A special dress made for a Morpeth resident’s big day at Windsor Castle piqued the interest of Prince William.

Professor Alex Knight was among the MBE announcements in the King’s New Year Honours list for 2026.

She is the founder and chief executive officer of STEMAZING, which is a non-profit social enterprise dedicated to amplifying the voice of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).

Alex was among dozens of people who received their honour during a recent investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle.

Professor Alex Knight had a dress specially made for the occasion.

placeholder image — Professor Alex Knight had a dress specially made for the occasion.

She had a dress specially made for the occasion by a dressmaker in Ashington, Tony Joshua Couture, which features a montage of women engineers from throughout history.

Alex said: “Prince William was very engaging. He asked about STEMAZING and the story of the dress.

“I wanted to honour the legacy of historical women in engineering going back hundreds of years, who we stand on the shoulders of today.

“Their contributions and the barriers they broke paved the way for women like me to become engineers today. They should be household names, but most people don’t know them.

“Just like the women on my dress who fought for change in their lifetime, we have to keep pushing for progress in ours as although things have improved, we still have a long way to go.

“The investiture ceremony was joyous and positive and we were treated like royalty from start to finish. It was also nice to meet some of the other recipients and hear why they had been honoured.

“STEMAZING is very much a team mission, so I definitely felt that I was representing everyone involved with and who has supported our important work.”

Her vision is for every young person to have multiple meaningful engagements with STEM role models at every step of their education journey.

As described in her personal story on the STEMAZING website – www.stemazing.co.uk – she said: “For over 15 years, I loved being an engineer in industry. But, without more diversity in STEM, our industries are stifled.

“Diversity drives innovation. This is the key to solving our global challenges and it’s urgent we do more to tackle this problem now.

“This is why I left my role as a technical director in London to focus full-time on STEMAZING to create a stronger, more diverse STEM future.”