Ed Sheeran has a big ol' gash on his face because Princess Beatrice cut him with a sword.

It’s hard to cut through the news cycle these days, but this story has all the makings of a modern epic.

It involves a princess, a wannabe knight, a sword and, er, Ed Sheeran. It also involves a trip to the emergency room.

The 25-year-old pop singer has been sporting quite the gash on his face this month after his cheek was reportedly cut open by Princess Beatrice, 28, while she was pretending to give James Bunt a knighthood at a party.

The princess was apparently “inconsolable” after she misjudged the weight of her ceremonial sword after giving the 42-year-old an over the top tap on the shoulder and swung the thing into Sheeran’s face, resulting in a hospital visit and stitches, according to UK tabloid The Sun.

The newspaper illustrated this incident thus.

The incident happened following a dinner of 20 or so guests, including her mum Sarah “Fergie” Ferguson and Sheeran’s girlfriend Cherry Seaborn, during which Blunt joked he would love a knighthood.

“Beatrice jokingly said she could arrange it and fetched a ceremonial sword,” an unnamed source told the paper, who added the gag was very much in keeping with the tone of the whole party.

“James played along with the prank and got down on one knee as he would if he were at Buckingham Palace being honoured by The Queen.

“Beatrice, who was in great form, 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.”

Sheeran is fine, obviously, and while he quit social media just short of a year ago has been spotted out and about by a number of his fans who began speclating over the cause of the cut.

Anyway, it’s a happy ending and a reminder even princesses can still screw up royally after a few drinks.

Feature image: Twitter