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Queen's legacy creates more diverse Order of Merit

Channel 4 Floella BenjaminChannel 4
Baroness Floella Benjamin has been appointed to the Order of Merit, held by only 24 people

The Order of Merit, a royal honour for distinguished service, has become much more diverse, with new members chosen by Queen Elizabeth II before her death.

Broadcaster Baroness Floella Benjamin, architect Sir David Adjaye, nursing expert Dame Elizabeth Anionwu and biologist Dr Venki Ramakrishnan have been appointed to the order.

It means four of the six new members are from ethnic minorities.

The order has 24 members, drawn from the arts, sciences and armed services.

As well as becoming a more ethnically diverse membership, the new appointees announced by Buckingham Palace will increase the number of women in the order from two to five.

These are the first Order of Merit appointments made during the reign of King Charles III, but Buckingham Palace says they were decided by the late Queen in "early September", before her death on 8 September.

The order, founded 120 years ago by Edward VII, is an honour for "exceptional distinction" in areas such as science, medicine, culture and the arts in the UK and Commonwealth realms.

The new appointments will join current members such as environmentalist Sir David Attenborough, conductor Sir Simon Rattle, parliamentarian Baroness Betty Boothroyd and Egyptian-born heart surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub.

The six new recipients are:

  • Sir David Adjaye is a celebrated Ghanaian-British architect, whose work includes the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in the United States
  • Dame Elizabeth Anionwu became the UK's first sickle-cell nursing specialist and created the Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice at the University of West London
  • Baroness Floella Benjamin is a writer, broadcaster and politician and also chairs the Windrush Commemoration Committee
  • Dr Venki Ramakrishnan is an Indian-born molecular biologist who is co-winner of a Nobel Prize
  • Prof Margaret MacMillan is a Canadian historian and history professor at University of Oxford
  • Sir Paul Nurse is a geneticist and biologist, co-winner of a Nobel Prize, and director of the Francis Crick Institute

This is intended to be an exclusive club, with only 24 members of the Order of Merit at any one time, personally chosen by the monarch.

Honorary members can also be added, which in the past have included South African president Nelson Mandela and US president Dwight Eisenhower.

Vacancies occur after the deaths of members of the order.

Members are given a red-and-blue enamel badge, which reads "For Merit".

When the order was founded in 1902 it included military figures such as Lord Kitchener and Earl Roberts, and scientist Lord Kelvin. Nursing reformer Florence Nightingale was appointed as the first female member in 1907.

Earlier this year Baroness Valerie Amos became the first black member of the Order of Garter, the most senior order of chivalry, in almost 900 years.