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Queen knights 100-year-old veteran who raised millions for NHS during pandemic

Queen knights 100-year-old veteran who raised millions for NHS during pandemic
Queen knights 100-year-old veteran who raised millions for NHS during pandemic
Posted at 1:23 PM, Jul 17, 2020
and last updated 2020-07-17 16:31:17-04

LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II has made a knight of the 100-year-old World War II veteran who captivated the British public by walking 100 laps of his garden and raising some 33 million pounds ($40 million) for the National Health Service.

The queen tapped the blade of a sword once owned by her father on the shoulders of Tom Moore on Friday to turn the hero of a nation into a knight of the realm.

Moore steadied himself against his now-famous walker and wheeled himself close enough to stand in front of Elizabeth but skipped the normal practice of taking a knee before the monarch.

Before being knighted, CNN reports that Moore said, "If I kneel down, I'll never get up again."

He revealed afterward that he and the 94-year-old queen spoke about ages.