Princess Royal surprised by campaigner during investiture ceremony

A Commonwealth Games-winning hockey player said the Princess Royal was “surprised” when she told her she had needed to campaign to wear shorts to play the sport.

Tess Howard, 26, who was part of England women’s 2022 gold medal squad, was made an MBE for services to inclusive sportswear for women and girls, which she described as a “ridiculous” campaign.

Speaking after the ceremony at Windsor Castle on Wednesday, Ms Howard, who set up Inclusive Sportswear CIC, said while she was “very honoured” by the award, it felt “bizarre” and “premature”.

She said: “If I had an organisation like Inclusive Sportswear I wouldn’t have had to campaign for years to wear shorts in hockey, which is bizarre.

“The Princess Royal was surprised that I had to campaign to wear shorts. It’s silly when you say it out loud.

“It’s quite ridiculous that I’ve been given an award essentially for campaigning to wear shorts.”

The International Hockey Federation amended its rules in 2023 to give female teams the choice between wearing skirts, skorts – a skirt with shorts attached underneath – and shorts, providing they are the same colour and design.

The England and Team GB athlete, who plays for East Grinstead Hockey Club in West Sussex, believes her organisation’s work has only just begun.

“My slogan is kind of, let’s fix this and move on with our lives,” she added.

Olympic gold medallist Sophie Capewell, 27, of Staffordshire, was also honoured at the ceremony.

She said being made an MBE for services to cycling felt “pretty special and a bit surreal”.

Capewell won gold at the Paris Olympics last year in the women’s team sprint, alongside teammates Katy Marchant and Emma Finucane.

En route to victory, the Team GB outfit broke the world record three times, ultimately setting the new record at 45.186 seconds in the final.

She said her father, Nigel Capewell, who competed at the Paralympics in Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000, had a big influence on her career.

“I think growing up I used to say I want to be Olympic champion, and he helped me in realising that dream, he was a big part of that,” she said.

Capewell said she intends to compete at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

Paralympic gold medallist Dimitri Coutya, 27, said he was inspired to take up fencing by sword fighting he watched in films.

Coutya was made an MBE for services to fencing and said the Princess Royal had been “very personable” during the ceremony.

The two-time gold medallist in Paris has won more than 80 international titles since 2017.

He said: “I think I honestly, when I was younger, I tended to like films that had some kind of stage sword fighting in it, and I found out it was an option for games in my school,

“You know the first thing they tell you when you get there, it’s not at all like the film, but you know once you get over that initial disappointment, you really do fall in love with what the sport is, and it snowballs from there really.”

Coutya is targeting a fourth Olympic games in 2028, aiming to “keep improving”, even as a champion.