Royal date for rocker Plant
Rock legend Robert Plant played a new venue today when he climbed the stairway to Buckingham Palace for a date with royalty.
The Wolverhampton Wanderers fanatic was honoured by the Prince of Wales when he received a CBE.
Fellow musician Courtney Pine also got a CBE while Royle Family actress Liz Smith was honoured with an MBE.
Former Led Zeppelin frontman Plant, who lives near Kidderminster, has had a successful and diverse solo career since the band split in 1980 following the death of drummer John Bonham.
He appeared in a tribute concert at the O2 arena where Jason Bonham took the role of his late father on the drums.
But he recently refused to join a mooted Led Zeppelin reunion so he could concentrate on his collaboration with American bluegrasssinger Alison Krauss.
Their first album, Raising Sand was released in 2007 and won five Grammy awards, more than he ever did with band Led Zeppelin.
He gained a Grammy lifetime achievement award with Led Zep in 2005 but failed to win one of the prestigious gongs while the group was together from the late 1960s until 1980.
Plant, who is patron of MAS Records, the record label based at Kidderminster College which aims to help talented up-and-coming musicians, still maintains close links to the town.
