Marcus Rashford melts hearts as he dedicates MBE to his mum

Marcus Rashford scored goals for England, helped to feed the nation’s children over lockdown and has proved yet again why he is a national treasure as he collected his MBE from Prince William which he dedicated to his mum.

The 24-year-old footballer received his MBE, which was first awarded in October, from the Duke of Cambridge in a ceremony at Windsor Castle with his mum, Melanie, at his side.

The Manchester United player dedicated his MBE to her and vowed to continue his work in helping disadvantaged children up and down the country.

Rashford said: “It seems like there’s a lot going on but for me to put it in the simplest way - I’m trying to give children the things I didn’t have when I was kid. If I did have, I would have been much better off and had many more options in my life.

“I’m just giving them the opportunity and I think they deserve the opportunity what child doesn’t. For me it’s a punishment for them not to be getting things like meals or supplies of books.

The England striker was given an MBE for his help in tackling child food poverty over the pandemic. In March of 2020, he scored against the government after launching a campaign to ensure the government continued to provide free school meal vouches to children over lockdown, causing Boris Johnson to take a speedy U-turn on his original plans to scrap them.

Rashford took to Twitter to thank Prince William for his MBE, and his football teams – England and Manchester United – and the Duke and Duchess themselves showed support for the star player.

Rashford was also awarded with an honorary doctorate degree at the University of Manchester in October because of his charitable work, meaning that his full title is Dr Marcus Rashford MBE.

In September, he launched a campaign with The Food Foundation calling on MPs to back recommendations to end child food poverty.

Rashford added: "We can all come together to make these small change - they are small changes but they become big changes once you see the rewards of it.

“I see a generation that’s coming after me as a very special generation. They just need a bit of guidance and pointing in the right direction and what I’m doing is giving them that."

He paid yet another heart-warming tribute to his mum on Twitter after receiving his MBE, simple captioned ‘mum’ with a love heart.