CBE for Bonham Carter after earlier Oscar blow

She has been given the award for services to drama more than 25 years after her breakthrough role in A Room with a View.

The performance was the first in a string of appearances in Merchant-Ivory films which saw her typecast early on as an English rose restricted to period drama, but appearances in Hollywood blockbusters including Fight Club, Planet of the Apes and the Harry Potter films put paid to that.

Her individual sense of style – she famously walked the red carpet at the Golden Globes wearing one red shoe and one green one – will ensure a posse of photographers will be waiting for her arrival at the investiture ceremony.

It was while filming the re-make of Planet of the Apes that she met her partner, director Tim Burton, and she has gone on to star in several of his films including Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and Alice In Wonderland.

The couple, who have two children, were photographed this year enjoying a New Year’s Day walk with Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife, Samantha, and were believed to have seen in the new year at Chequers.

Bonham Carter is no stranger to political circles. She is the great-granddaughter of former Liberal Party leader and prime minister Herbert Asquith and her uncle Mark was a Liberal MP.