What empire? Why Doris Lessing said no to being made a dame

NOBEL Prize-winning author Doris Lessing rejected an offer to be made a Dame because of Britain's "non-existent Empire", a letter released today reveals.

The author and Camden resident was offered the chance to become Dame of the British Empire in 1992 in a letter from Alex Allan, principal secretary to the then-prime minister John Major.

But the author of The Golden Notebook, who won the Nobel last year, declined. She wrote: "I am very pleased. But for some time now, I have been wondering, 'But where is this British Empire?'" Lessing who grew up in what is now Zimbabwe but was then Southern Rhodesia, added: "When young I did my best to undo that bit of the British Empire I found myself in: that is, old Southern Rhodesia." However, she ended: "And yet how pleasant to be a dame! Please forgive my churlishness. I am sorry, I really am."

Lessing, who also rejected an OBE in 1977, finally accepted the title of Companion of Honour for "conspicuous national service" in the 2000 New Year Honours list.

The letter is one of about 100 to be given to the University of East Anglia and was announced today to mark the writer's 89th birthday. The archive also contains scores of letters detailing a love affair from 1943 to 1949 with RAF officer John Whitehorn, brother of journalist Katharine Whitehorn.