Despite knee surgery and being sidelined for a month, Shaun Goater has lots to smile about these days.

Next Wednesday the Bermudian will put aside his kit and boots for a formal suit as he heads to Buckingham Palace to receive his MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) honour.

It will be his first trip to the home of royalty and the 33-year-old is understandably thrilled.

“I am excited and nervous as you would expect. I've got my suit all ready - my morning suit. I'm looking forward to that very much.”

Asked if he would follow the lead of England soccer skipper David Beckham last week and don a top hat, he chuckled and replied: “No.”

As for whether he will be able to walk properly by then - having had surgery on a troublesome right knee just on Monday - he is confident he will be striding smartly.

“That's eight days' time and I'm not too bad now so I would imagine I should be okay to receive the MBE,” Goater told The Royal Gazette yesterday.

The Reading striker - whose date with Her Majesty was rescheduled from late November because of playing commitments - was among awardees in the Queen's annual birthday honours list in June. He and fellow Bermudian pro David Bascome received MBEs for their contribution to the sport and the community.

The two established the annual Pro Soccer Clinic for young footballers here 12 years ago and this year Goater held his inaugural Grassroots Soccer Festival.

Goater will be accompanied by his wife, Anita, his mother Lynette, and long-time football pal and retired Bermudian pro Kyle Lightbourne.

In addition to all this, Goater recently got a unique opportunity to share in England Rugby World Cup glory.

The day after they conquered the hosts Down Under to wrest the Webb Ellis Trophy, one of England's rugby warriors shared the limelight with one of his own sporting heroes - The Goat.

England centre, Will Greenwood, is a big fan of Manchester City Football Club which Goater represented with distinction before moving to Reading this season.

“He supported me at Man City and I sent him and the England squad a fax to wish them all the best in the final. When he found out I had sent this fax he wanted to contact me,” said Goater.

“Radio Five did a live interview linking us up the day after they won the World Cup. We spoke to each other and all the listeners could hear us.”

What stunned Goater was that despite the euphoria of England's 20-17 defeat of Australia all Greenwood was interested in discussing was how great the Bermudian had been at Man City.

“In the interview he actually kept talking about my achievements at Man City. He was like ‘Goater you know all these things you've done for Man City and remember this game and that game'.

“He was mentioning a lot of things I did. I couldn't believe he had just won the World Cup and he wanted to talk about me and Man City. It was amazing.

“I was thinking ‘You've just won the World Cup. What are you on about?',” recalled the veteran footballer, still sounding astounded.

Goater and the 31-year-old Greenwood, who plays for Harlequins in England plan to meet in person some time soon.