On this day in 1965, The Beatles received their Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire medals

After their rise to stardom in the early 1960’s, and spending the better part of the last two years drawing major attention to British music around the world, their country rewarded them with one of their highest honours. 

The Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire or MBE was established in 1917 as a way of rewarding gallant non-combat military service, particularly for the thousands that served in the First World War. It was later expanded to military and civil divisions, acknowledging those making contributions to the country in a variety of fields, from science and charity to arts and entertainment. 

The Beatles were notified of their award back in June, when their names appeared on the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. This offended several previous recipients due to the bad reputation of rock and roll music. Some went as far as returning their awards, with one writing that giving the band the honour “made a mockery of everything this country stands for”.

Regardless, the ceremony went ahead and the band arrived on the morning of the the 26th alongside 185 other recipients to meet the Queen. They were quickly instructed on the protocol for meeting the matriarch, which they found both amusing and nerve-wracking. John Lennon later said that they were so nervous they went to a bathroom and smoked marijuana, a claim refuted by George Harrison.

Despite his nerves at the time, Lennon would later return his MBE, alongside a letter protesting “Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against ‘Cold Turkey’ slipping down the charts.” The medal would be lost until 2009, when it was discovered in a vault at St. James Palace. 

On the other hand, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr would go on to move up in the Order, with McCartney being knighted in 1997 and Starr in 2018.