Ed Sheeran jokes about 'sword' scar at first show of the year

Ed Sheeran joked about the injury he sustained after he was accidentally cut on the face by a sword wielded by Britain's Princess Beatrice.

The Thinking Out Loud singer was taken to hospital after a prank at a dinner party with the princess and her mother Sarah Ferguson at the Royal Lodge Windsor in November (16) went horribly wrong.

Beatrice was attempting to 'knight' You're Beautiful singer James Blunt with a ceremonial sword and as she hoisted the sword over her shoulder, she was unaware Ed was standing right behind her and caught him on his cheek, Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper reported.

Ed was left with a deep gash just below the eye, which was apparent as he performed his first show of 2016 on Wednesday night (30Nov16) at a gala dinner to raise funds for the Nook Appeal, a new children's hospice in Norfolk, England.

"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?" the Lego House hitmaker reportedly joked about his scar, according to the Mirror.

The neat scar looked well healed, but was prominent on the star's face weeks after the incident which reportedly left Beatrice inconsolable.

For his return to the spotlight, Ed, who is an ambassador for East Anglia Children's Hospices (EACH), performed a 40-minute acoustic set at the exclusive charity event in front of 350 guests.

He told the audience he was "enormously proud and excited" to be there and asked them to be patient with him as it had been a while since he had performed live.

"This is the first time I've done a show in a year, so please bear with me," the singer smiled as he entertained guests at the Nook Appeal charity event which raised £262,000 ($329,000) from the generous attendees by the end of the night.