The Raspberry Pi has won near-universal praise since its introduction in 2012. The single-board computer is tiny, affordable and flexible enough to be used in a huge range of applications, well beyond the basic programming and hobbyist work for which it was initially designed.
The Pi's circle of admirers apparently includes the British monarchy, as well, as the team visited Buckingham Palace in the same week that backer and trustee David Braben was officially honored for his "services to the UK Computer and Video Games Industry."
According to the Raspberry Pi Foundation's official blog, the group was invited as part of the UK Tech Reception last week, and met the Queen and Prince William at the event. Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, has been a supporter of the Raspberry Pi project ever since visiting the foundation's offices in October 2013, and was also in attendance last week.
In addition, one of the project's biggest backers, David Braben, was made an Officer of the British Empire, or OBE, in the latest Queen's Birthday List, which rewards various services to the UK with different types of honorary title.
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Braben, who was co-developer of the groundbreaking Elite space simulator in the early 1980s and has remained one of the most respected figures in video gaming since, is a co-founder of the Raspberry Pi Foundation and was a key factor in the early development of the project. He's not the only British techie to be so honored, either -- Apple designer Jonathan Ive was made a knight in 2012, as was Tim Berners-Lee in 2004.