She shies away from the spotlight these days, but even Kate Bush couldn’t resist an invitation to Windsor Castle yesterday.
The star made a rare public appearance to receive a CBE from the Queen for services to music.
Now 54, the singer behind hits such as Wuthering Heights and Babooshka added to her mystique by insisting she would not pose for photographs and leaving the castle by a different entrance to the rest of the recipients so she could avoid journalists.
Thank you Ma'am: Kate Bush receives CBE from The Queen
She did, however, agree to official pictures being released of her receiving her award.Afterwards, her agent issued a statement in which she said she felt ‘incredibly thrilled with the honour which I share with my family, friends and fellow musicians and everyone who has been such an important part of it all’.
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Dressed in black palazzo-style trousers with a loose-fitting, gold-trimmed tunic-style top, Bush clearly cut a more portly figure than her lithe teenage self.
Pride of place: The Queen pins the medal to the music star, although she has said she would like to put it on her Christmas tree
Her
mane of jet-black hair was, however, instantly recognisable as she
stepped up to collect her gong in the castle’s Waterloo Chamber after
being introduced as Katherine Bush.She smiled broadly and chatted animatedly to the Queen for a few moments before walking to a side room – and was not seen again.
Typically, however, she continued in eccentric fashion: ‘Now I’ve got something really special to put on top of the Christmas tree.’
Bush’s musical talent was spotted while she was still at school and after coming to the attention of Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, she landed a deal with EMI at the age of just 16.
Her debut single Wuthering Heights - released at her insistence in 1978 - was a global sensation. The following year she went out on her one and only public tour.
Royal Chat: Bush spoke to the Monarch for several minutes before disappearing from the ceremony
Her
1985 album The Hounds Of Love is often seen as a career high and
included one of her best known songs, Running Up That Hill. But from that point on, her releases were sporadic and when she released eighth album Aerial in 2005, it was her first for 12 years.
Much of that intervening period had been devoted to bringing up her now teenage son Albert Jack- known as Bertie -with husband, guitarist Danny McIntosh, as well as perfecting her songs from a studio built in the grounds of her Berkshire mansion.
She insists, however, that she is not a recluse and simply just wants to retain her privacy.
In one rare interview she said: ‘I suppose I do think I go out of my way to be a very normal person and I just find it frustrating that people think that I'm some kind of weirdo reclusive that never comes out into the world.’
Eccentric: Kate on stage in 1980