Dame Joan Collins has hailed Catherine, Princess of Wales a "phenomenal lady" and praised her for being "so real" amid her cancer battle

Speaking to OK! Magazine, she said: "My daughter and I watched it on the news and it brought tears to my eyes.

"We were so, so thrilled. I think Princess Catherine is just a phenomenal lady - I've met her a few times, and she was so kind.

She's so down-to-earth. She's so real. I think that what she has done and how she has helped so many people with cancer, it can't be underestimated."

She added: "You know one in two people are going to get cancer, yes? My mother died of it and my sister died of it. So, for Catherine to come out as she has done, well I think she's absolutely marvellous."

Joan previously paid tribute to Catherine for her bravery in speaking out on her health battle.

Appearing at the Inspiration Awards for Women - where she received the Lifetime Achievement Award - she said: "We talked about children - you know, I'm a mother, she's a mother - and I was extremely sad to hear the news.

"We all knew she wasn't well, but I thought it was incredibly brave of her to speak herself, to make the announcement herself.

"Very unusual for royals to do that, don't you think? And for her to come out and say that, she doesn't have to do it."

Catherine - who has Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, nine, and Prince Louis, six, with her 42-year-old husband Prince William - announced her diagnosis in January during a televised address after undergoing abdominal surgery.

She said: "In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London. And at the time, it was thought that my condition was non-cancerous.

"The surgery was successful. However, tests after the operation on cancer had been present.

"This of course, came as a huge shock. And William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family."