Award-winning actress, writer, singer, poet, humanitarian, wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and one of wildlife’s greatest champions, Virginia McKenna OBE, is receiving her Damehood from His Royal Highness, William, The Prince of Wales, at Windsor Castle. The title is being awarded in recognition of her work for Wild Animal Welfare and Compassionate Conservation over many decades and was announced in the 2022 New Year Honours List.
A much-loved actress, Virginia’s early work includes A Town Like Alice (for which she won a BAFTA), The Cruel Sea, Carve Her Name with Pride (for which she was nominated for a BAFTA), and The Smallest Show on Earth, with her husband, Bill Travers.
Virginia and Bill made a number of other films together, including Ring of Bright Water and An Elephant Called Slowly, but most famously played Joy and George Adamson in the film adaptation of the book of the same name, Born Free (for which she won a Golden Globe).
Her celebrated stage roles include playing Gertrude to Roger Rees’ Hamlet with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Desiree in A Little Night Music (taking over from Jean Simmons), and, for over 500 performances at the London Palladium, as Anna opposite Yul Brynner in The King and I (for which she received an Olivier Award).
Her books range from Some of My Friends Have Tails and Into The Blue (a history of dolphins and their relationship with people) to her well-received autobiography, The Life in My Years, and Tonight The Moon is Red (an anthology of her poetry).
Virginia has four children, a stepdaughter, eleven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
In 1984, along with her late husband Bill, who died in 1994, and her eldest son Will, she co-founded Zoo Check, an organisation critical of the exploitation of wild animals in zoos and circuses, which went on to become the Born Free Foundation (Born Free).
Her concern for the plight of wild animals, whether living in captivity or in the wild, remains a priority for her, accentuated by the looming threats to biodiversity and the possibility of mass species extinction caused by human activities, including climate change, habitat loss, pollution, and indifference.
“This award may be in my name, but I believe it recognises the efforts of the Born Free team over nearly forty years. And the values of the thousands of people who feel, as I do, that we must end the cruelty and suffering that we routinely inflict on wild animals, whether in captivity or in the wild,” Virginia stated. “It is my hope that this honour will draw more attention to the issues Born Free campaigns about, that we will all think a little more before we lock animals up, force them to perform for our entertainment, shoot them for fun, trade in their body parts, or pollute and destroy their fragile habitats. Nature is precious, wild animals are unique. This planet is their home as well as ours, and it is the only one we’ve got.”
Over the nearly 39 years since she began her Born Free work, Virginia has contributed to numerous measures to end wild animal exploitation and enhance compassionate conservation.
