Bake Off's Prue Leith teases what may be on her coat of arms ahead of being made a Dame

Prue Leith says she wants to get her own coat of arms when she is made a Dame this ­summer - with her having teased that she may have spoons and spectacles on the crest.

The chef, 82, - who is a judge on the Great British Bake Off - will be appointed near her home in Oxfordshire as there is a backlog at the Palace to hand out such honours.

The writer and restaurateur was made a Dame in June last year in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to food, broadcasting and charity.

She said: "I have a date in May. It was quite funny because the palace wrote to me, and it was one of those really polite letters."

Prue Leith is set to be appointed as a Dame this year (Getty Images)

She however won't be appointed in a ceremony with the Queen or other senior royals (Getty Images)

Prue continued: "They're really good at politeness. It amounted to this, if you put it in bald language, 'We have so many Knights and Dames and CBES and OBEs to get through that if you want to be done by a Royal at one of the palaces, it's going to take years, but you could be Damed by your local Lord ­Lieutenant of Oxfordshire or something. Or you can have it by post'."

She said: "So I decided on the Oxfordshire route because I thought it’s a good excuse for a party. And my ­Lieutenant of Oxfordshire seems quite a sparky nice woman."

Prue is a judge on the Great British Bake Off (Channel 4)

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Discussing getting a coat of arms, she commented: "I'm tempted. I have a feeling it is really expensive and I'll think this is a ridiculous waste of money.

"But [my husband] John is very keen because it gets us inside the College of Heralds. It’s a really wonderful medieval old house. They sit down and help you design a coat of arms."

Prue added: "I thought: 'What would I have? Crossed wooden spoons? Could I get spectacles in there?'"

The new series of the celebrity edition of Bake Off began earlier this week (Credit: Channel 4/Love Productions/Mark Bourdillon) (Press Association Images)

She is currently on screen alongside fellow judge Paul Hollywood for a celebrity version of Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer.

Prue said: "It's a bit more relaxed. I just hate it when I can see one of the bakers doing ­something which is just so wrong.

"Well you can’t stop them in the normal Bake Off - that would be really unfair on the bakers, but on Celebrity… it doesn't seem so terrible to go and help them a bit."

The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer airs Tuesdays at 8pm on Channel 4.

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