Prince William hosted an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle on Tuesday, presenting honours to 66 people as Luke Littler collected his MBE for services to sport.
Littler, 19, received the medal that had been announced in the King’s Birthday Honours last June, a recognition for a player who has transformed darts in little more than a year and now sits atop the world rankings. He made history when he won the world championship at 17 years and 347 days old, becoming the youngest player ever to lift the title.
After the ceremony, Littler said the honour was “amazing and unexpected” and added that he was grateful for it, saying he had never thought such recognition would be possible and that it was a proud moment. The award lands at a point when he is no longer just the sport’s breakout name. He and Luke Humphries have been credited with bringing darts to new audiences, a shift that has changed the size and profile of the game’s biggest stages.
The Windsor Castle event also brought together figures from music, drama and sport. Cynthia Erivo received an MBE for services to music and drama, while Matt Lucas was made an OBE for contributions to drama. Ella Toone and Sadia Kabeya were also among those honoured.
Erivo’s route to the castle stretched back years. She completed her acting degree at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2010 and later said in December that receiving the recognition was an honour she could never have thought would happen. Her MBE followed inclusion in the New Year Honours, as did Lucas’s OBE, underscoring the breadth of the list presented at Windsor.
For Littler, the ceremony marked the point where a teenage sporting sensation became a royal honouree as well. He is still only 19, but the combination of a world title, a first-place ranking and now an MBE has turned him into one of the most recognisable figures in British sport. What happens next is simpler: he returns to the oche carrying a title that follows him far beyond it.
