LONDON, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Buckingham Palace announced the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger is to be knighted by Queen Elizabeth II on Dec. 10, the BBC reported Sunday.
It was announced 18 months ago that Jagger would be knighted for his services to music, but the Rolling Stones' 40th anniversary world tour, called Forty Licks, got in the way of the royal ceremony.
Jagger had expressed surprise when the knighthood was announced.
Once considered the scourge of English society, Jagger said he had not been waiting to be placed on the honors' list like Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Cliff Richard who have already been knighted.
"Noel Coward didn't get a knighthood until he was 80. Tom Stoppard's older than me -- he didn't get a knighthood until recently," he said. "I didn't expect to get one. I just didn't."
The 116-venue Forty Licks tour grossed nearly $300 million with about 3.4 million people attending, according to Billboard magazine.
