A man from Letchworth has been awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2018 for his services to the police.

Alex Marshall – who grew up in Letchworth and attended what became the John Henry Newman School in Stevenage – followed his grandfather and great-grandfather’s example by joining the Metropolitan Police straight after finishing school.

After rising through the ranks, he transferred to the Cambridge force as a chief superintendent and continued to take on many roles over the years, including deputy chief constable at Thames Valley Police – where he was responsible for policing Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles’ wedding – and chief constable of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

His final job within the force was in 2012 when he became the CEO of the newly formed College of Policing – which he was instrumental in setting up – to improve learning for senior police officers.

He told the Comet: “I’m very lucky to have had such a varied career. I was able to protect national standards in a number of areas for all police forces in my role at the College of Policing.

“In that final role as CEO I was able to support police officers by helping them with standards to work to.

“The reward came as a complete surprise to me. Policing is all I have done for my entire adult life. Since I was 18, I’ve spent 37 years in policing.

“I feel the reward is recognition of some of the great changes and improvements in policing that have been made.

“I am happy and privileged have led these people in making those improvements for the people in the community.

“I come from a long line of police officers back to my great-grandfather, and my son Angus is a sergeant in the Met Police, trying to protect the public.”