Dalai Lama joins Patti Smith on Glastonbury festival stage

One of the most talked-about appearances at Britain’s Glastonbury music festival wasn’t a singer or rocker — it was the Dalai Lama.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader joined singer Patti Smith on stage on Sunday, where she led the crowd to sing Happy Birthday to mark his 80th birthday next week. She then presented him with a birthday cake.

The spiritual leader, who appeared at the festival for the first time, praised Smith’s white hair, voice and “physical action”, saying she was “very beautiful, very forceful”.

He earlier spoke on a small platform about the need for a moral education at schools and universities. The Nobel Peace Prize winner also praised Glastonbury as a “festival of people, not politicians and governments”.

He earlier dismissed as a “usual response” criticism from the Chinese foreign affairs ministry, which said it was firmly opposed to any organisation that gave a platform to his “anti-China separatist activities”.