Post Office hero campaigner Alan Bates has been given a knighthood after his decades-long fight for justice on behalf of hundreds of wrongly convicted sub-postmasters and mistresses.

The crusading former subpostmaster, who exposed the Post Office Horizon scandal, learned about his honour last month while attending the first day of former boss Paula Vennells’ evidence at the official inquiry.

Sir Alan told i he was “surprised” at the gong but felt “very honoured”, adding that he was accepting the award on behalf of all the Post Office victims, whose battle for justice was brought home to millions by ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office.

But the campaigner admits he considered turning the honour down. He had previously refused an OBE while Ms Vennells still held a CBE. She was stripped of the title in February for “bringing the honours system into disrepute”, the Cabinet Office said.

“I half did,” he said. “I turned down the OBE because of Paula Vennells having the CBE at that time for her services to [the] Post Office.

“I thought if I’d have accepted anything at that stage, then, you know, it would have been a smack in the face for the rest of the group.

“I was well aware from all the emails, messages and cards, everything that there are many people that feel that they want to see some sort of recognition for the work I’ve done on behalf of everyone else.

“I felt that if I’d have refused it, [it] would have been a bit of an insult for all those who’ve been promoting it. It’s for all of us, the whole campaign.”

Eventually, a conversation with a friend convinced him to accept the title this time around.

“This confidant said to me, ‘you’ve done the heavy lifting in all of this, it’s time for others to pick it up’,” he said. “If it adds another string to my bow, if it helps me to move it forward for the rest, then so be it.”

Sir Alan leads the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance and continues to campaign for financial address for the hundreds of victims of the Horizon IT scandal who took part in group legal action against the Post Office. Their compensation was swallowed up by the huge legal costs in bringing their case.

“I felt [the knighthood] was some recognition, not just for me and the work I’ve done, but for the whole group and what everyone had to go through. It’s been horrific,” he said.

On a day of mixed emotions, he received an email from the honours committee informing him of the knighthood during a lunch break at the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, where Ms Vennells broke down in tears multiple times and made a series of admissions about her tenure from 2012 to 2019.

He described receiving the news of his knighthood, which also came on the same day he had spoken to the Metropolitan Police about their separate investigation into the scandal, as a “bolt out of the blue”.

In what has been described as the UK’s most widespread miscarriage of justice, more than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted after faulty IT software said money was missing from their Post Office branch accounts, with many jailed or left bankrupt.

A Metropolitan Police investigation will examine possible offences, including perjury and perverting the course of justice once the inquiry ends.

Sir Alan says he doesn’t yet know which senior royal will knight him, but added: “I think it will be an excellent opportunity to see what they are aware of with what has gone on with the sub-postmasters group.”

King personally honours medical team amid cancer treatment

The King has personally honoured his top medical team amid his treatment for cancer.

Dr Michael Dixon, head of the Royal Medical Household, and Charles’s GP Dr Fiona Butler – otherwise known as the Apothecary to the King – have been recognised by Charles for their personal service to the monarch and the royal family.

The honours come in the wake of the King and the Princess of Wales’s double cancer diagnosis this year.

Dr Dixon has been made a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) and Dr Butler is now a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO), with the accolades announced on the King’s official birthday.

Awards of the Royal Victorian Order are in the King’s gift and are bestowed independently of Downing Street to people who have served the monarch or the royal family in a personal way.

Dr Dixon and the King have known one another for decades, and he is responsible for overseeing the eminent members of the medical profession entrusted to care for the royal family.

His appointment as head of the Royal Medical Household following Charles’s accession drew criticism due to his outspoken support for alternative therapies, such as faith healing and herbalism.

In 2023, Buckingham Palace set out the doctor’s beliefs to The Sunday Times, saying: “Dr Dixon does not believe homeopathy can cure cancer.

“His position is that complementary therapies can sit alongside conventional treatments, provided they are safe, appropriate, and evidence-based.”

As the Prince of Wales, Charles was a passionate campaigner for integrated health, raising the profile of combining evidence-based, conventional medicine with an holistic approach to healthcare.

Of the 1,077 recipients on the King’s Birthday Honours List, the youngest, Shamza Butt, 20, receives a BEM for her work as a Member of the National Citizens’ Service Trust Youth Voice Forum.

Harold Jones, 100, is the oldest to be recognised for his fundraising for charities relating to Motor Neurone Disease.

They are joined by Paralympic double medallist para-swimmer Rebecca Redfern, 24, who is awarded an MBE after overcoming a chronic hereditary eye disease to win silver at the Rio and Tokyo games.

Her diagnosis with Retinitis Pigmentosa aged seven meant that she would slowly lose her sight over time, but a coach encouraged her to take up para-swimming – and she is now eyeing gold in Paris this summer.

She is the current breaststroke world champion, but felt “really isolated” as a child and in her teenage years couldn’t go out with friends at night or learn to drive.

And she defied warnings from coaches that her career was over after she gave birth to her son, Patrick, in 2020 – qualifying for her second Paralympics nine months later.

“It was a struggle. Sleepless nights and having a newborn. But I had that end goal. And I wanted to be on the podium in Tokyo,” she said.

“Because it was Covid, all the leisure centres were closed, so I had to be a bit creative with my training. We turned one of the sheds into a gym and we have this massive hot tub in the garden.”

Ex-Gurkha double amputee who scaled Everest gets MBE

A former Gurkha soldier who lost both legs in a blast in Afghanistan before becoming the world’s first double above-the-knee amputee to ascend Mount Everest said he was “thrilled” to receive an MBE.

Hari Budha Magar, 44, stepped on an IED on patrol in Afghanistan in 2010, battled extreme weather and oxygen running out to conquer the world’s highest mountain in 2023.

He made the gruelling ascent after overcoming alcoholism and suicide attempts, using specially designed prosthetic legs to reach the summit on a day when four other climbers died.

He said: “Two things I think were very helpful. One of them is the way I grew up in hardship. Another one is my training in the military.

“We needed to work much harder than other people, and also take slightly more risks than other people.

“It was really windy, cold – we were running out of oxygen. We ran out of oxygen at last and one of the Sherpa guides came up and saved us.”

He previously met the King and Prince Harry when he received his Afghanistan campaign medal. He brought his luggage for a trip to Alaska, where he will aims to climb the tallest mountain in North America.

Women make up 48 per cent of the total, but 40 per cent of recipients at CBE level and above, with Dr Sue Griffiths, who sits on the committee, saying they were “working hard” to overcome the disparity.

“Although it’s not yet quite equitable, it is a significant improvement from previous honours’ lists,” she added.

Recipients from ethnic minority backgrounds make up 10 per cent of those honoured, with the committee aiming to increase that ratio towards the 2021 census figure of 18 per cent of people from a black, Asian, mixed or other ethnic group.