RECORD-breaking Hampshire yachtsman Geoff Holt has a date with royalty next week to be presented with an MBE.

Geoff, the first disabled person ever to sail solo round the British Isles, was made an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for his services to disabled sailing.

The award recognises Geoff’s years of dedication to pushing the boundaries and raising the profile of disabled sailing.

Paralysed from the chest down as an 18-year-old, Geoff, now 44, has broken countless disabled sailing records and most recently sailed more than 3,000 miles across the Atlantic unaided.

Geoff said: “I’ve devoted much of my life to disabled sailing over the past two decades. It’s given me tremendous pleasure, and I hope I get to do the same for the next twenty years.”

Geoff, who will be presented with his medal at Windsor Castle on Tuesday, joked: “The Queen herself is doing the honours - I’ve just got to make sure I don’t run her over in my electric wheelchair!”