Murdered backpacker Grace Millane's mother Gillian received her OBE at Windsor Castle yesterday.
Murdered backpacker Grace Millane's mother Gillian received her OBE at Windsor Castle yesterday.
The mother of Grace Millane, the British backpacker murdered in New Zealand five years ago, has been appointed an OBE for charity work she created in her daughter’s memory.
Speaking to BBC News after the appointment, Gillian Millane said receiving the honour was “truly a special day and one that will last forever”.
The pair founded charity Love Grace following Grace Millane’s death in 2018, through which they collect donated handbags and fill them with toiletries for domestic abuse victims. To date, they have filled 15,600 bags for women in the UK and across the world.
Grace Millane, 22, was killed by a Tinder date who claimed he'd consensually choked her.
A post on the Love Grace Facebook page said it was an “incredible day for Gill at Windsor Castle today receiving her OBE from Prince William”.
“As always we couldn’t do this without you all here supporting Love Grace every step of the way... Grace and David would be so proud of you Gill.”
The father of murdered backpacker Grace Millane, David, died in 2020 following a battle with cancer.
In comments reported by the British media in December, Gillian Millane and O’Callaghan said they were surprised and humbled by their awards and thanked those who nominated them. They dedicated the OBEs to Grace, who they said would be proud of the impact that their charity, Love Grace, has had.
The late Grace Millane loved handbags. Photo / Chris Steel
“I don’t think she would believe how big Love Grace has become and how many women we can help by offering a bit of normality to,” O’Callaghan said in a statement reported by the PA Media news agency.
“She would have also probably been amused that we have been to Downing Street and are now to meet a member of the Royal Family.”
The women said they would continue to raise awareness of violence against women so that other families do not experience what they did when Grace was murdered in Auckland in 2018.
O’Callaghan added: “We wanted to create a legacy in Grace’s memory and directly help women who have been affected by domestic abuse, to turn our negative into a positive.
“If we help just one woman, then we have achieved that.
Gillian Millane with her daughter Grace.
“We have been overwhelmed by the support people have shown our ‘Love Grace Handbag Appeal’, from donating handbags and toiletries to running appeals in their own area.”
The OBE ames days after Gillian Millane said in an interview that she was plunged into darkness after her daughter’s death and at one point contemplated killing herself.
“Grace had such a bright future and it was taken away from her and us,” she told the BBC.
“I will never see Grace in a wedding dress or see her grandchildren. This is a life sentence I’ve got. This is me until the day I die.”
But she said she eventually found the strength to keep going.
