When Jen Beattie travelled to Windsor Castle to collect her MBE for services to charity and football on Wednesday, she could not have envisaged how different the circumstances would be to the last time she was there. Two-and-a-half years ago, waiting to hear whether she had the all-clear from breast cancer, the Arsenal centre-back did the Long Walk to the castle with her parents.
“I’ve not told many this, but I do think it is a good part of the story to tell,” says Beattie, sitting in the new cafeteria for the women’s team at Arsenal’s London Colney training ground. “When I was waiting on results and we didn’t know the extent of it, mum and dad came down and we actually went on a day trip to Windsor.
