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Hilary Mantel is made a dame

Author Hilary Mantel, a newly named dame, with her Dame Commander of the British Empire medal.
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You can call her Dame Hilary Mantel.

The British writer was awarded her damehood by Prince Charles in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on Friday for her services to literature.

Mantel is best known for her novels “Wolf Hall” and “Bring Up the Bodies,” both of which took the Man Booker, England’s top literary prize, as well as topping bestseller lists on both sides of the Atlantic. In the books, she chronicles the machinations of Thomas Cromwell, adviser to Henry VIII.

After the Prince of Wales pinned on Mantel’s medal, he engaged her in conversation that couldn’t be picked up by the cameras. Asked after the event what he’d said, Mantel responded that the prince told her he is watching the television version of “Wolf Hall” and enjoying it “very much.”

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The “Wolf Hall” miniseries is airing on BBC2 in England. The program will broadcast in America on PBS in April.

Mantel plans a third book in her Cromwell series, but has yet to begin writing the final novel.

Book news and more; I’m @paperhaus on Twitter

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