‘Game Of Thrones’ Star Emilia Clarke & Her Mother Awarded In UK New Years Honours List

Caroline Frost
·2 min read
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British actress Emilia Clarke, best known for her role of Daenerys Targaryen in all eight seasons of Game of Thrones, has been awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) gong in the New Year’s Honors List,

Clarke will attend a British royal palace to receive the award, alongside her mother Jenny, after the pair set up a charity together supporting people with brain injuries.

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The actress, now 37, suffered two brain haemorrhages, in 2011 and 2013 when she was in her twenties. Following her surgery, she was shocked by the lack of after-care support available, and she and her mother were inspired to create the SameYou charity.

Now, they are believed to be the first mother-daughter pairing to receive the same award in the same honors list.

Clarke told BBC News: “I can say for both of us that the MBE is for the cause and the charity, and for that it’s wicked. For that it’s amazing,”

She explained the reasons for forming the charity: “In hospital, every day you’re told you’re going to die. Every day you’re watched like a hawk, especially in a brain ward. You’re woken up every two hours. It’s this high-stakes scenario. And then three weeks to a month later, you’re let out.”

“I was fine, but I was so terrified to suddenly be at home, and I was at home with a loving family. That’s not [the same for] everyone, and the fear that you’re left with…

“Then when I had my second brain haemorrhage, I was like, I’ve got to do something big. Looking at the fact that I’ve survived two of these with no repercussions – I’m here for a reason, let me do something about it.

“That was when we started circling around the idea of creating a charity.”

As well as Game of Thrones, Clarke, who told the BBC she no longer has major repercussions from her injuries save fatigue, has appeared in movies including Terminator Genisys, Me Before You and Solo: A Star Wars Story.

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