The Queen has made her trusted bloodstock and racing adviser John Warren a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (RVO).
Mr Warren has been pictured over the years by the Queen’s side in the royal box or paddock whenever she attends major racing meetings.
Thoroughbreds are the Queen’s great passion and she is probably never happier when working with her racing adviser, who is married to Lady Carolyn Warren, daughter of the monarch’s previous racing adviser 7th Earl of Carnarvon.
Together the couple own and run Highclere Stud near Newbury, Berkshire, and Lady Carolyn’s brother is the current Lord Carnarvon whose ancestral home is Highclere Castle, the setting for Downton Abbey.
Mr Warren has been an adviser to the Queen for more than 13 years and also represents other leading horse owners from across the globe.
Awards under the RVO are in the Queen’s gift and are bestowed independently of Downing Street to people who have served the monarch or the royal family in a personal way.
Also recognised is Clive Alderton, principal private secretary to the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, who has been made a Knight Commander of the RVO.
The royal aide is enjoying his second period working for Charles and Camilla, having first joined their household in 2006 as deputy private secretary to the couple, before being promoted three years later to their private secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
The career diplomat, who had joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1986, was appointed the UK’s Ambassador to Morocco in 2012 and served three years in the post before returning as the prince and his wife’s principal aide.
The Duke of Norfolk, Edward Fitzalan-Howard, has been appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the RVO for services to the monarchy.
Under his hereditary tile Earl Marshal, the duke is responsible for organising major state events such as coronations and state funerals.
