Oscar-winning British director Steve McQueen has been knighted. He will now be known in the U.K. as Sir Steve McQueen.
McQueen, who won an Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe for his film “12 Years a Slave,” was invested with the knighthood on Tuesday at Windsor Castle. With Queen Elizabeth II growing increasingly frail, her daughter Princess Anne (also known as the Princess Royal) stepped in to do the honors, tapping the director on both shoulders with a ceremonial sword.
🎖️Congratulations Sir Steve McQueen!
The Oscar, @BAFTA and Golden Globe winning director today received his Knighthood from The Princess Royal during an Investiture Ceremony at Windsor Castle. pic.twitter.com/vJwZI3aCQy
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) March 15, 2022
The famed director reportedly attended the ceremony with his mother, Mary.
McQueen, who became the first Black filmmaker to win an Oscar for best picture with “12 Years a Slave,” is also known for his feature “Shame,” starring Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan which won a BAFTA for outstanding British film, and his recent series “Small Axe,” an anthology of films set in the 1960s and ’80s charting the lives of West Indian immigrants in London. It starred Letitia Wright and John Boyega.
His next project, a feature called “Blitz,” is set to go into production this year with New Regency. McQueen’s production company Lammas Park will produce alongside Working Title Films.
Although details of the upcoming project are currently scant, according to the Daily Mail, McQueen discussed the upcoming feature with Princess Anne during the ceremony: “‘Blitz’ is the one we’re working on, which we hopefully start some time in the autumn. It’s about London, starting in 1940, this is what we’re attempting to do and we’ll see how it pans out.”
