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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Lucas Cumiskey

Preet Chandi and four MPs to be honoured at Windsor Castle investiture

PA Media

Four MPs and a British Army medical officer who completed a record-breaking polar expedition are among those expected to receive honours at Windsor Castle on Tuesday.

Conservative MPs Dame Maria Miller, Sir Jeremy Wright and Tracey Crouch, plus Labour’s Samantha Dixon are set to collect honours at the investiture.

Captain Preet Chandi, a physiotherapist from Derby dubbed Polar Preet, is one of the 67 people set to collect honours after she was made MBE.

Last month, she broke the world record for the furthest solo, unaided polar expedition, covering 922 miles (1,484km) across Antarctica in 70 days and 16 hours.

During a visit to Landau Forte College in Derby earlier this month, the Princess of Wales praised the 34-year-old as a “huge inspiration to me”.

Kate added: “I just think it’s incredible, what you’ve been able to achieve.”

Captain Chandi completed a 700-mile (1,127km) ski across Antarctica to the South Pole in 40 days in January last year, becoming the first woman of colour to do so.

Conservative MP for Basingstoke Dame Maria served as culture secretary under David Cameron and was made a dame in the late Queen’s Birthday Honours list in June 2022, ahead of the Platinum Jubilee.

Former attorney general and Tory MP for Kenilworth and Southam, Sir Jeremy was knighted in the same list, days after calling for then-prime minister Boris Johnson to resign in the wake of the partygate saga.

MP for Chatham and Aylesford Ms Crouch, a former sport minister who chaired the fan-led review into English football, was made a CBE at the same time.

Labour MP for Chester Ms Dixon, who was made MBE, and the former Inspector of Constabulary Zoe Billingham, who was made CBE, are both also expected to receive their honours.

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