by Queen guitarist Brian May has been knighted in a New Year Honours list that also celebrates the Lionesses’ victory at Euro 2022.
England captain Leah Williamson is made an OBE and teammates Lucy Bronze, Beth Mead and Ellen White become MBEs.
There is a knighthood for artist Grayson Perry too and a damehood for Olympic heptathlete Denise Lewis.
Lissie Harper is made an MBE following her campaign for tougher sentences for the killers of emergency workers.
Her husband, PC Andrew Harper, died on duty in Berkshire in August 2019.
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Among the famous faces on the lists are comedian Frank Skinner, who is made an MBE for services to entertainment. He said he had not yet told his family because he thought it may have been “some sort of administrative error”.
Merseyside-born This Is England actor Stephen Graham becomes an OBE for services to drama, while David Harewood receives an OBE for services to drama and charity.
Dame Mary Quant, 92 – the fashion designer widely credited with popularising the mini skirt in the 1960s – joins the elite Companions of Honour.
And Virginia McKenna, the 91-year-old actress and co-founder of the Born Free Foundation, is made a dame for services to wildlife conservation and to wild animal welfare.
Senior diplomats who led the UK’s response to the Ukraine war are recognised, with damehoods for Melinda Simmons, ambassador in Kyiv, and Deborah Bronnert, ambassador in Moscow.
Louenna Hood, a nanny from Cambridgeshire who raised more than £190,000 and delivered essentials for people fleeing Ukraine, receives a British Empire Medal.
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The 2023 New Year Honours are the first to be signed off by King Charles.
There are 1,107 recipients on the main list, announced by the Cabinet Office – 50% of whom are women.
There are another 141 recipients on the list announced by the Foreign Office recognising overseas contributions, as well as separate lists for police, fire and ambulance personnel and military service.
‘Pretty amazing’
Sir Brian May – who famously played God Save The Queen on the roof of Buckingham Palace during the Golden Jubilee – gets his title just months after his band helped launch the late monarch’s Platinum Jubilee concert this summer.
The musician, astrophysicist and animal welfare advocate is knighted for services to music and charity, after more than 50 years in one of Britain’s most popular rock bands.
Sir Brian was previously appointed a CBE in 2005, while Queen drummer Roger Taylor was made an OBE in the 2020 New Year Honours.
On being recognised for his campaigning work, Sir Brian told BBC News: “This is a kind of licence, a kind of commission to carry on doing what I’m doing, and it gives me a bit more power to my elbow. So I’m very happy about that.”
The four Lionesses are recognised after the July triumph at Wembley that brought the first piece of major silverware in their history, and the first for a senior England team since the men’s 1966 World Cup success.
Their Dutch head coach Sarina Wiegman was made an honorary CBE in the Foreign Office list.
England defender Lucy Bronze said her MBE was “special and pretty amazing”, adding: “It’s something for my family that will make them very proud”.
But the decision not to recognise every member of the England women’s football squad has been questioned by observers after some previous lists honoured all members of triumphant national teams.
Sir Hugh Robertson, chairman of the honours sports committee, said: “What we’ve tried to do is stick to the principle of the honours system which is to recognise excellence and to recognise extraordinary contributions.”
He said otherwise “you get people who’ve done five minutes on the pitch… get an award”.
Denise Lewis, 50, who won a gold medal at the Sydney Games in 2000, and is now president of Commonwealth Games England, told BBC News she was “extremely proud” of her damehood, saying it was “right up there” with her career achievements.
She said: “Sport has taught me some of the most amazing values and given me the most amazing values. And so. those are the things I try to impart when I’m representing my sport and the sporting community.”
