Davina McCall heaps praise on Princess Royal after receiving honour from Anne

TV presenter Davina McCall has heaped praise on the Princess Royal after being made an MBE for services to broadcasting.

The 56-year-old said Anne has always been one of her favourite royals and shared her “gung-ho” attitude to life.

The presenter added that she was “terrified” before the investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday, but that it was an “honour”.

She said: “The Princess Royal has always been one of my favourite royals because I think as a woman or as a young girl growing up and seeing her, she always seemed to be quite gung-ho and she rather shared my ethos in life it felt like.

“She is a very positive, no-nonsense woman and I really like her for that so I was thrilled when it was her.

“I always found her rather inspiring growing up so to be presented with an award by her was a real treat. ”

Anne asked how McCall got into broadcasting and the presenter replied that she had wanted to be a singer but “wasn’t good enough”.

The princess quipped that “The Masked Singer is perfect for you!”

The presenter said: “I thought ‘Oh my God, Princess Anne’s just said The Masked Singer’. She was lovely, very personable.”

McCall also passed on her best wishes to the King, who is recovering from an operation for an enlarged prostate, and the Princess of Wales who is back at home after being treated for abdominal surgery.

She said she was much more nervous before the ceremony than she would normally be before going on TV.

McCall said: “I was absolutely terrified. People were saying ‘You’ve got to go and talk to the cameras after this’, I said ‘That’s the easy bit for me’.

“I was really nervous but she made it easy.

“I went through so many emotions arriving, it’s the waiting that’s so nice and you get to talk to other people that are getting awards as well.

“That calmed me down a lot because I had been very quiet all day which, as you can imagine, for me is not usual.

“I couldn’t say the word honour earlier because I couldn’t stop crying every time I said it.”

The presenter said she is “quite busy” filming another series of Long Lost Family and wants to continue broadcasting “for a while yet”.

When asked what advice she would give young people looking to break into broadcasting, she said they “just have to have a passion”.

McCall added: “My passion was music and that’s what got me a job at MTV.

“The hardest thing for young people sometimes is ‘What is my passion?’ and throw yourself at it, then something will come out of it.”

Among those also honoured were fashion photographer Nicholas Knight, who was became a CBE for services to fashion and photography, and fashion designer Roksanda Ilincic, who was made an MBE for services to fashion design.

Mr Knight said: “I think it is very nice that fashion gets recognised as one of the important art forms in our society. Fashion is one of our greatest art forms.”

Ms Ilincic wore a long purple dress, dark shoes and a black jacket to the ceremony.

The Belgrade-born artist said of the outfit: “Many thoughts went into it, what I was meant to wear and what was suggested for this event, but I also wanted to bring an element of something that I do that I’m very known for, which is sculpture, architecture, art, and I think I managed to combine all of that – certain traditional elements and something a bit more extraordinary.”