Bono knighted; son thinks he's a Jedi

#1

Bono a British knight; Don't call him 'sir'

DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) -- Irish rock star and global humanitarian Bono became a knight of the British empire Thursday -- and joked that his youngest son thought he was about to join the Jedi order instead.

"You have permission to call me anything you want -- except sir, all right? Lord of lords, your demigodness, that'll do," Bono, 46, told reporters after he was crowned a "Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire" in an informal, laugh-filled ceremony in the Dublin home of British Ambassador David Reddaway.

Reddaway paid tribute to Bono's work as a campaigner against poverty and disease in Africa -- but first asked whether Bono was disappointed that becoming a knight no longer involved a sword or kneeling.

"Please, I wasn't expecting you to kneel," Bono said, his hand on the ambassador's shoulder.

Accompanying Bono were his wife, Ali, their four children -- Jordan, 17; Eve, 15; Elijah, 7, and John, 5 -- and two of his U2 bandmates: guitarist The Edge and bassist Adam Clayton, both of whom were English-born and retain British citizenship.

Bono's two boys sat cross-legged on the floor throughout the ceremony. Bono said John was disappointed that his dad was not presented with a Star Wars light saber.

"He thought I was becoming a Jedi," Bono said.

Because he is an Irish citizen, Bono is not entitled to be called "Sir." That honor is reserved for citizens of the United Kingdom or British Commonwealth countries. Ireland left the Commonwealth when it became a republic in 1949.

Bono has been criticized in some Irish nationalist quarters for accepting a British honor at all.

But the Dublin-born singer, whose real name is Paul Hewson, dismissed this as ridiculous, given the unprecedentedly warm relations today between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom.

"I think Great Britain is great," Bono said. "And Irish people support British football teams. And Irish bands sign British record labels. And Irish people speak English.

"And we even have one (Englishman) in our band," Bono said, referring to Clayton, who came to Ireland at age 5 but retains something close to an English accent. The Edge, real name Dave Evans, came to Dublin from London at age 1.

Bono -- who sported lapel pins for two of his previous European government awards, the Legion d'Honneur from France and the Order of Liberty from Portugal -- said such official accolades "really help me get through a few doors I wouldn't get through. And that's the truth; that's the way the world is."

Bono said he originally was not planning anything special for the day he received the knighthood. But he said Monday's surprise power-sharing deal in Northern Ireland between Democratic Unionist leader Ian Paisley and Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams had inspired him to throw a party at his billionaire's-row home in Killiney, south Dublin.

"I wasn't going to have even a bit of a do. I was going to slip in, keep it very quiet," he said. "But when I saw big Ian sitting down there with Gerry Adams I just thought: This is the end of an era but the beginning of a much better one."