Former Sunderland stars Beth Mead and Lucy Bronze receive MBEs
The pair - both Lionesses - were given the awards by Prince William
Lionesses Beth Mead and Lucy Bronze have picked up MBEs at Windsor Castle.
The pair, who won the 2022 European Championship with England, and both began their careers at Sunderland Ladies, have become MBEs for their services to football.
Northumberland born Lucy Bronze said: “To be recognised for everything I’ve done throughout my career was a little bit surreal. It’s just something so different from football and something harder to compute.
“An MBE is obviously a huge honour and very special … My grandma probably doesn’t understand many of the awards I’ve won in football but she adored the Queen, so I thought ‘this (MBE) is going to be her special thing’.”
Beth Mead is made a Member of the Order of the British Empire.
The Lioness was presented with the MBE by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle.
The honour recognises services to Association Football.
Teammate Lucy Bronze was also given an MBE
Other honours given out today
Dame Virginia McKenna, 92, was made an OBE for services to wildlife conservation. The campaigner was one of the most popular and acclaimed British film actresses of the 1950s and 1960s and featured in the 1966 film Born Free, set in Kenya.
Luther Blissett, who was one of the most prominent black English footballers in the 1970s and 80s, has also become an OBE.
Blissett, 65, was the first black footballer to score a hat-trick for England and was bought by AC Milan for £1 million in 1983.