Prince William personally delivers damehood to Deborah James as her fundraiser hits £5m
13 May 2022, 22:06 | Updated: 14 May 2022, 00:31
Prince William has paid Deborah James a surprise visit to present her damehood as her cancer fundraiser hit £5 million.
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The future king visit Ms James' family home earlier on Friday for afternoon tea, also honouring her with her damehood.
Ms James was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016 and has kept her more than 500,000 Instagram followers up to date with her treatments.
She revealed on Monday that she is receiving end-of-life care and launched a fundraiser.
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Updating her Instagram followers on the royal visit, Ms James said: "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."
Read more: Cancer campaigner Deborah James awarded a damehood days after revealing hospice care
Read more: Prince William and Kate donate to cancer fund for 'special' Deborah James
She continued: "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!"
Thanks to an incredibly generous donation earlier today, and to every single person who’s donated to the @BowelbabeF, we’ve just reached the unbelievable total of £5 million. We’re completely lost for words. This is all just beyond anything we could have ever imagined. @CR_UK pic.twitter.com/zEgQbUna0O
— Deborah James (@bowelbabe) May 13, 2022
It comes after it was announced on Thursday that the former deputy headteacher had been honoured with a damehood for her "tireless campaigning".
Meanwhile, on Friday evening, Ms James reached the £5 million milestone with her Cancer Research fundraising.
She said she was "completely lost for words" with the achievement.
"Thanks to an incredibly generous donation earlier today, and to every single person who's donated to the @bowelbabefund, we've just reached the unbelievable total of £5m," she said.
"We're completely lost for words. This is all just beyond anything we could have ever imagined. The last 5 days have been surreal.
"Thank you for putting a huge smile on my face, and helping us to launch a legacy to hopefully impact a lifetime cutting edge cancer care."
