The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
‘Bowel Babe’ podcaster’s royal honour
Podcast host Deborah James has revealed she was honoured with a damehood by the Duke of Cambridge at her family home yesterday.
The news came as she exceeded the £5 million mark for her cancer research fundraising initiative.
James shared the news about her royal visit on Instagram, writing: “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. It was such a special day for my whole family, making memories to last a life time.
“He’s welcome back any time.”
The 40-year-old, known online as Bowel Babe after campaigning to raise awareness of the disease, has so far raised more than 20 times her original £250,000 goal for Cancer Research UK.
She reached the milestone yesterday after donations from more than 220,000 supporters, including high-profile figures such as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Her JustGiving page said it is “raising money to fund clinical trials and research into personalised medicine for cancer patients and supporting campaigns to raise awareness of bowel cancer”.
The presenter of popular BBC podcast You, Me And The Big C disclosed on Monday that she had moved to hospice-at-home care to treat her terminal bowel cancer.
James started copresenting the podcast with Lauren Mahon and Rachael Bland in 2018.
Bland died in September that year at the age of 40, two years after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Appearing on BBC Breakfast, Bland’s widower Steve, who joined the podcast as a host following her death, said James “deals in the extraordinary”.
“It’s quite surreal having a royal pop in at home and yes you can imagine the cleaning antics went off the scale