Sophie Wells receives OBE from Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal

Paralympic, World and European gold medallist Sophie Wells was presented with an OBE at Windsor Castle yesterday by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal. Sophie was named in the New Year’s Honours list following the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, which took place last year, where she won Team Gold and Individual Silver.

“It was such an honour being presented with my OBE,” commented Sophie. “The Princess Royal was very interested in my coaching, and we had plenty to talk about.

“Being at Windsor was lovely,” she continued. “I received my MBE at Buckingham Palace, which was wonderful, but being at Windsor was much more intimate, plus my family could be there which was really special.”

Following the 2012 London Olympics, when Great Britain’s Para Dressage team won a total of 11 medals, including Team Gold and Individual and Freestyle Silver for Sophie, she was presented with an MBE in 2013. In the years since, she has won a multitude of medals at European and World Championships, including a full set of golds at both the 2013 European Championships in Denmark and the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games.

In addition to her own competition successes, Sophie is a highly respected and successful coach. Her list of students includes Paralympic gold medallist Georgia Wilson and World Equestrian Games medallist Erin Orford.  

British Dressage CEO, Jason Brautigam, commented, “We send our huge congratulations to Sophie on this honour, which is so well deserved.  Sophie is a great ambassador for British Dressage, who contributes so much to our sport. She has been an integral part of our Para team for over a decade, and we owe much of our success to her personal contribution and leadership. With qualification for the Paris Paralympic Games already secured by the efforts of Sophie and our team in Herning this summer, there is still much to look forward to.”