Actor David Suchet has finally received his knighthood.,,,
He bows to the King of Kings, and now actor David Suchet has knelt before two future kings.
The man most famous for playing detective Hercule Poirot received his long-delayed knighthood, which he was due to receive in December, before testing positive for Covid.
The rearranged Windsor Castle ceremony was conducted by the Duke of Cambridge, meaning the 76-year-old has been honoured by Prince Charles and Prince William, plus the Queen.
Suchet said: “My OBE was with Her Majesty at Buckingham Palace, my CBE was Prince Charles. And now my knighthood is with the Duke of Cambridge, so I’ve had Her Majesty the Queen and two future kings, which is very humbling indeed and totally unexpected.”
The knighthood is in recognition of a career spanning more than 50 years, during which he acted in all 70 Agatha Christie stories featuring the moustachioed Belgian sleuth. Along with that role from 1989 to 2013, Suchet also starred in Oppenheimer, Blott on the Landscape, Reilly, Ace of Spies and many other TV shows, alongside numerous notable stage roles.
One of his favourite jobs was inspired by his Christian faith, which led him to record a reading of the whole New International Version of the Bible. It took 250 hours, and presented unique challenges.
“You can’t just read a chapter,” said Suchet. “You’ve got to do a Bible study of the whole thing – who wrote it, why, what they were saying, when. If you read the Bible with a very open mind, a non-judging mind, God’s Word speaks to you.”
The actor knows that well, after turning to Christ through reading the Bible, starting with Paul’s letter to the Romans.
He recalls: “I said to myself, ‘I’m going to read this letter as though it’s to me, and it’s just come through my letter box.’
“Up to chapter seven, I didn’t really understand anything, but when I hit chapter eight something started to click. And from 12 to the end I read a worldview that I have been searching for all my life.
“I thought, ‘Wow! If I or people could actually behave in a way that I’ve just read, then this is the most fantastic thing in the world!’
“If you read this book carefully and quietly and with an open mind, it will affect you.”
Suchet had to conduct an in-depth analysis worthy of Poirot on the Bible before committing his life to Christ in 2007 – 21 years after that first Romans reading.
“Unlike Paul, I wasn’t immediately converted,” says the actor, who struggled to believe in the resurrection.
After years of investigation, though, he’s emerged with a faith stronger for those decades of doubt.
“Now I have a more mature, independent stand; a voice that can be listened to and heard.”
