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Rose Ayling-Ellis has been made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the King’s Birthday Honours for her voluntary services to the deaf community.
The former EastEnders actress, who made history on Strictly Come Dancing as the show’s first deaf contestant, received the royal honour from Princess Anne at Windsor Castle on Wednesday.
The star was seen shaking the Princess Royal’s hand as she received the honour alongside 60 others, including Hari Budha Magar – the first above-the-knee double-amputee to summit Mount Everest.
Born deaf, Rose, 30, was the first deaf contestant to ever take part in Strictly and made history after lifting the glitterball trophy with her partner Giovanni Pernice in 2021.
The pair wowed the judges and viewers with her poignant couple’s choice dance in which the music paused and she and Giovanni danced in silence as a tribute to the deaf community.
The emotional and touching dance got the nation talking abut the experience of deafness, and even won the must-see moment award at the Baftas.
Rose Ayling-Ellis has received an MBE for her voluntary services to the deaf community as actress was honoured by the Princess Royal at Windsor Castle on Wednesday
The star was seen shaking the Princess Royal’s hand as she received the honour alongside 60 others, including Hari Budha Magar – the first above-the-knee double-amputee to summit Mount Everest
Rose portrayed Frankie Lewis in the BBC soap opera EastEnders from 2020 to 2022 after starting her career in short film and on stage.
She has completed a string of firsts, including becoming the first celebrity reader to perform a CBeebies bedtime story in sign language in May 2022.
The star was also the first deaf person to deliver the Alternative MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival, and the first deaf person to host a live sports show, presenting the Paralympic Games in France for Channel 4.
In addition, she worked with Mattel on the production of the first deaf Barbie doll equipped with behind-the-ear hearing aids.
Rose also helped to mentor Unify, an all-deaf sign performance group who use British Sign Language (BSL), for a special concert for the King’s coronation.
Last month it was revealed Rose has bagged her first lead role since her appearance on Strictly in a major new ITV crime drama, which will see her ditch her Strictly sequins for a dinner apron.
She will play the ground-breaking lead role in the six-part crime drama Code of Silence playing a deaf catering worker who becomes a heroine by lip-reading criminals’ conversations to help to put them behind bars.
ITV’s synopsis says: ‘She’s struggling to make ends meet, juggling two jobs, in a police canteen and a local bar, while also doing her best to support her deaf mum.
The former EastEnders actress made history on Strictly Come Dancing as the show’s first deaf contestant after she won the series in 2021
The Princess Royal attached the badge to her dress as she was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire
The pair wowed the judges and viewers with her poignant couple’s choice dance in which the music paused and she and Giovanni danced in silence as a tribute to the deaf community
Mr Budha Magar also received an MBE on Wednesday. From Nepal, he served as a Gurkha with the British Army in Afghanistan in 2010 when he lost both of his legs in an IED blast
‘When a policewoman calls on her to lip-read the conversations of dangerous criminals, she is plunged into a new, exhilarating world.’
Meanwhile Mr Budha Magar also received an MBE on Wednesday. From Nepal, he served as a Gurkha with the British Army in Afghanistan in 2010 when he lost both of his legs in an IED (improvised explosive device) blast.
In 2023, the father-of-three became the first above-the-knee double-amputee to climb the world’s highest mountain after successfully campaigning to the Supreme Court in Nepal to overturn a ban on people with disabilities climbing Everest in 2018.
Since the trailblazing achievement, the adventurer is vying to complete climbing the seven highest peaks on each continent.
He was made an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours for services to disability awareness.
Also receiving honours on Wednesday will be former Northern Ireland secretary Dame Karen Bradley MP and Sheila Mason, a lacemaker who supplied lace for the Princess of Wales’s wedding dress.
