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"I am humbled and delighted," said Microsoft chairman Bill Gates in a statement issued yesterday as Queen Elizabeth II conferred an honorary knighthood on him in a private ceremony held at Buckingham Palace. Gates was accompanied by his wife, Melinda Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

According to the U.K. Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the honorary knighthood recognizes Gates' contributions to improving health and reducing poverty in parts of the Commonwealth and elsewhere in the developing world.

"I'm particularly pleased that this honor helps recognize the real heroes our foundation supports to improve health in poor countries. Their incredible work is helping ensure that one day all people - no matter where they are born - will have the same opportunity for a healthy life, and I'm grateful to share this honor with them," Gates said.

Gates also was recognized for his contribution to enterprise, employment, education and the voluntary sector in the United Kingdom, to which Gates responded as follows:

"This honor is particularly poignant given the deep connections Microsoft enjoys with the United Kingdom. Over the past 23 years we have benefited greatly from strong business alliances and the tremendous wealth of talent and creativity of our U.K. employees and researchers. The U.K. was the first country in which Microsoft set up a subsidiary outside the U.S., and our experience in the U.K. has been significant in shaping our international growth. The companies and organizations that we have supported and partnered with since, and their employees, have been an important part of the positive impact technology has had on economic growth and on the lives of people in the U.K. I am proud of this special relationship and the role we have helped to play in the development of the U.K. technology industry."

Microsoft employs nearly 2,000 people in the United Kingdom. The company also supports a strong ecosystem of 17,000 partner businesses that have helped spur technology growth and adaptation in the U.K. economy. In addition, Microsoft Research Cambridge was Microsoft's first research laboratory to be established outside the United States. The lab was set up in July 1997 and today employs 80 world-class researchers.