Just a few days after it was reported that he’d suffered a rather nasty cut to his face following an incident involving Princess Beatrice and a sword, Ed Sheeran has made light of his injury at his first live performance in nearly a year.

The 25 year old returned to the stage at a gala to raise funds for the East Anglia Children’s Hospice at the Natural History Museum on Wednesday (November 30th). Addressing the crowd, he joked about the accident when the royal heir was believed to have accidentally cut his face while trying to “knight” James Blunt.

Ed SheeranEd Sheeran performing in December 2015

“This is the first time I've done a show in a year, so please bear with me,” he said in between songs during the 45-minute acoustic set. “It's nice to be back. I've had a whole year off. I went to Japan for about a month and hung out with Japanese people. Got my face cut open, anyone read about that?”

Sheeran, who finally completed a world tour lasting nearly 18 months last December, has been more or less totally silent in 2016, after he announced that he’d be taking a break from social media and would be travelling the world.

More: Ed Sheeran’s face “sliced” by Princess Beatrice as she tries to “knight” James Blunt

The bizarre incident that saw him sustain an inch-long cut on his right cheek happened a few weeks ago at a fancy dress party in Windsor.

Princess Beatrice of York, seventh in line to the throne, had apparently swung the sword over her head without checking to see if anybody was standing behind her, resulting in Sheeran being taken to hospital. He is said to have returned to the party after getting a number of stitches.

“As the night wore on they started talking about honours and apparently James Blunt joked that he would love a knighthood,” a source told The Sun at the weekend.

“Beatrice jokingly said she could arrange it and fetched a ceremonial sword. Beatrice held the sword above him and said ‘arise Sir James’, just like her nan would at the Palace. But she must have misjudged the weight or something and, instead of lightly tapping him on the shoulder, she swung it back, not knowing Ed was standing right behind her.”

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