What a year it’s been for Dame Mary Berry. The Queen of Cakes has celebrated her 90th birthday and been hailed as “a true national treasure” by none other than the Prince of Wales.
“I had to bite my lip, because you feel, ‘Oh, goodness gracious me!’” Mary says of the moment Prince William paid a surprise tribute to her on live television during a One Show special on her actual birthday (24 March). “I was totally overcome. I thought, ‘I must hold myself together.’”
Dame Mary is so much of an admirer of His Royal Highness that, for a moment, she loses her famous cool and sounds almost girlish. “I mean, to see Prince William on the screen saying that I’d taught him all he knew about cooking… well! I’ve done quite a few things with him and, gosh, he’s competitive. So is Catherine.”
To mark her milestone birthday, there was also a big family party in Bath, her hometown. Dame Mary and her husband Paul, a retired seller of antique books, were joined by their daughter Annabel, an author and cook; and son Thomas, a tree surgeon. Also present were her five grandchildren.
“That was absolutely lovely. My grandchildren all did little speeches. That made me laugh. Hobie [Annabel’s 18-year-old son] told the story of how I took him racing at Cheltenham,” remembers Mary with delight. “We went to place a bet, I gave him my card and it wasn’t accepted. So he told everyone: ‘Granny took me racing and I had to bail her out using my card when she was betting on a horse.’ Which was absolutely true.”
Mary cuts a formidable figure on screen when she’s instructing us how to cook or bake, but in person she gently undercuts that image with stories like this at her own expense.
We are talking at Phyllis Court, the private members’ club by the river near her home in Henley-on-Thames, where Dame Mary comes twice a week to play croquet.
“I absolutely love it,” she says. “My husband is better than me. He’s a sportsman who played rugger for Saracens. He’s 93 but he decided to play croquet, so I said I’d play too. I’m not as good as him, but it’s something we do together, which is great.”
Mary wears whites for croquet, as per the club rules, but today she looks tanned and well in a sky-blue sweater from Luella, black Weekend Max Mara trousers and loafers from Russell & Bromley. Her white hair is immaculate, as ever.
“My mother was 105 when she died, so I’ve got pretty good genes. I’m immensely grateful for that,” she says. “My fitness routine is to walk the dogs. Darcey [named after the ballerina Darcey Bussell] and Freddie are working cocker spaniels.”
She used to swear by a glass of wine a day, but is that still the case? “Oh yes. The glass has become slightly bigger. I don’t drink until the evening, and then one glass of white will last me.”
The BBC is continuing to celebrate the life of its grande dame by broadcasting Mary at 90: A Lifetime in Cooking. This looks back on her career with vintage footage, but also explores new tastes with friends including presenters Alex Jones and Alan Titchmarsh.
Mary 90, by Mary Berry, RRP: £28 (Ebury Publishing)
(Hero image credit: Nicky Johnston)
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