Camila, Duchess of Cornwall could be coming to a TV screen near you after she revealed she would be happy to have a cameo in ITV’s crime drama Grace as none other than a dead body.
The statement was made by the 74 year-old to Peter James (author of the series), while he visited Shoreham last summer.
They began communicating six years ago, after James, also at 74, found out that the Duchess was an admirer of James’ work.
Peter James was told by the Duchess and Grand Duchess that they would love to be a guest as a body dead in ITV’s Grace 3 season 2.
Peter and Camila became friends after discovering she liked his work. They are seen together on the set of Grace, Season 2, Shoreham in November 2021
However, it was during lockdown when he discovered that she had chosen his Roy Grace novels for her book club – the Duchess’s Reading Room – that he invited her to the set.
James asked her during her November 2021 visit if she wanted to be a part of the next season.
He said: ‘I jokingly said, “Would you like a cameo in the next series,” and she said, “yes, maybe I could be a dead body”.
‘I think she might do something. I’m definitely going to drop her a note and say the offer is open.’
The first series of Grace is, an adaptation of best-selling author James’s book Brighton, was one of ITV’s most successful dramas with more than eight million people tuning in to watch
Peter met with the Duchess to have a talk about the experience, which he called’surreal.
Peter stated that his first contact with Camila was when he found out that she liked his books.
He said: ‘About five, six years ago I got a very excited email from a friend saying, “get the Daily Mail, look at page five”, and there was a photograph of the Duchess in her library and there about six Roy Grace books right behind her head.
‘She said Peter James was one of her two favourite writers, so I wrote to her as a thank you.
‘Since then, we had this correspondence where she would write to me after every book – a hand-written letter, always very charming.
Peter and Camila met on the set of Grace, ITV. She said she wanted to be a part in next season’s series.
‘Then she started doing a book club during Covid called the Duchess’s Reading Room, and selected the Roy Grace novels.
‘I asked her if she’d like to come to the set and see some of the filming and she said absolutely.’
Peter revealed how the pair enjoyed a ‘surreal’ half an hour chat over lunch.
He said: ‘She was really good fun. It was almost surreal – she and I were sat on two chairs in this bare warehouse with all her entourage around.’
John Simm stars as Detective Superintendent Roy Grace in the series which has been a huge success with eight million people tuning in to watch the first season
‘She had a banana and soup in a thermos flask, and one of her ladies in waiting offered me a sandwich. It was just so natural.’
The first series of Grace is, an adaptation of best-selling author James’s book Brighton, was one of ITV’s most successful dramas with more than eight million people tuning in to watch.
The film follows Detective Superintendent Roy Grace’s personal and professional journey. John Simm plays him. He dedicates himself to cold cases following the six-year disappearance of his wife.