Born in Oldham, Lancashire in 1966, Gulati is most known for her roles as Sunita in ITV soap Coronation Street and Anita in BBC comedy show Dinnerladies. Her theatre credits include the international tour of Mamma Mia! in 2015, the touring UK production of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie in 2018, and Richard II at The Globe, in 2019She has also appeared on the ITV daytime topical discussion programme Loose Women as a panellist.

Singer Rebecca Ferguson was also given an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours. The Liverpool-born performer, who was a runner-up on ITV’s X Factor in 2010, is honoured for her services to the music industry.

The 37-year-old, who grew up in Huyton, Woolton and Anfield, originally studied to become a legal secretary before making her name on the singing competition, beating One Direction to second place while Matt Cardle was named champion.

While Graeme Souness was awarded a CBE in the King’s Birthday honours list after his ‘life-changing’ charity work.

The 71-year-old tasted spells as a player and a manager at Anfield winning the English first division five times and the European Cup on three occasions, adding an FA Cup to the tally during his time in the dugout.

Souness has been recognised for his services and support to charity after his efforts to raise awareness of epidermolysis bullosa (EB). The Scot is a vice-president of DEBRA UK, who refer to themselves as ‘The Butterfly Skin Charity’, and raised over £1million for the charity after embarking on the challenge of swimming 30 miles of the English channel.