Prince makes Mary, the Queen of Tarts, a dame
HER devoted fans implicitly trust her recipes for cakes and souffles to ‘arise’ every time. And now it is arise Dame Mary Berry after she was made a Dame Commander for a culinary career spanning more than 50 years.
The Bath-raised doyenne of British baking has said she is “proud and honoured” with the title – and planned to celebrate with a sandwich.
The queen of cooking was awarded the honour, which also recognises her charity work, by the Prince of Wales during an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle.
Dame Mary famously baked alongside the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during a special Christmas show and she praised Kate as a “remarkable, enthusiastic cook”.
When asked yesterday about her plans to celebrate her damehood, she replied: “We’re going home for a sandwich and the children are coming tonight.”
Following recent surgery after breaking her hip in a fall suffered gardening during the summer, the former Great British Bake Off judge appeared spritely and was joined by her husband Paul Hunnings.
Dame Mary said after the ceremony: “I’m extremely proud and honoured, I just wish my parents were here – they’re looking down and my children are quite excited.
“My aim is to pass on the skill that I love so much, because everybody has to cook each day, whether it’s a student or whatever it is. You’ve got to feed yourself so why not learn to do it well and enjoy it.”
The television cook became a household name to a new generation of cake lovers thanks to her role as a judge, alongside Paul Hollywood, in Bake Off.
“I thoroughly enjoyed being on Bake Off. I was there seven years. We were a great team Paul Hollywood, Mel and Sue – we enjoyed every minute,” she said.
Dame Mary grew up in Bath, where her father Alleyne Berry was mayor and a city councillor for more than 30 years. As a child Dame Mary was not academically gifted but in domestic science lessons she discovered her love of cooking and pursued it as a career.
After studying cooking in France and the UK, she worked for a number of food industry bodies and got her big break when she stepped in to write the recipe pages of Housewife magazine when its cookery editor was away.
Her first cookbook, The Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook, was published in 1970 and she has gone on to write more than 50 others which have sold millions around the world.
Regular appearances on television and radio followed and she has remained a favourite with audiences down the decades.
In her latest BBC series, which has the working title Mary Berry’s Fantastic Feasts, the television chef will come to the rescue of novice cooks hoping to impress a loved one with a lavish meal.
Speaking about positive encouragement from the public, she added: “A highlight is when I’m in a supermarket and someone just touches my shoulder and says ‘I made that lemon drizzle cake and my family love it’ or ‘your lasagne is the best’ – those sorts of things give one a lift in the day, and it’s nice of them to say it.”
Dame Mary has been married to her retired antiquarian bookseller husband since 1966. They have two grown-up children, Thomas and Annabel.
Their younger son, William, was killed in a car crash at the age of 19.
Following his death Dame Mary became a patron of the charity Child Bereavement UK.
She said: “I was lucky to have a very supportive family but there are many people who are not in that position.”
Dame Mary said about the charity: “And I think, whether it’s the siblings who are left or the husband or the wife, it’s a hand to hold and to realise other people are in the same boat.”