The doctor who oversaw the safe delivery of Prince George and the parents of slain London teenager Jimmy Mizen are recognised by the Queen in the New Year Honours List.
Marcus Setchell, who was Queen’s gynaecologist for two decades, is among those to receive an honour in the latest round.
Some 1,195 people have received an award and for the first time since the Order of the British Empire was founded in 1917, there are more women (51%) on the list than men. Marcus Setchell, 70, who delayed his retirement after being asked by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to oversee the birth of the third in line to the throne, becomes Sir Marcus as he is made a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order – an honour in the personal gift of the Queen.
He previously helped save the life of the Countess of Wessex when she was eight months pregnant with elder child Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor.
The Order of Merit (OM) goes to world-renowned heart surgeon Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub. Barry and Margaret Mizen, whose son Jimmy, 16, was murdered in London in May 2008, are made MBEs for services to young people. They set up the Jimmy Mizen Foundation to help young people play a positive community role.
OBEs go to the founders of parenting website Netmums.com, Siobhan Freegard, Cathy Court and Sarah Russell.
In total, 1,195 people have received an award, 74% of them for outstanding work in their communities.
There are 610 women in the list – 51% of the total.
Previously the highest proportion of women on any honours lists was 47%.
Paul Tucker, former deputy governor who missed out on the top job at the Bank of England after the departure of Mervyn King, gets a knighthood.
Sir Paul spent more than three decades at the Bank and was the favourite to succeed as governor this summer but lost out to Canadian Mark Carney.
It prompted speculation his chances had been damaged by his entanglement in controversy surrounding the Libor rate-rigging scandal at Barclays.
He left the Bank in October to take up a senior fellowship at Harvard for the current academic year. The announcement that the governor’s job would go to Mr Carney was a surprise as commentators backed Sir Paul for the role.
He had been dragged into the controversy over the rate-rigging scandal – relating to alleged manipulation of the benchmark interbank lending rate.
Former Barclays boss Bob Diamond published a record of a contentious phone call with the deputy governor in 2008.
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