PUBLIC APPEARANCES > 2024 > Feb 21: Investitures at Windsor Castle – Inside
The ‘Game of Thrones’ alum called the honor the ‘cherry on the cake’ of the important work she and her mother have done for people with brain injuries
PEOPLE Prince William reunited with a TV queen when he presented Emilia Clarke with an honor at Windsor Castle.
On Wednesday, the Prince of Wales, 41, presented the Game of Thrones star and her mother, Jennifer Clarke, with Most Excellent Order of the British Empire medals in recognition of their services to people with brain injuries as founders of the charity SameYou.
“From Westeros to Windsor, a real pleasure presenting @emilia_clarke and her mum Jennifer with their honours today for their charity work with @sameyouorg supporting brain injury recovery care 🎖️ Congratulations to all of today’s recipients!” Prince William’s team captioned a montage of the ceremony on Instagram.
The mother and daughter smiled as the Prince of Wales pinned on the insignias and spoke about what the recognition meant.
“Well, it was such an honor personally, but more importantly, we started the charity because the consequences of brain injury are just so unknown,” Jennifer began.
“To have an award like this… cherry on the cake,” Emilia, 37, said. “I’m going to get my photo taken because of this award. And people are going to say, ‘Why is this person, who we recognize, got this award?’ And we’re going to say, ‘It’s for brain injury recovery.’ ”
“We’re doing it to try and help other people who have been doing it for a lot longer than us, make the changes that are so desperately needed for people,” Jennifer added.
News of the Clarkes’ awards was announced in King Charles’ 2024 New Year Honours List in December 2023, recognizing those in the U.K. who have demonstrated exemplary service or achievement in their respective fields. The mother and daughter established SameYou to raise money and awareness for people recovering from brain injuries and strokes after a health scare directly affected their family.
Emilia, who played Queen Daenerys Targaryen on Game of Thrones during its eight-season run from 2011 to 2019, suffered two aneurysms in 2011 and 2013, sharing her story for the first time in a 2019 essay for The New Yorker published shortly before the final season’s premiere.
“The whole experience inspired me to launch my charity SameYou,” Emilia told PEOPLE that November. “People’s lives are transformed completely after a brain injury, and the core of our work is recovery — it’s not just the first weeks that you need help, you still need help for years. I wanted to match someone with a consistent person who has the answers and can hold their hand and tell them that they’re not alone. Being there when someone is scared, confused or angry is one of the kindest things you can do.”
While Emilia and Jennifer described receiving the MBEs as a top honor, the actress has crossed paths with Prince William before. She opened up about being flustered by the protocol around meeting a member of the royal family during an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers in 2018 and recapped the guidance she was given at Kensington Palace.
“So it’s kind of a frightening thing going, to the palace. There’s a whole thing,” she said, explaining that she was told to not turn her back and address Prince William as “Your Royal Highness.”
“For whatever reason, maybe because I was so scared, I couldn’t manage to get out ‘Your Royal Highness.’ So it was kind of like ‘Ra, ra,’ was pretty much all I managed,” she joked to the host.
The Prince of Wales has previously shared that he and his wife, Kate Middleton (who is currently recovering from abdominal surgery), are big fans of the hit HBO show. The couple revealed they watched the series while eating curry takeout in their “comfy clothes.”
When the royals met Game of Thrones actor Tom Wlaschiha (who plays Jaqen H’ghar) during a visit to Berlin, they reportedly tried to get a few spoilers out of him.
“They said they really liked Game of Thrones and have watched every series,” Wlaschiha said. “They wanted spoilers, but I said I couldn’t tell them.”
Prince William and Princess Kate might not be the only fans of the franchise in the family, either! In 2020, King Charles and Queen Camilla took time to tour a special willow Iron Throne that was made for a party to celebrate the premiere of the final season of Game of Thrones at the Ulster Museum in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 2020.
A few years prior, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip also toured the set of Game of Thrones in Northern Ireland. During the stop in 2014, Queen Elizabeth was led into the throne room where she met cast members and came face-to-face with the Iron Throne — but she declined an invitation to test it out.
