By Anne W. Semmes
Earlier this year Natalie Pray, long serving hosting president of the Greenwich branch of the English-Speaking Union (ESU), who also serves on the board of the ESU branch in Palm Beach, received word from the British Ambassador to the United States of her “appointment as a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire [MBE].”
Pray was invited to Windsor Castle last March to receive the Medal but was unable to make the journey due to her duties in Palm Beach. Thus, as of Wednesday a week ago, the British Consul General had an Investiture in her Residence in New York City to award Pray the title of MBE – Member of the British Empire Medal – on behalf of His Majesty, King Charles III, “in recognition of her long-term support of the arts and culture both here and in the United Kingdom.”
Present at the Investiture were His Majesty’s Consul General in New York, Hannah Young, Karen Karpowich, president and executive director of the English-Speaking Union of the United States, and Charlie Poekel, president of the Palm Beach Branch of the English-Speaking Union. Other guests represented the arts and cultural organizations that Pray has championed.
Speaking for Pray was Dr. E Quinn Peeper, Chair of the English-Speaking Union of the United States and His Majesty’s Honorary Consul General in New Orleans. “We are profoundly grateful to Natalie Pray as a longtime supporter of our mission, who serves tirelessly as Branch President and as a former National Board member. A Patron of both our National Shakespeare Competition and International Scholarship Programs, she represents the best of what our community offers students, educators, and lifelong learners.”
Pray was also the recipient of the English-Speaking Union’s Princess Royal Award, awarded to her in the presence of HRH, Princess Anne, at the ESU Centennial Gala in New York City in 2022.
