Former Mayor makes Queen's Honours list

Frank Jonas, 71 from Hilsea, is the local councillor for Hilsea, as well as spending a term as Lord Mayor back in 2015.

On top of this, he has also been championing the work of the armed forces in Portsmouth for the majority of his life.

He said: ‘It is marvellous to have been given this honour; I tend to use that word a lot, but it is certainly justified here.

‘I like to think that the people of Portsmouth who have supported me throughout the years, as well as my colleagues at Portsmouth City Council.

‘None of this would have happened without the people of Hilsea though – they are the true champions here.’

Cllr Jonas says that after being contacted about the award, he was not allowed to tell anyone about it until a certain date – including his close family.

He explained: ‘The date on which I was allowed to finally tell people about making the Queen’s Birthday Honours list was also my wedding anniversary.

‘Having spent all that time waiting to tell people, I decided to wait a little bit longer; I thought it wouldn’t have been right to steal her thunder.’