Dame cool honour for Kelly

Double Olympic gold medalist Dame Kelly Holmes collected her latest honour from the Queen today and announced: "It's really cool."

The athletics star - now known to her friends as DK - looked the part for her royal date at Buckingham Palace.

"This suit was made for me by Jasper Conran - he even gave me a fitting - and the shoes are by Jimmy Choo," she said excitedly. The soft white outfit was set off with diamonds and white gold jewellery.

But Dame Kelly could not stop looking at the insignia, handed to her by the Queen, confirming her new status as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

"The Queen said she was delighted to give me the honour and said the gold medals were a great achievement," said the 800m and 1500m Olympic champion.

"Then the Queen said she'd heard that I'd suffered another injury."

Dame Kelly, 34, told the Queen that she had been successfully treated for a hamstring strain while training in South Africa.

"When I heard the national anthem, at the start of the investiture, it brought tears to my eyes, because it brought back memories of standing on the rostrum in Athens," she said.

"I have won 14 major medals and to top it off with this is fantastic. The Damehood is from the state and to be named Sports Personality of the Year was from the public."

With Dame Kelly at the Palace were her mother Pam Thomson, father Mick Norris, and grandfather Geoff Norris.