ROYAL SURPRISE: Claudia Winkleman ‘Speechless’ After King Charles Personally Presents Her MBE

Claudia Winkleman has admitted she’s been left speechless as she received her MBE from King Charles during an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle.

The beloved Strictly Come Dancing and The Traitors presenter was recognised in the king’s Birthday Honours for her contributions to broadcasting.

Claudia is set to leave Strictly after this year’s series alongside her co-host Tess Daly. Tess herself received an MBE last month.

The duo have hosted the BBC show together since 2014. Tess originally joined the show in 2004.

Strictly star Claudia Winkleman was awarded an MBE earlier today (Credit: Steve Vas/Future Image/Cover Images)

Claudia Winkleman receives MBE

Claudia was joined at the ceremony by her family, including her husband Kris Thykier, mother Eve Pollard, and father Barry Winkleman.

In photos shared by HELLO!, she posed proudly on the castle grounds in a sophisticated ivory suit and matching headband.

Sharing a photo from the day on Instagram, Claudia said she was “speechless”. The TV star described the moment as “an incredible morning and an enormous honour”.

The honour comes as Claudia prepares to exit Strictly. But fans won’t be without her for long.

She’s set to return to screens on New Year’s Day with a brand new season of The Traitors. The wildly popular reality gameshow is set in the Scottish Highlands.

Since launching in 2022, The Traitors has become a cultural phenomenon.

The show recently aired its first celebrity spin-off. The nail-biting finale ended with comedian Alan Carr dramatically clinching victory from Faithfuls David Olusoga and Nick Mohammed.

Claudia’s broadcasting career spans decades, beginning with BBC’s Comic Relief and The Great British Sewing Bee.

King Charles presented the honour to the Strictly presenter (Credit: Tayfun Salci/ZUMA Press/Cover Images)

What did Claudia and Tess say about leaving Strictly?

Tess and Claudia’s Strictly Come Dancing exit was announced in October.

We will have the greatest rest of this amazing series.

In a joint statement, they said: “We have loved working as a duo and hosting Strictly has been an absolute dream. We were always going to leave together and now feels like the right time.

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“We will have the greatest rest of this amazing series and we just want to say an enormous thank you to the BBC and to every single person who works on the show. They’re the most brilliant team and we’ll miss them every day.”

They added: “We will cry when we say the last ‘keep dancing’ but we will continue to say it to each other. Just possibly in tracksuit bottoms at home while holding some pizza.”