Sir Idris Elba led the stars receiving honours at Windsor Castle on Tuesday.
A host of celebrities were recognised by King Charles at the ceremony, including comedians Dame Meera Syal and Paul Elliott, one half of the Chuckle Brothers, and ice skating champions Dame Jayne Torvill and Sir Christopher Dean.
The King is recognising 68 people, with the Luther star, 53, being awarded a knighthood in the New Year Honours for his significant services to young people.
In 2022, Idris, who is the current frontrunner to scoop the role of James Bond, founded the Elba Hope Foundation, which champions community empowerment, education, youth advocacy, and sustainable development.
The star himself received a grant from the Prince’s Trust, now the King’s Trust, to attend the National Youth Music Theatre when he was 18 and it was announced last year that he would team up with the King to create a Netflix documentary.
Sir Idris Elba led the stars receiving honours at Windsor Castle on Tuesday (pictured with his wife Sabrina)
The Kumars At No 42 star Dame Meera, 64, was recognised by the King for services to literature, drama and charity
A host of celebrities were recognised by King Charles at the ceremony, including ice skating champions Dame Jayne Torvill and Sir Christopher Dean (pictured)
The Kumars At No 42 star Dame Meera, 64, was recognised by the King for services to literature, drama and charity. Born in Wolverhampton, the actress had her breakthrough writing and starring in the BBC sketch show Goodness Gracious Me.
In 2023 she was awarded the Bafta Fellowship, the academy’s highest accolade for a career on screen.
Rotherham comedian Paul Elliott, best known as one of the Chuckle Brothers, was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for charitable service.
The comedy double act, made up of Paul and his brother Barry, were a staple in British homes with their TV show ChuckleVision.
Nearly 300 episodes, which aired during the 1990s and 2000s, showed the hapless, accident-prone brothers uttering their catchphrase ‘To me, to you’ as they caused chaos everywhere they went.
Paul has been a prominent supporter and ambassador for Marie Curie. The charity’s nurses provided end-of-life care for Barry, and Paul previously spoke about how the nurses looked after his brother ‘with incredible care and kindness’.
The King is recognising 68 people, with the Luther star, 53, being awarded a knighthood in the New Year Honours for his significant services to young people
Speculation has long been rife about Idris overtaking David Craig in the iconic role.
Last week he made an insistent denial, saying: ‘My name’s not getting thrown out, no way. They’re going younger. And I wish them all the luck of the world. I can’t wait — it’s going to be amazing.’
‘I’m honestly not in the race ever. I wasn’t in the race in the first place,’ he added to People.
In December fans thought Idris had dropped a huge hint that he would be the next James Bond as he shared a video from Madame Tussauds where he was seen playfully interacting with the attraction’s wax figures.
With the famous Bond theme playing in the background, the camera tracked past several former 007s before settling on Idris at the end of the line.
Dame Jayne looked elegant in a chic blue suit
Fans quickly flooded the comments as they hailed him as a top contender to take over the role after Daniel Craig.
They penned: ‘Not just the bond we want… the bond we NEED’; ‘This is the Bond we want’; ‘You would be an AMAZING Bond’.
Daniel Craig’s final outing as 007 in No Time To Die in 2021 was a critical and box office success, but fans of the spy have been left desperately waiting for news on who might replace him.
That announcement has been delayed after the Broccoli family, which held an iron grip on the franchise for decades, handed over creative control to Amazon MGM Studios.
The production company, which was formed when Amazon bought MGM in 2022, has been quiet on who might fill Craig’s boots, but it has teased there will be ‘exciting 007 news’ in the coming months.
Meera spoke fondly to the monarch as she was given the honour
