Some of you may remember I wrote a few months ago of the incredible Captain Tom Moore. Coronavirus 19 – Social Distancing with 99 year old Captain Tom Moore and his multi-million pound fundraiser.
The now 100 year old former soldier ended up raising £33million which must be such a unique achievement. He had already been given an honorary promotion to the rank of Major but it was decided that he should be Knighted by none other than The Queen herself.
The Queen has been self-isolating herself given that she is 94 and most other investitures have been postponed but the ceremony for Sir Tom Moore was understandably given a special exemption.
That morning Sir Tom tweeted that he was “raring to go”, for what he said would be a “very special day” for him, and thanked everyone for their well wishes.
The unprecedented personal ceremony was staged in Windsor Castle’s quadrangle on Friday, with Sir Tom’s daughter, Hannah Ingram-Moore, son-in-law Colin Ingram, grandson Benjie and granddaughter Georgia watching.
Her Majesty used a sword that belonged to her father, George VI, for the ceremony. She spent around five minutes chatting to Sir Tom and his family, and personally thanked him, saying: “Thank you so much, an amazing amount of money you raised.”
The monarch was also overheard telling the former Army captain that “one hundred is a great age”.
The talk then turned to national events and the coronavirus, with the Queen, who has been sheltering with Prince Philip, asking: “Have you been shut up – been isolating?”
Royal commentator Dickie Arbiter described the monarch’s decision to give Sir Tom his knighthood in an individual ceremony as “very significant”.
He said: “The Queen has always said she ‘needs to be seen to be believed’ so today she will be seen – the last time we actually saw her physically was in June in the alternative Trooping the Colour at Windsor Castle.”
Arise Sir Tom
Of course on this occasion Sir Tom was not expected to kneel for his investiture but you get the feeling that if he had been asked to then he would find a way back up to his feet again. It’s hard to think of a more deserving Knight.
For some related stories you can read about Sir Loin steak and So you want to have your own duel?
They covered this story here in Canada and the one of the news stations had a wonderful interview with Sir Major Tom Moore and his daughter. A family friend who is about to turn 100 was so inspired by Sir Tom that he is doing a similar thing. He is walking around the property of his retirement home every day (about i kilometre) until his birthday on the 10th of August. He’s always been a ‘tree hugger’ so he is raising money for Forests Ontario. When he’s done he will have walked for 71 days.
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Oh, excellent, rarely has a knighthood been so richly deserved and thoroughly earned. We owe those old boys such a lot.
🙂
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