waved from the upper windows as the Beatles had a brief camera session with Press photographers.
Then the Beatles hurried into their Rolls Royce with its darkened glass windows, and were driven through the forecourt to screams from fans outside the railings — the like of which has probably never been heard outside the Palace before today.
The pipes of the Scots Guards and the band of the Grenadier Guards had to compete with chanted Beatle songs as they marched into the Palace yard for the Changing of the Guard.
From Liverpool Echo – October 26, 1965
Just like a mum, say the Beatles
THE Queen was lovely. This was the verdict of Paul McCartney yesterday after the Beatles received their MBEs at Buckingham Palace. She was “very friendly,” he added—“just like a mum to us really.”
The Beatles agreed that they were quickly put at ease at the ceremony by the Queen’s welcoming smile.
“We had been drilled by some big Guardsman as to what to do,” said John Lennon.
All four shook hands with the Queen, who told them it was a pleasure to present them with their MBEs. The Queen asked the group how long they had been together. She laughed as Ringo Starr said: “Forty years.”
George Harrison said later he thought that the Palace was “a good pad for swinging parties.”
The Beatles’ only guest at the investiture was their manager, Brian Epstein.
The Beatle wives, Cynthia Lennon and Maureen Starr, were left behind because the boys did not know how “rough” it would be to break through the fans outside the Palace.
From Daily Mirror – October 27, 1965
It was a VERY near thing – the day the Beatles’ army almost took over the Palace
IT was frenzied… It was fabulous… It was the day the Beatles nearly took over Buckingham Palace, with a wild, screaming army of fans. Young Prince Andrew, peering out from a high window, had never seen a Royal Investiture to touch it.
There never has been one like it. And the staider sightseers among yesterday’s 1,000-strong crowd outside the Palace for Beatles’ MBE Day hoped there never would be again. Teenaged girls clambered up the massive wrought iron gates of the Palace.
Down below, 300 swarming fans struggled with police and threatened to storm the courtyard. As two Guards bands played regimental music, shouts of “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” shattered the decorum. Policemen lost their helmets. Girls lost their shoes.
The Queen’s flag was flying from the masthead, but from the scenes outside, the Beatles could have been in command of the Palace.
From Daily Mirror – October 27, 1965
BEATLES HONOURS WEEK – “I’m a Queen fan!” — GEORGE
IT’S honours week for the Beatles! On Tuesday John, Paul, George and Ringo received their MBEs from the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
Today (Thursday) John and Paul receive Silver Quills from Disc Weekly—marking quarter-millions-plus sales of their compositions “Ticket To Ride” and “Help!”
After the MBE investiture on Tuesday, George told Disc Weekly: “It was a much better do than I expected. Everyone at the Palace was very nice and any bad feeling we expected—or feared—from other people getting medals wasn’t there. We were all glad about that.”
“The Queen was great—I’m a big Queen fan now. It was obvious she was doing her best to make everyone feel relaxed and not nervous. When she gave me my medal she said: ‘It’s a pleasure to present you with this.’ I said: ‘Thank you.’ The Queen said to John: ‘Have you been working hard lately?’ He forgot to tell her we’d been making an LP and said: ‘No, we’ve been on holiday.’ She said to Paul: ‘How long have you been together?’ and Paul said: ‘Many years—40 years.’
“When she said to Ringo: ‘Did you start the group?’ he replied: ‘No—they did out there.’ He was pointing towards the crowds and he said: ‘I was the last one to join,’” George added.
From Disc Weekly – October 30, 1965
The Beatles Diary Volume 1: The Beatles Years
With greatly expanded text, this is the most revealing and frank personal 30-year chronicle of the group ever written. Insider Barry Miles covers the Beatles story from childhood to the break-up of the group.
If we modestly consider the Paul McCartney Project to be the premier online resource for all things Paul McCartney, it is undeniable that The Beatles Bible stands as the definitive online site dedicated to the Beatles. While there is some overlap in content between the two sites, they differ significantly in their approach.
Notice any inaccuracies on this page? Have additional insights or ideas for new content? Or just want to share your thoughts? We value your feedback! Please use the form below to get in touch with us.
