On This Day, October 26, 1965…
The Beatles received quite an honor at Buckingham Palace when Queen Elizabeth II gave the group — Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr — medals recognizing them as members of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
In 1969, Lennon returned his MBE in protest over “Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing,” “our support of America in Vietnam” and the fact that his single “Cold Turkey” was “slipping down the charts.”
In later years, two members of The Beatles went on to be knighted by the queen for their service to music: McCartney in 1997 and Starr in 2018.
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