Daredevil diver Tanya Streeter has been confirmed as a real aquatic queen after winning an honour usually reserved for royalty.

The former Roedean School pupil will feature on a set of commemorative postage stamps issued in the British colony of the Turks and Caicos Islands, near the Bahamas.

The honour is especially rare because British overseas territories usually abide by a convention which prevents any non-royal living people being the main subjects of a stamp.

But Tanya, 29, has become a sporting icon after smashing eight world records in free-diving.

Other people who have been chosen to feature on Turks and Caicos stamps include Martin Luther King, John F Kennedy, Elvis Presley, Christopher Columbus and Winston Churchill.

Government ministers in the resort decided to honour Tanya after she broke both the women's and men's "no limits" free-diving world record last August.

She plummeted 525ft on a weighted sled attached to a steel cable, to go deeper than any other human and get the record. The death-defying stunt caused her lungs to shrink to the size of oranges.

Tanya, who lives with her husband Paul in the United States, was initially baffled when told of the honour.

But she said: "I am thrilled and really honoured about this news."