When Emmerdale actress Lisa Riley discovered she was being made an MBE for her services to drama and to charity, she burst into tears thinking no one would have been prouder than her late mother.Cath enrolled Lisa in ballet lessons, aged four, and taught her to celebrate being individual. She also championed her daughter’s acting career until she died from breast cancer in 2012.Lisa, 49, says, “There’s endless sadness and tears that my mum isn’t here to see this. She’d have been so thrilled and so proud. More than you can imagine. She always said, ‘My little girl, she did it!’ And I have. You don’t get bigger than this.“I said to my dad, ‘Mum is up there now, literally having the biggest whisky and Diet Coke. I can just visualise her and hear her saying, ‘Yeah, I couldn’t let her have her 50th in July without a gift from me.’”‌Lisa’s MBE was announced in the King’s Birthday Honours and comes just weeks before her big birthday. The actress, best known as Emmerdale ’s Mandy Dingle, received the news in February, after returning from a city break with her musician fiancé Al Benković.“We got back and there was loads of mail, including a very posh envelope which said ‘From The King,’” she says. “I thought someone was pranking me. I opened it up and I burst out crying to the point of no return. Never in a million years did I think this would happen to me. You hear about people getting it for charity, which is lovely, but to get it for drama – for my job which is my world – is so special.‌“People say to me, ‘Oh, you’ve been on our screens for three and a half decades,’ and when you hear that you think, ‘Wow, that’s a long time!’”Lisa’s MBE was also awarded for her services to charity. Following her mother’s death, she has worked tirelessly for Breast Cancer Now, Maggie’s Yorkshire, Sue Ryder and Sane. She will receive her honour later this year at either Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle, from either King Charles or Prince William. She admits, “Secretly, I really want William!”She also received a handwritten card from Queen Camilla. Lisa continues, “She said, ‘Congratulations for everything you’ve done for television and charity.’ I couldn’t believe it. A letter from the Queen!“I’m a massive royalist, as was my mum. I’ve always loved and respected them. I remember looking at pictures of Princess Anne on magazine covers when I was young and I idolised Princess Diana. I’m a huge fan of Catherine, Princess of Wales too. I think she’s an absolute asset to our country in the biggest way.‌“Back in the day, I met the Queen [Elizabeth II] when I won Yorkshire’s Young Achiever when I started as Mandy Dingle – that was mega.”Lisa joined the soap back in 1995, aged 19. It was only meant to be a short stint, but outrageous Mandy was so popular with viewers that she was invited to join the regular cast the following year. She then won the National Television Award for Most Popular Newcomer.Then, in 1998, she replaced Jeremy Beadle as the host of You’ve Been Framed! – raising audience figures to more than 13 million.She left Emmerdale in 2001 and starred in a host of dramas, from Fat Friends to the Bafta-award winning BBC mini-series Three Girls . She also competed in Strictly , before returning to Emmerdale in 2019.‌She reflects, “I feel like the elder stateswoman these days. I really genuinely look out for the young ones. They come to me for advice, because I have walked the walk and talked the talk. And I’ve been very public about my mistakes, which I think is even more of a reason for the younger cast to realise that I’m the real deal and authentic.”Lisa won even more fans with last year’s appearance on I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! , and since leaving the jungle, she has become a panellist on ITV ’s daytime show Loose Women . She says, “I’m loving being back with the girls on Loose Women . It’s absolutely superb – one thing I can say I’m good at is talking.”The star is now looking forward to her milestone birthday and is going on holiday with Al. The couple met 12 years ago, but have decided not to tie the knot. She explains, “We’re husband and wife in every way, shape and form and I don’t understand how being married would be any different. Neither of us crave it and it actually weirds me out.”Unlike her last big birthday bash for her 30th, Lisa, who quit drinking 11 years ago, will not be hitting the booze at her 50th celebration.‌She says, “When I think of my 30th and how many bottles of Jägermeister we went through! Now it’s going to be how many bottles of Evian. I don’t recognise that girl who had the giant 30th and she wouldn’t recognise the girl approaching 50. My life is the richest it’s ever been without alcohol in it, but I don’t regret a moment, because my 30th was a ball. Those days where you fall over, you pull your tights back up and you carry on were fun days.”And she is excited for another fun-packed year at Emmerdale , revealing that upcoming storylines will link her to bad boy Kevin Townsend (Chris Coghill), who made his dramatic return to the village when his son Lewis Barton (Bradley Riches) is kidnapped. Regular viewers know that Lewis has recently found love with Mandy’s son, Vinny ( Bradley Johnson ).Lisa says, “She’s a smother mother with her son Vinny and she thinks Kev might not be the person he says he is. She’s elated that Vinny and Lewis are together. That’s every Christmas present 50 times over. Her son has come out and is happy in a relationship. But she sees a few hurdles in the road as far as Kev is concerned – she can spot a rogue at 50 metres.”‌Meanwhile, Lisa hopes her life will be tied to Emmerdale for years to come. She says, “I’m fully signed. I can see myself in the show in my seventies if they’ll have me. But I never feel I’m safe. It just takes one storyline for things to switch, or a new producer to come in and go, ‘We don’t like the Dingles. Bye, bye.’“But I genuinely love Mandy Dingle. She’s like my friend that I take to work every day. Sometimes the storylines are serious, but you can still raise a glass of fun for comedy by throwing a bit of Mandy in – that campery and daftness.“There’s a huge event coming up, with one of the big shocks of the year. There’s a scene that’s nine pages – I’ve got one line, but it steals the scene, it’s hilarious!”Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .