Status Quo describe OBE as career high

Status Quo described being made OBEs as the most "exceptional moment" in the group's history, according to a report.

Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt were given the honour by the Queen during a Buckingham Palace investiture ceremony.

Rossi, 60, said it was undoubtedly a career high, even surpassing the group's Live Aid performance, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Status Quo were recognised in Her Majesty's New Year's Honours List for their services to music and charity alongside Patick Stewart, who was made a knight for his contribution to drama.

''This is the most exceptional moment of our careers. There's no two ways about it," said Rossi.

''Live Aid was contrastingly very different and important and there was a great euphoric feeling on the day but nothing can make you forget this.

''It's part of the establishment which is everything that's been around us since we were little and it's something to aspire to. Whether you're a royalist or not you cannot take away what the Queen and the Royal Family do for us.''

Status Quo released their first hit single 'Pictures Of Matchstick Men' in 1968 and have gone on to become one of the UK's best-loved groups.