Prince William says knighting Kevin Sinfield was 'probably the easiest decision anyone's ever had to make'
Prince William told BBC Breakfast on 26 October 2026 that awarding a knighthood to rugby league figure Sir Kevin Sinfield "was probably the easiest decision anyone's ever had to make". He spoke about the accolade in the context of Sinfield’s recent completion of seven ultramarathons in seven days to raise money for Motor Neurone Disease charities after the death of his friend and former team-mate Rob Burrow in 2024.
Sir Kevin Sinfield was made a knight bachelor by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle in October 2026, and William said, "I think frankly he should have been Sir Kevin years ago." The prince described Sinfield’s ability to unite people, saying, "What Kevin does, is he can bind and glue communities together by being that leader. The more Kevs we have in this country the better." William and Catherine visited Wakefield in West Yorkshire last month to observe the ultramarathon challenge and surprised Sinfield as he completed the third of the seven marathons; the prince added, "I don't know how he keeps going, I'm worried about his knees, I'm worried about his hips. The guy is just a machine."
The BBC report noted that Rob Burrow’s MND diagnosis turned a team-mates’ relationship into a public campaign and that Sinfield supported Burrow and his family during the illness, becoming an active fundraiser for the MND community. William commented on Sinfield’s character, saying: "He's a top bloke, really nice guy, good, honest, kind, decent northerner and I love that about Kevin, that there is no ego with him. He is what you get." The prince added, "That lack of ego is really important in a world that everyone wants to show how amazing they all are… Kevin does it very quietly very subtly," explained the prince.
William told BBC Breakfast he wrote to Burrow’s wife Lindsey and their children Macy, Maya and Jackson after Rob’s death, and said, "Everyone grieves differently and every circumstance is different so you need to take your time over it." He added, "It's always better to say something around grief than it is to ignore it." In November last year he officially opened the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease at Seacroft Hospital in Leeds alongside the Burrow family, calling the day "very emotional" and saying, "For Lindsey, Rob and the family to ask me to come up and open the centre was not only very personally rewarding for me but really important that that circle was closed, and I really wanted to honour that."
The prince also paid tribute to other figures involved in MND awareness, praising the work of the late Scottish rugby union player Doddie Weir and acknowledging the long-term support of the Princess Royal, Anne. Speaking about Sinfield personally, William said: "He's a very kind, caring, human being but he's still a lunatic. How he manages all these things I don't know. He's gold dust he really is… if you could bottle it up and sell it, it would be priceless."
The BBC broadcast "Thank You Sir Kev" on Monday 26 October on BBC One at 20:00 and made it available on iPlayer.