Sir Ian was described as “one of the founding fathers of the UK games industry”.

He co-founded Games Workshop in 1975, launching Dungeons & Dragons and Warhammer in Europe, and is currently chairman of video games maker Sumo Group, which is being bought by the Chinese tech company Tencent.

Games Workshop has been one of the London stock market’s great success stories of late, with the firm’s shares surging more than 1,200pc higher over the past five years.

The knighthood handed to Sir David, a major donor to the Remain campaign before the Brexit vote, meanwhile suggests Downing Street may be seeking to put lingering tensions from the 2016 referendum behind it.

Mr Harding, who founded hedge fund Winton Capital Management, gave £3.5m to the Stronger Together campaign and served as joint treasurer of Britain Stronger in Europe. He was knighted for “services to philanthropy”.

Sir Nigel was separately honoured for making L&G into “the UK’s first £1 trillion investment manager” and overseeing a doubling of profits.

Several figures from the retail industry were also recognised for their efforts during the coronavirus crisis.

Former Asda boss Roger Burnley and Co-op boss Steve Murrells were handed CBEs for their “services to the food supply chain”, while Asif Aziz, director of healthcare services at Boots, received an OBE for “services to pharmacy, especially testing for Covid-19”.

Angela Johnson, supply chain manager at Morrisons, was given an MBE for “services to the food supply chain”.