Dame Joanna Lumley clarifies ‘friendship’ with Prince Charles while marking Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebration

metro.co.uk:

Sam Ryder, Sir Rod Stewart and legendary singer Diana Ross have taken part in the Platinum Jubilee celebrations to honour the Queen’s 70-year reign.Today, the festivities will come to an end, with Dame Joanna Lumley taking part in Sky News’ coverage as members of the public watch the Jubilee Pageant take place outside Buckingham Palace.For years, Dame Joanna has been referred to as a ‘close friend’ of Prince Charles in the media, making appearances with him on several occasions and receiving her Damehood in the 2022 New Years Honours for services to drama, entertainment and charity.However, while speaking to Metro.co.uk before the Jubilee proceedings officially began, the Absolutely Fabulous star cleared up their relationship, saying that she believes people would be ‘foolish’ to describe themselves as close friends of the royals.‘I’m not close friends,’ she clarified. ‘The thing is, it’s odd this thing about friendship.

I think a friend friend, a close friend, is somebody who you can ring up in the middle of the night. I would not know how to get in touch with Prince Charles, let alone ring him at any time.’Nonetheless, the 76-year-old said that when she has met the Prince of Wales and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall in the past, they have ‘always been extremely friendly’.‘But I think you’re foolish if you say you’re close friends, because you’re not,’ she added, saying that while one can ‘adore them’, they wouldn’t be ‘close friends’ in her view.While she may have only just been announced as a Dame a few months ago, the actor and presenter has ‘loved the Queen all my life’, she said, publishing a book about the monarch called A Queen for All Seasons in October last year.The staunch royal supporter has previously.