A FORMER Abingdon head girl said she was honoured to receive an OBE from the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace.

Sophie Churchill, a former pupil at the School of St Helen and St Katharine, received the honour for services to the environment on Wednesday.

The mother-of-three, who also studied at Oxford University, is the chief executive of the National Forest, in the Midlands, one of the country’s biggest environmental projects.

She said: “It was such a lovely day, it was very special to all of us. Prince Charles was very interested in forestry, he asked all about it.

“I told him that one of the loveliest cards I had was from a very elderly tenant on a Royal estate in the forest where we had planted some trees.”

The National Forest covers 200 square miles across parts of Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.

Dr Churchill, 48, said: “It was quite something to be nominated. And I’m not sure you realise the scale and grandeur of Buckingham Palace until you are in there, it was beautiful.

“I am proud to represent such an amazing enterprise as the National Forest and very touched to have been awarded the OBE and described as ‘a powerful advocate for the forest and its values’.”