Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis to receive knighthood

Sir Michael Eavis founded Glastonbury Festival

Chloe Harcombe & PA Media

BBC News, West of England

The founder of Glastonbury Festival has received a knighthood for services to music and charity.

Michael Eavis hosted the first festival on Worthy Farm in Somerset in 1970.

It is the largest greenfield festival in the world, drawing in about 200,000 people every year as well as the biggest musical talent and celebrity guests.

The 88-year-old dairy farmer received the honour from the Princess Royal in an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle.

Image source, PA

Sir Michael was knighted by the Princess Royal at Windsor Castle

In an interview with the official Glastonbury website, Sir Michael said his daughter Emily had brought him the official letter about his knighthood.

He said: "I was really surprised to see it, actually. Why did they choose me, I wonder?

"What can I say, really? I've done quite a lot of stuff in my life and I've always been fairly sure that I was doing the right thing."

Greenpeace, Oxfam and WaterAid all receive donations from the festival and the event aims to raise around £2m per year, which also helps hundreds of local causes.

In 2023, the festival donated more than £3.7m to a range of charitable causes and campaigns including homelessness organisation Centrepoint, food redistributors Fareshare, several refugee charities and mental health charity Mind.