Dumfries businessman Mark Jardine finally received his MBE on Wednesday at The Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.
The honour was announced in 2019 but he had to wait for the presentation due to the Covid pandemic.
The Princess Royal performed the ceremony and Mark, the Deputy Lord Lieutenant for the Stewartry, took the opportunity to promote the Dumfries bid for city status.
He said: “I thought ‘why not?’. It was too good a chance to raise awareness about our town and what the status would mean for the whole region in terms of attracting businesses, investment and visitors.
“She might just pass on that she had spoken to a man who was enthusiastic about the city status bid for Dumfries.”
Mr Jardine, founder of the People’s Project in the town, was awarded the MBE in the New Year’s Honours in December 2019 for his services to the community.
In addition to starting the group to improve the town’s environment, he has been a coach at Greystone Rovers Youth Football Club, a Guid Nychburris Baillie and a trustee of the Gretna Landmark initiative, among others.
Mr Jardine, who said he was “humbled and surprised” when he found out that he was to be honoured, admitted to being “very nervous” on Wednesday for the ceremony.
But he added: “When I learnt that it was Princess Anne performing the investiture I immediately relaxed because I met her nine years ago in Dumfries when she came to unveil Robert Burns’ Rock outside St Michael’s and South Church on July 9, 2013, which The People’s Project commissioned for the 60th Anniversary of the Coronation of HM The Queen.
“It was lovely that she remembered that day and that the weather had been so hot. I think it was also more intimate because there were only 59 others receiving their awards there on the day.”
And, after Princess Anne pinned on his medal and asked him what projects he was working on, he told the Standard that he “couldn’t resist” telling her about the city bid.
The town is one of 39 competing in the Queen’s 2022 Platinum Jubilee competition for the status upgrade.
Mr Jardine, who runs Jardine Funeral Directors in Dumfries, was accompanied to the ceremony by his wife, Ruth.
He added: “It was a day Ruth and I will never forget. I felt very honoured.
“I knew about it a few months before so its more than two years waiting to hold it. It is amazing and such a lovely day.”
