Alan Bates has arrived at Windsor Castle with his wife to receive his knighthood for exposing the Horizon IT scandal.
The Post Office hero arrived at the castle in Berkshire with Lady Suzanne Sercombe for the ceremony on Tuesday and was awarded the honour by Princess Anne.
Sir Alan was the figurehead in the decades-long campaign to have his colleagues’ names cleared and win compensation after hundreds were wrongly convicted of fraud while the Post Office covered up problems with the real culprit – its new IT system.
His status was further enhanced this year when depicted by Toby Jones in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which was watched by millions.
He had previously rejected an OBE while Post Office boss Paula Vennells still retained her CBE after her role in what many have called the biggest miscarriage of justice in UK history.
But upon hearing that he had been stripped of the honour, he accepted the knighthood in June and said was he was ‘honoured’ by the award.
He had insisted his knighthood for services to justice was on behalf of the hundreds of subpostmasters affected by the scandal and the ‘horrendous things that have happened’.
Sir Alan had previously laughed off claims he was a hero, but said he had received hundreds of messages of support, adding: ‘A lot of people do seem to think I should receive some sort of recognition for the work that I’ve done for them or on their behalf.’
In October 2000, Sir Alan and Lady Suzanne bought a post office and haberdashery in Llandudno, Wales, in 1998.
The Horizon IT system was installed in October 2000 and within two months financial discrepancies were showing up.
Sir Alan insisted they were not his fault and refused to pay the shortfall. His contract was terminated in November 2003 and, while he was not prosecuted, he lost the £65,000 he had invested in the business.
The first sign of his transformation to feted campaigner began in October 2003, when he wrote to his local newspaper saying he would never give up his fight against the Post Office.
In 2009, Computer Weekly broke the story of the Post Office scandal, featuring Sir Alan and six other victims, and he founded the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance.
Just 20 people turned up to the group’s first meeting, but it soon mushroomed into a high-profile campaign that ultimately led to group litigation against the shamed Post Office, and the ongoing public inquiry.