Just Minutes Ago, Lisa Riley Opened Up About a Life-Changing Milestone After Keeping Quiet for So Long
Emmerdale's Lisa Riley makes history as the first ITV soap cast member to receive an MBE in the King's Birthday Honours 2026
Lisa Riley has been awarded an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours list 2026(Image: BBC)
Lisa Riley has been left feeling ‘overwhelmed’ as she prepares to mark a major milestone.
The Emmerdale star has become the first ever cast member from the ITV soap to receive an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours list 2026.
The actress, who is best known for playing Mandy Dingle in the long-running ITV soap, is being made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to drama and to charity.
The prestigious honour couldn’t have arrived at a more perfect moment, as she’s also preparing to celebrate her 50th birthday in just a few weeks.
Discussing her special milestones, the soap star appeared on Saturday’s (June 13) episode of BBC Breakfast alongside presenters Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt, as well as Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, who is also receiving an MBE, reports the Daily Star.
Speaking live from her Leeds home via video link, Lisa confessed: “It’s unbelievable, it’s humbling and it’s just amazing. I can’t deny, I feel on top of the world and I just feel amazing.”
The soap star appeared on BBC Breakfast alongside Naga and Charlie(Image: BBC)
Lisa, who turns 50 on July 13, said: “Four weeks today, the big 50. I keep saying , ‘What better birthday present for my big 50 is to be on the King’s birthday list.'”.
Lisa’s mum, Cath, passed away from pancreatic cancer back in 2012, twelve years after being diagnosed with stage four breast cancer. Since then, the actress has utilised her platform to raise awareness and champion cancer charities.
“I’m so proud to be an ambassador for breast cancer now. The reason is I did lose my mum to cancer and I wanted to use my platform to kind of go ‘I get it, I understand.'”.
She went on to say: “In our industry we get asked every single day to be part of a charity but I wanted to be true to myself and be authentic and only work with charities that I feel sing from my own personal hymn sheet.
“I want to go out and talk about grief and how it affects family members and also my dad, my brothers, my nephew and my niece. I have been able to raise a lot of money and I’m proud of that.”
In a touching moment, she tenderly added: “I know my mum is up there in heaven shining down today saying ‘look, my little girl did it.'”
Lisa is the first Emmerdale cast member to be awarded an MBE(Image: Ian West/PA Wire)
Lisa has been inundated with an outpouring of warmth from both her nearest and dearest and her Emmerdale castmates, leaving her feeling utterly “overwhelmed.”
She disclosed: “Yesterday my beloved Dingle family at Emmerdale – we Dingle WhatsApp group and I was able to share it with my work family and they were all gleaming with pride for me and they said it was well deserved after all these years.”
The star went on: “I don’t drink anymore so I will be having my little mug of coffee to toast but it’s so nice to have so many people around me. Just seeing the stuff online it’s endless, I’m hearing from people I haven’t heard from for years.”
She concluded: “It makes you feel so grateful. My heart feels so warm and that’s the celebrated that I’m celebrating. I’m overwhelmed, I really am.”
Lisa also shared the news on her Instagram, writing: “So here’s the news I’ve been holding as a massive secret for months and months-I am the HAPPIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD-so incredibly humbled to my core—LISA RILEY MBE, has a nice ring to it!!!! #news #goodnews #MBE #honours #fyp @emmerdale @itv @itvnews.”
BBC Breakfast airs everyday from 6am on BBC One and iPlayer and Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 8pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX.
