Former Northern Ireland first minister David Trimble has been named a life peer in Britain's honour list.
The wife of Democratic Unionist leader the Rev Ian Paisley was also honoured. She is among the first three peers ever to be appointed from the DUP.
Mr Trimble, the former Ulster Unionist Party leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was among 23 working life peers nominated by Prime Minister Tony Blair and other party leaders today.
Mr Trimble has had a low public profile since quitting as Ulster Unionist leader last May. His resignation followed heavy losses in last year's general and local government elections, particularly to the DUP including his own House of Commons seat in Upper Bann.
Eileen Paisley will join former Stormont minister Maurice Morrow and Lord Mayor of Belfast Wallace Browne on the benches of the House of Lords.
Since it became Northern Ireland's largest party in the 2003 Assembly Elections, the DUP has pressed the Government hard for seats in the House of Lords, arguing it was unfair that the Ulster Unionists had so many.
Pressure grew on the government to agree to DUP peerages after the party took nine seats in the General Elections while the Ulster Unionists slumped to just one.
PA