“I was incredibly grateful to receive [the OBE] in the 2009 Queen’s birthday honours list, for it was awarded not just for my job as an actor but ‘for activism for equal rights for the gay and lesbian community, USA,’” wrote Cumming.

He had become an American citizen a year earlier and cited some of the homophobic bills in that country that he had campaigned against: the Defence of Marriage Act, which prevented federal recognition of same-sex marriages, and the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy that barred openly gay, lesbian or bisexual people from serving in the military.

At the time of receiving his OBE, Cumming had said in a statement: “I see this honour as encouragement to go on fighting for what I believe is right and for what I take for granted as a UK citizen.

John Lennon returned his MBE in 1969 in protest against “Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts”.

More recently, he has been seen on screens starring as the host of the American version of hit show The Traitors, a role he appears to have embraced with glee.

“He presents as if he is a supply teacher sent to look after an unruly classroom that he can’t be bothered to discipline … he is evidently having a ball,” read the Guardian’s review.