Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi is among 67 people receiving honours from the Princess Royal at a Windsor Castle investiture ceremony on Wednesday.
He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the King’s Birthday Honours earlier this year for services to music and charity.
Dubbed ‘The Godfather of Heavy Metal’, the 78-year-old previously described the accolade as "unbelievable".
He co-founded Black Sabbath during the 1960s alongside Bill Ward, Terence "Geezer" Butler and the late Ozzy Osbourne.
Paying tribute to his "dear friend" Osbourne in July on the first anniversary of his death, Iommi added: "I still can’t believe that he’s not with us."
Osbourne died from a reported heart attack following prolonged health difficulties, including surgeries after a fall and a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.
Born in Birmingham in 1948, Iommi almost missed out on music after losing the tips of two right-hand fingers in an industrial accident, leaving him warned he might never play again.
But he met drummer Ward in 1968, recruiting bassist Butler and vocalist Osbourne to launch Birmingham-based heavy blues rock group Earth Blues Company.
Renamed Black Sabbath, the band sold millions of records over the next decade with anthems such as Paranoid and War Pigs.
Through various line-up changes, Black Sabbath secured two UK number one albums, four Grammy Awards, and entry into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
Across his career, Iommi collaborated with artists including Dave Grohl, Ian Astbury, Peter Steele and Robbie Williams.
He has also championed humanitarian causes, supporting Macmillan Cancer Support after being diagnosed with lymphoma in 2012 before entering remission in 2016.
Earlier this year, he raised £53,000 for a new haematology and oncology centre at the Birmingham-based Heartlands Hospital Charity by auctioning one of his guitars.
A passionate advocate for animal welfare, Iommi is a patron for the Vale Wildlife Hospital and Wythall Animal Sanctuary.
Also receiving an honour on Wednesday is art curator Ekow Eshun, appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to the arts.
The 58-year-old chairs the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group, overseeing public artworks displayed on Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth in central London.
In 1997, Eshun became the first black editor of a major UK magazine at Arena Magazine, later serving as the first black director of a major arts institution at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts from 2005 to 2010.
In recent years, he has curated exhibitions for London’s Southbank Centre and National Portrait Gallery focusing on black artists and the black figure in contemporary art.
