William’s heroes
Prince to honour the Grenfell Tower firefighters and Manchester bomb medics at tonight’s Pride of Britain
PRINCE William is to honour our heroic emergency services at the Mirror’s glittering Pride of Britain Awards tonight.
The prince, 35, will present awards to brave firefighters who battled the Grenfell Tower blaze in June, and the nurses, doctors and emergency response teams who saved lives after the Manchester Arena bombing the month before.
PC Keith Palmer, who lost his life defending Parliament from a knife-wielding jihadi, and PC Wayne Marques and Charlie Guenigault, who suffered serious injuries when they tackled terrorists at London Bridge, will also be honoured at the star-studded ceremony hosted by Carol Vorderman.
The Daily Mirror’s Pride of Britain Awards, in partnership with TSB, is the nation’s biggest celebration of unsung heroes, attended by more than 100 of our top stars.
The 2017 winners, revealed in the Mirror today, will receive their awards at Grosvenor House in Park Lane, Central London.
Joining Prince William at the event will be PM Theresa May, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and a host of household names from sport, TV and showbiz. They include singers Ed Sheeran, Sir Rod Stewart and Dame Shirley Bassey, One Direction idol Liam Payne, and X Factor stars Nicole Scherzinger, Louis Walsh, Dermot O’Leary and Sharon Osbourne, along with rocker husband Ozzy.
They will be honouring our country’s bravest and best along with footie legends David Beckham, Jamie Vardy, Jermain Defoe, England manager Gareth Southgate and a host of Olympic greats. Prof Stephen Hawking will also attend, alongside Jamie Oliver, Frank
and Christine Lampard, Sir Lenny Henry and Dame Joan Collins.
Big names from favourite TV shows include The Great British Bake Off host Paul Hollywood and former winner Candice Brown, stars of EastEnders and Coronation Street, the cast of Strictly Come Dancing and breakfast stars Ben Shephard, Susanna Reid, Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.
Prince Charles and Simon Cowell will also be taking part.
Carol Vorderman, who has hosted Pride of Britain every year since it began in 1999, said: “It’s huge every year, it even beats the Oscars and Baftas! It’s a celebration of people who live normal lives doing extraordinary, kind, brave things.”
Don’t miss the Pride of Britain Awards on ITV at 8pm next Tuesday.
HOW fitting the Pride of Britain awards will be presented tonight by the Duke of Cambridge to Grenfell fire heroes and NHS staff who saved lives after the Manchester Arena bomb.
Prince William, as a former search-andrescue helicopter and air ambulance pilot, knows only too well the bravery and skilled responses of public service workers who are the backbone of our country.
We can think of no one better to lead the presentations in a Daily Mirror glittering ceremony where the real stars are the everyday folk who perform superhuman acts.
We owe each of tonight’s winners a huge debt and can be justifiably awed by the extraordinary people who are the Pride of Britain.