Actress Rose Ayling-Ellis to receive royal honour for services to deaf community

Actress Rose Ayling-Ellis, who made history on Strictly Come Dancing as the show’s first deaf contestant, is to receive a royal honour at Windsor Castle.

The former EastEnders actress will be honoured by the Princess Royal on Wednesday alongside 60 others, including Hari Budha Magar – the first above-the-knee double-amputee to summit Mount Everest.

Born deaf, Ayling-Ellis, 30, was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the King’s Birthday Honours for voluntary services to the deaf community.

Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice (Jacob King/PA)PA Archive/PA Images - Jacob King

The first deaf contestant to ever take part in Strictly, she won the 2021 series and legions of new fans after a routine in which the music paused and she and partner Giovanni Pernice danced in silence as a tribute to the deaf community.

The emotional and touching dance got the nation talking abut the experience of deafness, helped the duo bag the glitterball trophy and won the must-see moment award at the Baftas.

She 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 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 and 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.

Hari Budha Magar (James Manning/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - James Manning

Mr Budha Magar, from Nepal, 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.