A FORMER Colchester sixth former is celebrating after being named in the New Year’s Honours List.

Sarah Lingard has been made an OBE in recognition of her services to British foreign policy and to the King’s coronation as part of her role as head of events in the Foreign Office’s royal and coronation unit.

Sarah thanked her teachers from Colchester Sixth Form College where she studied politics, history, English literature, and sociology before going on to study social and political sciences at the University of Cambridge in 1998.

“I really would like to sincerely thank my inspirational teachers at the college for their invaluable early guidance and support which took me first to Girton College, Cambridge, and then into the domestic and finally the diplomatic service,” she said.

Assistant principal Adrian Frost said it was “great to hear” of the ex-student’s success.

“Organising a coronation must be quite a challenge,” he said.

Prior to taking up her role in the Foreign Office, Sarah was the government's deputy convoy to the Commonwealth between 2019 and 2023.

She was pictured with US first lady Jill Biden and her granddaughter Finnegan arriving at the coronation in May last year.