{"id":313464,"date":"2025-12-13T06:52:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T06:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/313464\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T06:52:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T06:52:21","slug":"prince-william-contacts-kevin-sinfield-amid-calls-for-knighthood-ban-to-be-overturned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/313464\/","title":{"rendered":"Prince William contacts Kevin Sinfield amid calls for knighthood ‘ban’ to be overturned"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kevin Sinfield has been hailed a hero after completing his 7 in 7: Together challenge, with the rugby league legend revealing the Prince of Wales has reached out to him\"KevinSinfield, pictured with Prince William and the late Rob Burrow, has raised over \u00a311 million for charity<\/p>\n

Kevin Sinfield has revealed that Prince William<\/a> sent him a personal message as he powered through his latest punishing fundraising mission, amid mounting calls for the rugby league icon to receive a knighthood.<\/a><\/p>\n

The ex-Leeds Rhinos captain wrapped up his mammoth 7 in 7: Together challenge on Sunday afternoon, having tackled seven ultramarathons of at least 28 miles in seven days spanning the UK and Republic of Ireland. The challenge alone brought in over one million pounds for motor neurone disease (MND) charities<\/a>, pushing the total Sinfield has raised over the years past the \u00a311 million mark.<\/p>\n

Driven by memories of his late friend and former Leeds teammate Rob Burrow, who passed away last year following his MND diagnosis in 2019, Sinfield has pledged to continue putting himself through brutal challenges and raising money until a cure for the disease is found.<\/p>\n

His latest remarkable achievement was praised by the Prince of Wales as he approached the finishing line over the weekend<\/a>, with the heir to the throne posting on X: “Kevin, huge congratulations on nearing the finish of your incredible 7 in 7 challenge! Your commitment to Rob and everyone affected by MND is truly inspiring.<\/p>\n

“Thank you for shining a light on the need for research and support, and for the hope and example you bring. Look after those knees! W.”<\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘He should be Sir Kevin’: Calls to knight Kevin Sinfield as he raises another \u00a31.3m<\/a>READ MORE: Kevin Sinfield ‘driven by strength of teen schoolboy’s family’ during epic MND charity run<\/a><\/p>\n

But Sinfield has now revealed that William went the extra mile in showing his support, having received a private text message from the future king to spur him on.<\/p>\n

“I got a really nice message sent through and then clearly I saw the ones that went out public,” he told SunSport. “I got a personal text message as well, which was lovely and it means a lot to see people believing in us and getting behind us again.<\/p>\n

“It’s a really good thing \u2013 but I’m back in work this afternoon [Monday]. For all of us, that’s the reality of it. I’m back to it today and happy to be.”<\/p>\n

\"PrincePrince William has reached out to Sinfield amid calls for the former rugby league star to be knighted<\/p>\n

It comes after more than 50,000 people signed a petition calling for Sinfield to receive a knighthood in recognition of his extraordinary fundraising work. However, the Leeds legend looks set to be prevented from becoming a knight in the near future, as protocol reportedly dictates that honours cannot be upgraded for three years following their initial award.<\/a><\/p>\n

After receiving an MBE and OBE previously, Sinfield was awarded a CBE in the 2024 New Year<\/a> Honours list, meaning he will likely have to wait another year before he becomes eligible for a knighthood.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, politicians and campaigners have widely urged for these protocols to be waived, with Piers Morgan<\/a>, Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle and Burrow’s father Geoff amongst those publicly backing the honour for Sinfield.<\/p>\n

Following his latest feat on Sunday, Andy Bell, the chairman of Featherstone Lions RFC – where Burrow played as a junior – praised Sinfield, saying: “He should have been knighted by now really. What he has done is quite exceptional.<\/p>\n

“I know that there is a rule that says he cannot be honoured within three years of his last honour. People don’t really know about that rule around here and he would be as good a reason as any to break that rule. The fans already call him Sir Kevin.”<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, independent peer Lord John Mann previously said the current honours protocol should “absolutely be overridden” in Sinfield’s case, adding: “The public acclamation demands it.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kevin Sinfield has been hailed a hero after completing his 7 in 7: Together challenge, with the rugby…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[124607,3900,120,53951,5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-313464","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-kevin-sinfield","9":"tag-motor-neurone-disease","10":"tag-prince-william","11":"tag-rob-burrow","12":"tag-rugby","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}