Erotic painter Molly Parkin is shocked to receive rare honour from the Queen As an erotic author known for her outrageous exploits in the Swinging Sixties, Molly Parkin hardly considers herself part of the Establishment. The painter has, however, been awarded the rare honour of a Civil List Pension by the Queen. "I am flabbergasted," she tells Mandrake. I got a letter saying it was an appointment of high honour, at the discretion of the Queen, for my service to the arts. I looked into it and, in the past, people like Byron and William Wordsworth have got them. Parkin, 80, whose lovers included Sir John Mortimer and John Thaw, declines to say how much the pension is. "It's not a great deal of money, but it does make a notable difference," says the impecunious artist. Prince Philip agreed to write the preface for James Hogg's biography of his friend James Robertson Justice, the much-loved actor, but suggested that some of the most eye-watering passages be cut from the chapter about Parkin. "I thought there was no way I'd get one, as Prince Phillip might not approve," she says of the pension. I haven't led the type of life that would get singled out by the Queen, or Parliament, for that matter. I was very surprised and just astonished. I was the boozing companion of Francis Bacon. I don't think I'm the type of person who gets these. I heard I might be getting one before it was announced, but that very few go through. The Queen put forward my name and then Parliament had to vote on it.