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Wednesday, 5 July, 2000, 12:21 GMT 13:21 UK
Sir Sean's pride at knighthood
![]() Waving to the crowd after receiving his knighthood
Sean Connery has described the ceremony at which he was knighted by the Queen in Edinburgh as "one of the proudest days of my life".
Connery, made famous as 007 master spy James Bond, was honoured for services to film drama at an investitute he specifically requested take place in his home city.
He wore Highland dress and was accompanied by his wife Micheline and brother Neil at the ceremony in the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
The Queen, in a blue dress, shook hands with Sir Sean and they chatted for several moments before he took his seat while the ceremony continued. Overseas home Later, he said the Queen had asked how often he came to Scotland and said he had not been nervous about their meeting. "I think it's a great honour for Scotland. There's only one day of the Honours system up here," he said.
"It's one of the proudest days of my life."
Connery's support for the Scottish National Party and an independent Scotland, is reported to have resulted in him being denied a knighthood in the 1997 and 1998 honours lists. The 69-year-old actor donates £4,800 a month to party coffers. The then Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar was said to have vetoed Connery's knighthood in December 1997. 'Smack' controversy At the time, the veteran actor said he was "deeply disappointed but strangely not angry or greatly surprised". There was further controversy when it was reported that Connery had said at the beginning of his career that it was "okay to smack a woman".
Mr Dewar, recuperating at home after heart surgery, said on Wednesday: "I'm always delighted when Scots from whichever walk of life are honoured."
"I think he sees it as a recognition of his efforts. "I don't think he has changed very much as a person since he left Fountainbridge all those years ago." Scotland tattoos Miss Moneypenny, who played Bond's boss's secretary, was never able to secure the spy's affections in the films but clearly had an impact on the real-life actress, Lois Maxwell.
"He was gorgeous. He was big and handsome and defiant and dangerous and moody and just simply gorgeous. He still is," she said.
At the opening of the Scottish Parliament, Connery received a rapturous reception and declared the day the "most important of his life". He turned up in full Highland dress to the delight of the crowds outside the Edinburgh parliament building. 'Diamonds' fee donated Since the early 1970s his love for Scotland has manifested itself in projects such as the Scottish International Education Trust, an organisation dedicated to helping young Scots obtain an education. He donated his £1m fee from Diamonds Are Forever to the trust.
His move into acting came after his time in the navy and after working as a labourer and a lifeguard.
As a child, Connery lived in a four-storey tenement in Edinburgh's Fountainbridge and once worked as a milkman on a horse-drawn float. Former trade union official, the late Alex Kitson, recalled: "He always had a smile and a joke for you. He had the height, the physique and of course if you lived in that part of Edinburgh you had to be able to handle yourself." He went on to work for a French polishing firm, where Jean Pollock has memories of him as a handsome young man. "I always remember when I came downstairs from my work and he was standing at the bottom of the stairs and I thought, oh, who's he?"
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