Colin Firth’s Ex-Wife Rips Up MBE, Vows to Return Medal Over Royals’ ‘Cowardly Display’ at Trump State Visit

Livia Giuggioli Firth, an Italian activist and ex-wife of actor Colin Firth, has announced her decision to return her MBE honor in protest of the British royal family’s “appeasement” of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Giuggioli Firth, who was married to the British actor for 22 years until their 2019 separation and 2021 divorce, explained her reasoning in an Instagram video, where she tore up her MBE certificate and displayed the medal she intends to return.

“In 2019, I was given this MBE honor for my services in trying to make the fashion supply chain a more just and less deadly place to work for garment workers across the world,” she wrote.

“Although I stand against the British Empire and remnants of that toxic system, I accepted the honour on behalf of the many garment worker activists who had educated and supported me. I also had great respect for King Charles, who was then the Prince of Wales, and his decades battling on behalf of social and environmental justice,” continued Giuggioli Firth, recognized for her work in sustainable fashion and environmental advocacy.

The 56-year-old activist said her perspective changed following Trump’s recent state visit to the U.K., during which a banquet at Windsor Castle was held in his honor.

“As I write this, we see that horrible excuse of a human (called Trump) in full flow at the UN General Assembly, his poisonous rhetoric amplified and legitimized,” she said. “I have been reflecting on his visit to the U.K. last week and I am afraid I can’t reconcile the way he was appeased and honoured and, again, legitimized.”

“In fact, last week’s display showed me nothing of those values I thought King Charles upheld — or its spirit. Rather, a frightening and cowardly display of appeasing someone who stands for the obliteration of the natural world and the most vulnerable people on earth,” she added.

Giuggioli Firth and her actor husband were married from 1997 to 2021 and share two sons, Luca and Matteo. Colin Firth has not publicly commented on his ex-wife’s decision. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen’s 2011 Birthday Honours for his services to drama.

In her post, Giuggioli Firth concluded, “I know so many honorable, decent British people who will be unable to reconcile their deeply held values of fairness and justice with the grotesque pantomime we witnessed. I think it’s only by taking a stand that we can make our feelings known.”

Giuggioli Firth is not alone in returning honors from the British crown. In 2020, Welsh actor Michael Sheen shared that he gave back his OBE after researching the “tortured history” of Wales’ subjugation within the U.K. for his 2017 Raymond Williams lecture.

“By the time I’d finished writing that lecture, I remember sitting there going: ‘Well, I have a choice. I either don’t give this lecture and hold on to my OBE or I give this lecture and I have to give my OBE back,’ ” he told The Guardian.

Sheen chose not to publicize his decision, explaining, “I didn’t mean any disrespect but I just realised I’d be a hypocrite if I said the things I was going to say in the lecture about the nature of the relationship between Wales and the British state.”

Scottish actor Alan Cumming also returned his OBE in 2023, citing concerns about the British Empire. He later told PEOPLE that he was struck by the “incredible” response he received.

“People really understood why it’s complicated, it’s complex, it’s not a black or white thing,” he said.