alessia russo headlines a King’s Birthday Honours list that includes Warwick-born Lionesses defender Jess Carter, who has been made an MBE. The award puts her among several people with Coventry and Warwickshire links recognised in the same list.
Jess Carter and Lee Carsley
Carter’s honour sits alongside Lee Carsley’s MBE, adding another football name to a list that leaned heavily on local links. Carsley played more than 70 games for Coventry City and now manages the England Under21s.
The list also gives Carter a formal national award while she remains identified as a current England Women’s footballer. For a player from Warwick, that connection to the county stays part of the story, not just the citation.
Glen Burley and Martin Reeves
Professor Glen Burley received a knighthood. He is chief executive at Nuneaton’s George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust and heads the Foundation Trust that includes South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust and the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.
Martin Reeves was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, extending the list beyond football and health care. Reeves is the current chief executive of Oxfordshire County Council.
Warwickshire honours
Warwickshire Police officer Scott Caswell was awarded the British Empire Medal for his work as armed forces lead for Warwickshire Police. He spent 10 years in the Military Police before joining the civilian force, and said “never in a million years” after getting the news.
Caswell said, “I try and give best practice to fellow officers when they come into interaction with any veterans that are struggling or in crisis, [and} the best tools possible to take hold of that veteran and give them the care and support they need”.
Becki Coombe from Coventry also received a British Empire Medal for her work with young people who are not in education or training. She founded the Learn2 group in 1996, and said, “It was a bit of a funny one, because it went to an old address and they'd opened it!” She added, “When I got it, it was quite confusing because I thought 'yeah, it's literally something I didn't need any more because I'd moved out.”
The honours list draws a clear local pattern: football, policing, health care and council leadership all sit inside the same announcement. Carter’s MBE is the most visible sporting entry, but it is part of a wider set of awards that reaches across Warwickshire and nearby counties.
