“It was the most surreal day of my life, and there have been a few of those. Driving up the long walk with my Dad beside me was like being a bride, and we were arriving at Windsor Castle. I expected to wake up at any moment!”

Natalie was awarded the MBE ‘for services to the disabled and to the community’. HRH the Prince of Wales presented it to her in one of the first investitures that Prince William has conducted since the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

It’s not the first time Natalie and Prince William have been pictured together. A selfie taken back at the Who Cares Wins Awards in September 2021 was such an unusual event that it even made the news in Australia!

Joining Natalie for the emotional ceremony were her father, and her daughter Alice. Natalie thanked her father for always supporting her, and giving up so much to care for her after the death of her mother. “I am everything I am because he loved me so much.”

Read Natalie’s fuller account of the day in the Teddington Nub. 

Natalie’s biography Only Heroes and Horses is now available in paperback, detailing her story from growing up in Birmingham, to founding and fighting for Park Lane Stables, and the successful fundraising campaign back in the winter of 2021. Also available in hardback, ebook and audiobook.