Prince William has said that Sir Kevin Sinfield should have been knighted years ago as he expressed his admiration for the rugby league legend whose charity work has raised millions to help those with a rare disease.
The Prince of Wales knighted Sir Kevin at Windsor Castle after he was awarded the honour for his services to charity and to rugby league.
Speaking on a special BBC Breakfast programme about Sir Kevin, the heir to the throne said awarding the honour was ”probably the easiest decision anyone has ever had to make”.
William, who has met the rugby star many times and who surprised him on one of his charity endeavours to show his support, added that ”he should have been Sir Kevin years ago”.
And the Prince continued ”What Kevin does, is he can bind and glue communities together by being that leader. The more Kevs we have in this country the better.”
Sir Kevin Sinfield has now raised over £13 million to support charities helping those with Motor Neurone Disease (MND). He was inspired to start after his good friend, Rob Burrow, was diagnosed with MND. Throughout his illness, Kevin Sinfield was at Rob Burrow’s side and the two were awarded CBEs for their charity work. Rob Burrow CBE died in 2024.
Since his death, Sir Kevin has continued Rob Burrow’s work and has become a talisman for those living with MND, many of whom have turned out to support him as he takes on extreme sports challenges to raise funds and awareness for MND.
In the programme, the new knight said he preferred to be known as Kev and spoke movingly of his friendship with Rob Burrow and of the work going on around the country to raise awareness of MND which had been less well supported prior to the campaigning the two of them had undertaken.
In the programme, Prince William also spoke of Sir Kevin’s kindness and dedication, before adding ”he’s gold dust, he really is”.
Thank you, Sir Kev is shown on BBC One on October 26 at 8pm and is also available to view on the BBC iPlayer.
