All the years James Galway has spent telling people he is a flute player and not a flautist have been wasted.
After this morning's announcement that he is to be knighted, Ireland's most famous classical musician said: "I suppose I'll have to speak the queen's English now."
Mr (for the moment) Galway is no stranger to Buckingham Palace, where he often gives recitals for charity. So much part of the furniture is he that Queen Elizabeth calls him Jimmy.
Galway said he took the news of his honour lying down. "I was taking a nap in a hotel room in Tokyo when the British embassy rang me and this guy started telling me I had been given a knighthood. He must have thought I was being very calm but I was so tired I literally thought I was dreaming," he told The Irish Times.
Born in working-class Protestant Belfast in 1939, the man with 15 gold flutes "and five platinum ones" has come a long way. He left Ireland when he was 16 with a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London.
By the age of 29 Galway was principal flautist of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra but it was as a crossover artist that he made his name and fortune.
His earliest rendition of Annie's Song may have been relegated to the world's elevators but Galway's career has gone from strength to strength, with more than 50 best-selling albums and performances for four US presidents.
In 1977, Galway went through a life-changing experience: "Somebody ran over me with a product of the Yamaha corporation - and it wasn't a flute."
Sharing the billing with Galway will be Prof George Bain, president and vice-chancellor of Queen's University, who is being honoured for services to higher education and to the low pay commission, and Mr Joe Pilling, permanent under-secretary at the Northern Ireland Office. Others honoured include Mr John Thompson, director general of the Northern Ireland Court Service, who will be made a Companion of the most Honourable order of Bath (CB). Assistant RUC Chief Constable Chris Albinston, serving in Kosovo, will receive an OBE.