A FORMER Hampstead man is now a knight in shining armour on the other side of the world after being honoured for protecting the princesses of Malaysia. Ron Kirby, who lived in Thurlow Road and then Lisburne Road for 30 years before moving to the countrysi
A FORMER Hampstead man is now a knight in shining armour on the other side of the world after being honoured for protecting the princesses of Malaysia.
Ron Kirby, who lived in Thurlow Road and then Lisburne Road for 30 years before moving to the countryside in 2006, was given a Malaysian knighthood - called a Datoship - last week.
He was honoured by the Sultan of Kedah after working as a guardian to Princesses Itan and Soraya while they were studying in Britain.
Mr Kirby said: "I have been greatly honoured by this award as the Sultan told me I am the first Briton to receive the Datoship from the State of Kedah since 1136."
The public relations consultant collected the honour in Malaysia with his wife Carole, a former La Sainte Union teacher.
He already holds an OBE for his contribution to British engineering which makes his full title Sir Ron Kirby OBE DSDK. The couple were well-known in the area before they moved to Dorset in 2006.
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