THERE will be trips to the palace for several local people after they were named in King Charles' New Year Honours.

Old Monmothian and former Rolls Royce chief Warren East is honoured with a knighthood “for services to the Economy and Net Zero”, while Dr Rowena Christmas from Trellech, chair of the Royal College of GPs in Wales, has been made an MBE "for services to General Practice".

Dr Rowena Christmas from Trellech has been awarded an MBE
Dr Rowena Christmas from Trellech has been made an MBE (Wye Valley GP Practice)

Chair of the Friends of Friendless Churches charity and former Monmouth MP Roger Evans also becomes an MBE “for services to Ecclesiastical Heritage in England and Wales”.

Public Health Wales chief Dr Tracey Cooper from Coleford is awarded an OBE "for services to Healthcare and Public Health", alongside Usk and Prescoed prison governor Robert Michael Denman “for Public Service”.

Also honoured with an OBE is Abergavenny's Jonathan Charlesworth, co-founder and executive director of Educational Action Challenging Homophobia, "for services to Education, Health, Criminal Justice, and HM Government".

Amy-Claire Elisabeth Mason from Monmouth, who is chief executive officer and director general HM Prison and Probation Service, is made a CB "for public service".

A BEM goes to Chepstow's Dr Marion Shirley Andrews-Evans, former executive chief nurse for the NHS Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board, "for services to Nursing, Health and Care Services".

And also awarded a BEM is 82-year-old local councillor Carole Evelynne Hopkins from Caldicot "for services to the community in Magor".

Former Rolls Royce chief Warren East – who grew up in Monmouthshire and attended Monmouth School in the 1970s in the home town of company founder Charles Stewart Rolls – is knighted 11 years after being made a CBE for services to the technology industry.

In the year of the Haberdashers’ boys and girls' schools amalgamating, he matches Monmouth School for Girls alumni and top classical music conductor Jane Glover – daughter of late Monmouth School headteacher Robert Glover – who received a damehood in 2021.

"The Old Monmothian Club sends its heartfelt congratulations to Warren East who has been Knighted," posted the alumni group.