Queen E honours policeman killed in terror attack

LONDON: The British policeman killed while defending parliament during a terror attack was honoured by Queen Elizabeth II, alongside Paul McCartney, J.K. Rowling and Hollywood icon Olivia de Havilland.

Keith Palmer, 48, (pic) who was stabbed to death by Khalid Masood following his rampage on Westminster Bridge on March 22, received a posthumous George Medal for bravery in the monarch’s annual birthday honours list yesterday.

“Keith acted that day with no thought for his own safety ... he paid the ultimate price for his selfless actions,” said London police chief Cressida Dick.

Among the other recipients of honours were singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, a pensioner who tried to save murdered lawmaker Jo Cox and the last surviving crew member of the World War II Dambuster raids.

Beatles star McCartney and Harry Potter author Rowling were made Companions of Honour, an award for making a major contribution to the arts, science, medicine, or government. The rare order has a maximum of 65 members.

McCartney, who turns 75 today, called the award “colossal” and a “huge honour”.

CHs were also awarded to design- er and restauranteur Terence Conran, conductor Mark Elder, cookery writer Delia Smith, Beryl Grey – the first English ballerina to guest with the Kirov and Bolshoi ballets – and John Sulston, who won the 2002 Nobel Medicine Prize for his gene research.

De Havilland, regarded as the last great star of Hollywood’s golden age and the oldest living Oscar winner, was made a Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire – the female equivalent of a knighthood.