London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Paris Olympics gold medallist Keely Hodgkinson and former England soccer boss Gareth Southgate were among the hundreds named in King Charles’s New Year honours list published on Monday.
The full list includes more than 1,200 people in politics, sport, the arts or community service to be awarded honours ranging from Member, Commander or Officer of the Order of the British Empire (MBE, CBE or OBE) up to knighthoods and damehoods.
Sadiq, one of Britain’s most high-profile Asian-origin politicians, was honoured for political and public service.
A member of Britain’s governing Labour Party, Sadiq was this year elected mayor for the third time, although he has faced criticism for crime levels and a housing crisis in the city.
The London mayor joined UK television icon and writer Fry, 67, and former England football manager Gareth Southgate in being knighted in the latest list.
Fry, best known for playing his idol Oscar Wilde in the 1997 movie Wilde and hit British television comedy Blackadder was recognised for services to mental health awareness, the environment and charity.
Fry, who has a form of bipolar disorder, has spoken openly about his struggles with manic depression.
He told the PA news agency that he felt “startled and enchanted” after receiving the letter informing him of his knighthood.
“When you are recognised it does make you feel a bit ‘crikey’, but I think the most emotional thing is that when I think of my childhood, and my dreadful unhappiness and misery and stupidity, and everything that led to so many failures as a child,” Fry added.
Southgate led England to two straight European Championship finals before stepping down as the national side’s manager in July.
The New Year honours, which have been awarded since at least 1890, aim to recognise not just well-known figures but people who have contributed to national life through often unsung work over many years.
The king or other leading members of the royal family hand out the awards at ceremonies during the year.
“Each and every day, ordinary people go out and do extraordinary things for their communities,” said Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
“The New Year Honours List celebrates more of these unsung heroes, and I thank them for their incredible contribution,” he added.
MI5’s Ken McCallum, who has served as the domestic intelligence service’s director general since 2020, was also set to receive a knighthood.
Among business executives, ex-Rolls-Royce boss Warren East and former HSBC chief executive Noel Quinn will be knighted, while Ruth Cairnie, chair of defence group Babcock, receives a damehood.
Andy Street, a former boss of retailer John Lewis who failed to win re-election as a regional mayor this year, will also receive a knighthood.
Among those receiving a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) are actors Sarah Lancashire and Carey Mulligan and TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh.
In sport, Paris 800 metres gold medallist Hodgkinson received a Member of the British Empire (MBE) while Olympic champion rower Helen Glover was recognised with an Order of the British Empire (OBE).
Children’s author Jacqueline Wilson was awarded a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire, while Nobel laureate novelist Kazuo Ishiguro was given a Companion of Honour, of which there are only 65 recipients at any time.
Lee Castleton, Jo Hamilton, Christopher Head and Seema Misra were recognised with an OBE for their work campaigning for justice.
Four victims of the Horizon IT scandal, in which hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongly convicted of fraud, theft and false accounting because of faulty software, were also honoured.
The previous Conservative government unveiled legislation in March to exonerate those wrongly prosecuted and compensate them after a TV drama renewed focus on their plight.
