Reality TV star Georgia Harrison said being made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to tackling online privacy and cybercrime awareness will drive her to “continue to evoke change for women everywhere”.
The 30-year-old was honoured at Windsor Castle on Wednesday.
Over the past couple of years, Harrison, who has starred in reality TV shows including The Only Way Is Essex and Love Island, has turned her hand to campaigning on violence against women and girls after becoming a victim of revenge porn.
On being made an MBE, Harrison said: “It was such an amazing opportunity, and I’m really grateful, and I’m 100% going to continue to step up in my campaigning. And if anything, this is going to be something that really drives me to continue to evoke change for women everywhere, and I’m really grateful to be given such responsibility.”
She said that while being honoured on Wednesday, the Prince of Wales told her he had followed her story.
She said: “I feel exhilarated. I just didn’t realise how magical the moment was going to be. First of all, I was so happy when I found out it was Prince William.
“I really was hoping that he might be one of the people who was giving it and, you know, I had really found when I was receiving the award, that he took such a genuine interest in everything that I’d done, been following my story, and that really meant a lot to me.”
In 2021, the TV star waived her right to anonymity amid a trial that saw her ex-partner, Stephen Bear, accused of sharing a secretly recorded sex tape of her to adult content website OnlyFans.
Bear, also a reality TV star, served 10-and-a-half months of a 21-month sentence after being found guilty of voyeurism and two counts of disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress.
On her conversation with William, she said: “He went on to ask me if I think enough has changed, and what I think the change in the law has done.
“And I basically said that I think it’s absolutely amazing that so many women have now been getting guilty verdicts thanks to the change in the law, and it’s a lot easier for them.
“And then he asked if I think anything else needs to change. And I just highlighted that at the moment, if you do report image-based sexual abuse, you have to do it within a six-month window, whereas not everyone always finds out that soon – their footage could have been uploaded, like a year before they find it on a platform. So that’s also slightly hindering victims.
“And I said that I think the people that actually run the platforms need to be getting held accountable, because they’re the ones profiting at the end of the day, and I feel a lot of them are still turning a blind eye when it comes to online safety, but not even just image-based sexual abuse, you know, like harassment, bullying, sexual exploitation.”
She said: “But at the same time, the changes so far have been amazing, and the fact that the Government are putting so much time into this is brilliant. It just comes down to, you know, awareness has been raised, which is the main point of change. The Government are now aware, so they’re making changes. I think the final step would be for the platform owners to be actually getting some sort of consequence for when they are allowing wrongdoing on the platforms.”
In April 2023, the month after Bear was sentenced, Harrison attended a demonstration, held outside Parliament by domestic violence charity Refuge, calling for specific protections for women and girls to be included in the Online Safety Bill.
She also called for social media platforms to be “held accountable” for online harassment and abuse, and criticised the justice system for failing to “keep up”.
Later that year, she discussed the Bill in a Downing Street meeting with former technology secretary Michelle Donelan as it returned to the Commons for its final stages.
In 2024, she helped Thames Valley Police launch a campaign about sexual consent titled Consent Conversations.
Harrison explored the prevalence of deepfakes and image-based sexual abuse in an ITV documentary titled Georgia Harrison: Porn, Power, Profit, which was released earlier in the year.
As well as Love Island, Harrison has taken part in reality TV shows including Celebrity Ex On The Beach and Channel 4 reality show Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, which she won with boxer Lani Daniels.
Also being honoured on Wednesday were Stephen Lambert, the founder and chief executive of Studio Lambert – the production company behind The Traitors; retired cricketer Steven Davies; and Sergeant Major Colin Thackery, a Chelsea Pensioner who won Britain’s Got Talent in 2019.
On being made an MBE, Davies said he felt “very grateful”, adding: “It was very surreal. It was a really good day.”
Davies said the prince spoke about what he was up to now and his cricketing career, then mentioned when he turned up in the dressing rooms at Surrey County Cricket Club.
“We also spoke about the time that he came, I used to play at Surrey County Cricket Club, and the time that he came into the dressing room one day as a complete surprise to us all, which was pretty surreal,” he said.
“I couldn’t believe it. It was a normal day at work, and we were just training hard, and he just popped in.
“Honestly, so surreal. But he was really lovely in that moment.”
Thackery, 95, was made an MBE for services to charitable fundraising and to the Armed Services community.
He said he felt “marvellous” and said he had met the prince previously, which William remembered.
“I’ve met him before. And what was wonderful, he’d obviously done his homework, because he said, ‘nice to see you again’,” he said.
William asked Thackery if he was still singing, he said.
“He asked me if I was still singing, and ‘are you getting about’. I said, yes, he says ‘wonderful at your age’,” he said.
The pensioner said the prince asked what kept him young, and he said: “I sing every day.”
