Northern Irish mental health campaigner Lindsay Robinson received her MBE from the Princess Royal at a ceremony at Windsor Castle yesterday.
Mrs Robinson — who is from Belfast and married to DUP leader Gavin Robinson — suffered severe depression while pregnant and after her son was born in 2013, and has since campaigned for better support for mothers in Northern Ireland.
She was recognised with an MBE for services to perinatal mental health in Northern Ireland after years of campaigning.
In January 2021, then Northern Ireland health minister Robin Swann announced funding for new specialist perinatal mental health services in the region.
Mrs Robinson said it was “absolutely wonderful” to receive the honour.
“Knowing that mums and their families in Northern Ireland now have schemes and specialist services is amazing,” she said.
She added that work to establish services for new mothers in Northern Ireland is not over.
She said: “We still don’t have a mum and baby unit in Northern Ireland and I would be calling for that for mums and babies.”
Among those also receiving their honours yesterday was actress Rose Ayling-Ellis, who made history on Strictly Come Dancing as the show’s first deaf contestant.
Also at the ceremony was former Northern Ireland secretary Dame Karen Bradley MP and Sheila Mason, a lacemaker who supplied lace for the Princess of Wales’s wedding dress.
Rose Ayling-Ellis was the first deaf contestant to take part in Strictly (Jordan Pettitt/PA)
Rose Ayling-Ellis first found fame on EastEnders but it was a showstopping routine on Strictly Come Dancing that won her a Bafta and made her a household name.
The former EastEnders actress was honoured by the Princess Royal on Wednesday alongside 60 others, including Hari Budha Magar – the first above-the-knee double-amputee to summit Mount Everest.
Born deaf, Ayling-Ellis (30) was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the King’s Birthday Honours for voluntary services to the deaf community.
Rose Ayling Ellis is made a Member of the Order of the British Empire by the Princess Royal at Windsor Castle. Pic: PA
The first deaf contestant to ever take part in Strictly, she won the 2021 series and legions of new fans after a routine in which the music paused and she and partner Giovanni Pernice danced in silence as a tribute to the deaf community.
The emotional and touching dance got the nation talking abut the experience of deafness, helped the duo bag the glitterball trophy and won the must-see moment award at the Baftas.
She portrayed Frankie Lewis in the BBC soap opera EastEnders from 2020 to 2022 after starting her career in short film and on stage. She was also the first celebrity to read a CBeebies bedtime story in sign language.