Joanna Lumley recalls tearful moment she received mystery letter from Buckingham Palace
Joanna Lumley, a devoted royalist and tireless charity supporter, was over the moon when she was appointed an OBE in the 1995 New Year Honours List. However, when an "official-looking" letter arrived at Joanna 's doorstep seven years later, she was somewhat apprehensive.
The Absolutely Fabulous actress confessed to Saga Magazine: "My heart sank because I thought it would say I'd been parking on the wrong side of the street. Then I opened it and was completely overwhelmed. I blubbed."
She revealed that the letter, from Buckingham Palace, informed her she was to be made a Dame.
Joanna added: "I was terribly moved. I don't think you should be rewarded for charity stuff - you do it because you love to help - but it was a big deal."
Joanna remembers that the 2022 awards were the final New Year's Honours bestowed by the late Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen passed away nine months later in September 2022 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, after celebrating her Platinum Jubilee marking her record-breaking 70-year reign.
Joanna remarked: "She left so gracefully, remaining upright and swearing in Liz Truss as Prime Minister until the very last minute. We never saw her use a wheelchair, even though she was very frail. She was compos mentis, then she went to her bed and died."
Joanna has penned a book titled 'A Queen for All Seasons: A Celebration of Our One and Only Queen Elizabeth II on Her Platinum Jubilee', which compiles anecdotes from individuals who had the privilege of meeting the late monarch during her long reign.
In conversation with Jonathan Ross, she revealed that these stories were gathered "from all kinds of people from very grand statesmen people like Ban Ki-moon and Khrushchev and Winston Churchill, right down to little kids who saw her passing by in the street and were allowed to go and give their flowers."
She highlighted one particular tale from Rob Halford, the lead vocalist of rock band Judas Priest: "He went to Buckingham Palace and heard the queen say 'heavy metal.' He said 'I never believed i'd hear The Queen say the words heavy metal.'"
Speaking to Saga, Joanna also expressed her immense admiration for the King: "He was the most brilliant Prince of Wales we will ever see," she stated.
Noting that the King held the title of Prince Of Wales for over 64 years, she emphasised that his cancer diagnosis hasn't hindered him from fulfilling his Royal duties: "He's exceptionally brave, because he really is ill, but practically nobody can keep up with him.
"He packs so much into every day, he walks faster than anybody I've ever met - he's incredible."
Joanna noted that during his time as Prince Of Wales, he experienced "a dark, dark time" when the media sided with Princess Diana against him: "So much mud was flung at the new Queen when she was Camilla Parker Bowles, but now she just goes about her job without any rancour. She's a golden, fabulous person."
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'In fact one of them, a Hartnell dress he made for the Queen to go to the Lawrence of Arabia premiere in 1962, was worn by Princess Beatriz as her wedding dress.' The Queen's designer for over three decades, Norman Hartnell made both her wedding dress in 1947 and her Coronation dress in 1953, both of which will be included in the exhibition. But London designer Hardy Amies is credited with modernising the Queen's look with colourful, more streamlined dresses, beginning in the 1950s. They include an evening dress made of silk chiffon with gold thread embellishments she wore for a state dinner during her visit to Bahrain in 1979 'Queen Elizabeth typifies all that I admire most in the English women's attitude to dress,' he once said. Ian Lloyd, author of The Queen: 70 Chapters of the Life of Elizabeth II, says that later in her reign - and particularly after the dawn of colour TV - she increasingly chose to wear one colour head-to-toe, creating a powerful visual impact. He says: 'For the World Cup in 1966 she wore a bright primrose yellow outfit which stood out in the royal box at Wembley. It meant that anyone attending the match would see a tiny figure in yellow and even from half a mile away know it was the Queen. 'It was part of her sense of duty. She knew people often caught just a fleeting glimpse of her from a long way away, so by wearing bright, vivid colours they would know it was her. She used the whole palette of colours, with a matching hat. 'She always stayed true to herself, always dressed as the Queen. One of her designers told me she was always dressed for a wedding, the kind of thing your mum or aunty would get once for an important occasion she would wear every day. 'She'd be on a royal engagement in Sheffield or Birmingham and have the handbag, the pearls, the court shoes, hat and gloves. She was always dressed immaculately and presented herself in that very formal, elegant way. Today's female royals, like Queen Camilla and the Princess of Wales, don't have the same style, they don't wear gloves or hats in the same way.' Ian says that in the last three decades of her life the Queen's clothing was made in-house by her senior dresser and personal designer Angela Kelly. 'It suited the modern era and the Queen's desire to save money and 'make do and mend' attitude,' he says. It also meant the Queen could be even more hands-on with the design process. According to Ian, she had a unique understanding of the soft power behind her clothing, and often incorporated a message into what she wore. 'She was the past master of diplomatic fashion,' he says, remarking how she often dressed to suit the country she was visiting. She researched the country and then would incorporate the national colours into her dress, it was a diplomatic coup.' One of the dresses that will be on display is a gown, designed by Norman Hartnell, for a 1961 State Banquet in Karachi, which incorporates Pakistan's national colours through a dramatic green pleat cascading down the back. In 2011, the Queen arrived for an historic four-day visit to Ireland wearing an emerald green coat and hat - widely interpreted as a gesture of reconciliation and goodwill. Later, at a state dinner, the quiet diplomacy continued when she wore a silk dress adorned with 2,091 hand-sewn embroidered shamrocks, while a Swarovski-embellished Irish harp was pinned to the left shoulder. For a monarch constitutionally bound to remain mute on political issues, the Queen became known for the coded messages embedded in her choice of attire. In June 2017, almost exactly a year after Britain's vote to leave the European Union, she addressed parliament dressed in the blue and yellow of the EU flag, with the flowers on her hat mimicking the flag's stars. Her brooches often wielded intent. When she met Donald Trump, during his 2019 state visit, she wore three different brooches on each day. The first had been given to her by Trump's political nemesis Barack Obama, the second by her the Governor-General of Canada, and the third was one the Queen Mother had worn to King George VI's funeral, a brooch inextricably tied to mourning . The 'Life in Style' exhibition, which will run from spring to autumn 2026 with tickets on sale from November, will also feature the Queen's jewellery, hats, shoes and accessories, as well as never-before-seen design sketches, fabric samples and handwritten correspondence that reveal the behind-the-scenes process of dressing the most famous woman in the world. Curator Caroline de Guitaut said: 'Over the course of Queen Elizabeth II's remarkably long reign, her distinctive style became instantly recognisable around the world, bolstering the British fashion industry and influencing generations of designers and couturiers. Only now, as the late Queen's fashion archive comes under the care of Royal Collection Trust, can we tell the story of a lifetime of thoughtful style choices – from her hands-on role and understanding of the soft power behind her clothing, to the exceptional craftsmanship behind each garment.'
