Honour for Born Free founder and award-winning actress Virginia McKenna

The honour, invested by Prince William ,The Prince of Wales, is in recognition of her work for Wild Animal Welfare and Compassionate Conservation.

Dame Virginia is the founder, with her late husband Bill Travers, of the Horsham-based international animal charity Born Free.

A much-loved actress, Virginia’s early work includes A Town Like Alice for which she won a BAFTA, The Cruel Sea, Carve Her Name with Pride and The Smallest Show on Earth, with her husband Bill.

Virginia and Bill made a number of other films together, including Ring of Bright Water and An Elephant Called Slowly, but most famously played Joy and George Adamson in the film adaptation of the book of the same name, Born Free for which she won a Golden Globe.

In 1984, along with Bill, who died in 1994, and her eldest son Will, she co-founded Zoo Check, an organisation critical of the exploitation of wild animals in zoos and circuses, which went on to become the Born Free Foundation – Born Free.

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Her concern for the plight of wild animals, whether living in captivity or in the wild, remains a priority for her, accentuated by the looming threats to biodiversity and the possibility of mass species extinction caused by human activities, including climate change, habitat loss, pollution, and indifference.

“This award may be in my name, but I believe it recognises the efforts of the Born Free team over nearly 40 years,” she said.

For more information about the work of Born Free, visit www.bornfree.org.uk