Britain's Olympic gold medal curling team have received their MBEs from the Queen.

Skip Rhona Martin, Debbie Knox, Fiona MacDonald, Margaret Morton and Janice Rankin were at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday to accept the honour.

The curlers won Britain's first Winter Olympic gold medal for 18 years when they beat Switzerland with the final stone of the final in February this year.

Martin said the remainder of the year had passed in a blur since winning gold nine months ago.

She said: "The Queen was very chatty. She asked us whether we had brought our gold medals with us but I told her they were at home.

"I said the MBEs were far more important today than the medal."

Also at the Palace investiture was drag queen Danny La Rue who was collecting an OBE for raising thousands of pounds for Aids charities.

Lone trans-Atlantic rower Debra Veal received an MBE.

Only the 10th woman to have rowed the Atlantic, Veal completed the 111-day journey from Tenerife to Barbados after her husband Andrew dropped out during the crossing.