Jony Ive. Image: Rebecca Naden/Getty Images

Jony Ive, the man who designed the iPod and the iPhone, might already be considered technology royalty amongst geeks.  Now he's an actual British knight. Apple's lead designer, was knighted this morning in London and given the title of Knight Commander of the British Empire. He is now officially Sir Jony Ive.

According to the BBC, Ive was knighted at Buckingham Palace by Princess Anne. Following the ceremony, the princess talked to Ive about her iPad. During the knighting ceremony, Ive was tapped with a sword on each of his shoulders.

Ive was born in Chingford, London and studied industrial design at Northumbria University. In 1992, he joined Apple's design team in Cupertino, California. In 1997, he became the Senior Vice President of Industrial Design. He has been the lead designer of iconic products such as the iPod, iPhone, iPad, iMac, and the MacBook Air.

However, after the ceremony, Ive told the Daily Telegraph that he believes he is doing his most important work right now. "A lot does seem to come back to the fact that what we're working on now feels like the most important and the best work we've done, and so it would be what we're working on right now, which of course I can't tell you about."