Queen Camilla’s praise for the Mail’s Dame Ann

THE Queen hailed the Daily Mail’s ‘late great’ correspondent Dame Ann Leslie last night as she praised the bravery of journalists in protecting ‘true freedom of expression’.

She was speaking at an event to mark the 135th anniversary of the Foreign Press Association – the world’s oldest and biggest association of international journalists.

Camilla also praised reporters, photographers and their support teams who are currently risking their lives to report from Ukraine and the Middle East ‘in these most difficult of times’.

In her speech she singled out the Mail’s legendary writer Dame Ann, who died earlier this year, and reported from front lines across the world. Queen Camilla said: ‘As the late great Dame Ann Leslie wrote, it is among the sacred duties of journalists to “face the glacier in the cupboard and to expose its coldness and cruelty to the bright, clear and humanising light of day”. That is what she, and all of you, do.’

Camilla was standing in at the FPA’s annual awards gala in London for her husband the King.

In her keynote speech, after which she was presented with honorary membership, the Queen raised a smile as she spoke of her ‘second-hand’ experience of journalists, saying: ‘I have even been the subject of one or two stories myself over the years.’

And she singled out the work of trailblazing women who ‘ have been among the bravest reporters of all, despite the many hurdles they have faced’.

She highlighted Marie Colvin and Daphne Caruana Galizia, who both died in pursuit of their profession. ‘Their courage was matched only by their conviction that the truth matters,’ Her Majesty said.

‘Perhaps this has never been more evident than in our digital age, where disinformation runs rife and where female journalists are increasingly targeted on social media.’

She also thanked journalists for raising awareness of domestic and sexual abuse against women all over the world, an issue on which she has campaigned.

Dame Ann, hailed as one of the greatest foreign correspondents of all time, died in June at the age of 82. She joined the Mail in 1967 and interviewed film stars, entertainers, and political figures, and reported on conflicts and politiLegendary: cal stories in scores of countries.