Rock legend Eric Clapton set aside his “rebellious streak” today (Nov. 3) to become a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, or CBE. The 59-year-old singer-songwriter described the honor — conferred by Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, during a ceremony at London’s Buckingham Palace — as the “icing on the cake” of his career.
But Clapton conceded that he would have found it hard to accept the honor, with all its establishment connections, earlier in his life.
“I had a rebellious streak in me,” he told reporters after the ceremony. “As a kid I would not have been able to accept this. I was very immature about the way I looked at that. I was against the establishment. Now I have grown up, I really think it is an important thing to be able to set an example of some kind.”
Clapton was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, or OBE, in 1994. As previously reported, he has two new releases about to hit stores via Duck/Reprise: a DVD of his all-star summer Crossroads Guitar Festival (Nov. 9) and the CD/DVD “Sessions for Robert J.,” featuring rehearsals for and live clips from his summer tour (Dec. 7).
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