Deborah James, 40, took to Instagram this evening to reveal to her 621,000 followers that Prince William had paid her a visit at home. The BBC podcast host has been honoured with a Damehood after raising an incredible £4million for charity, since breaking the sad news earlier this week that she was receiving end of life care following a long battle with bowel cancer.
She wrote: “Prince William actually came to our family house today!!
“I am utterly honoured that he joined us for afternoon tea and champagne, where he not only spent a generous amount of time talking to my whole family but also honoured me with my Damehood.
“It’s quite surreal having a royal pop in at home, and yes you can imagine the cleaning antics and preparation went off the scale – but it was all irrelevant because William was so kind and he put us all at ease.
“He is clearly passionate about improving oncology outcomes as the President of the Royal Marsden.
Yesterday, Downing Street announced the news of Deborah’s Damehood in a press release, which stated: “The Queen has been pleased to approve that the honour of Damehood be conferred upon Deborah James.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement: “If ever an honour was richly deserved, this is it.
“Deborah has been an inspiration and her honesty, warmth and courage has been a source of strength to so many people.
“Through her tireless campaigning and by so openly sharing her experience she has not only helped in our fight against this terrible disease, she has ensured countless others with the Big C have not felt alone.”
The Queen’s honours are usually announced as part of the New Year Honours or the Queen’s Birthday Honours, but they are occasionally given at other times in exceptional circumstances.
After a long fight with stage four bowel cancer, Deborah took to social media to bid a heartbreaking farewell to her followers, explaining she didn’t know how much longer she had left.
The star gained a huge fanbase back in 2016, when she was diagnosed with stage three bowel cancer at the age of 35.
Deborah is married to Sebastien Bowen, and they share two children – 14-year-old Hugo and 12-year-old Eloise.
