Karen Tonge had “a wonderful day” as she was presented with an OBE by the Princess Royal at Windsor Castle.

Karen, the Chair of British Para Table Tennis and the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games referee this summer, was accompanied by her husband Ken and by BPTT Performance Director Gorazd Vecko and his wife Sabina.

The above photo (copyright Press Association) shows them watching on the right as Karen receives her medal.

Karen, who was previously an MBE, was made an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to Paralympic table tennis.

She said: “She apologised that it was her again because she presented me with my MBE, but I said it was special because she is our IOC (International Olympic Committee) member.

“She knows everything about you and she’s really interested and we talked for quite a long time. When we left, one of the Equerries commented about that.

“It’s an honour for the Paralympic family so it was only right that I took some members of the Paralympic family with me.

“Afterwards, we went for a champagne tea in Windsor, so it was a wonderful day.”