X Factor winner Leona Lewis to be made an OBE at Windsor Castle

Yahoo

16-07-2025

Pop singer Leona Lewis and the former health secretary who oversaw the 2007 indoor smoking ban are to be honoured in an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle.
X Factor winner Lewis will be made an OBE for services to music and charity.
Ex-Labour politician Dame Patricia Hewitt, who as health secretary pushed forward the ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces, will be made a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DCB).
Former Conservative schools minister Sir Nick Gibb will receive a knighthood.
Presenter and singer Myleene Klass, a former member of the group Hear'Say and runner-up in the 2006 series of I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, will be made an MBE for services to women's health, miscarriage awareness and charity.
Lewis, 40, won the third series of The X Factor in 2006 and went on to achieve success with singles including Bleeding Love, Run and Better In Time.
The British singer-songwriter from Islington, north London, became a seven-time Brit award nominee and was nominated three times for a Grammy award.
She has also carried out charity work with a number of organisations including the Prince's Trust, the Teenage Cancer Trust and WWF.
Dame Patricia, previously the chairwoman of NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board, is being honoured for services to healthcare transformation.
The former MP for Leicester West served as health secretary, trade and industry secretary and minister for women during Tony Blair's government.
The Australian-born politician stepped down from cabinet in June 2007 when Gordon Brown took over as prime minister.
Sir Nick was first elected as Conservative MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton in 1997 and was first appointed as school standards minister in 2010, before being removed from the post two years later.
He was brought back as minister for school standards in 2014 and remained in the role until the reshuffle in September 2021 when he was sacked by then prime minister Boris Johnson.
The veteran schools minister, who is being honoured for services to education, returned to the Department for Education (DfE) in October 2022 and stepped down from Government in 2023.
During his tenure he oversaw curriculum and exam reforms and was an advocate of phonics as a method of teaching children to read.
Klass, 47, has campaigned for paid bereavement leave to be extended to those who experience a miscarriage.
The mother of three suffered four miscarriages and has spoken openly about the psychological effects of baby loss on women.
She is an ambassador for the pregnancy and baby charity Tommy's and fronted the Bafta-nominated documentary Myleene Klass: Miscarriage And Me in 2021, in which she met women around the UK to hear their experiences.