Dame Mary Berry has revealed how lucky she feels to have a husband who is still by her side. 

The TV personality, 90, has been married to husband Paul John March Hunning, 93, for nearly 60 years and they share two other children Thomas, 57, and Annabel, 55.

Speaking at an event during Yeovil Literary Festival this week, she explained how many of her friends are alone after their partner's passed away. 

Paul, a retired antique bookseller, is becoming increasingly 'frail and forgetful' with Mary explaining how she makes sure someone is always with him incase he 'topples over.'

She admitted: 'I am lucky to have him because so many of my girlfriends have not got their husbands. But I have got one. He is forgetful but he is lovely.

'My dear old mum lived until she was 105 and she always used to get really ratty when her friends died. I remember she used to say "So inconvenient!"'

Mary confessed that she doesn't like to be away from Paul and the couple's home in Henley-on-Thames for long periods of time. 

When she is filming her BBC shows or touring the UK to promote her cookbooks, she tries her best to get back to be with him in the evening.

But sometimes if she has to have an overnight stay at a hotel then that is when their daughter Annabel steps in and keeps an eye on him.

Mary added: 'I am very lucky to have a husband who says "You enjoy it. Off you go!" but I am rarely away for the night but when I am my darling daughter will be there to cook his supper and keep an eye that he doesn’t topple over because he is 93.'

She also joked how Paul – whom she has been married to for 59 years - is so terrible in the kitchen, he prefers to open a bottle of wine rather than make a cuppa. 

The chef told fans as she promoted her new book Mary At 90: 'I do the cooking at home. My husband, as he always says, has other qualities.

'My sister in law came to visit us in Penn once and arrived early at about 5pm and I wasn’t there and Paul said "What can I give you? What would you like to drink? Red or white?" and she said "No. I’d like a cup of tea". And he said "I don’t do tea.'"

The former Bake Off judge also explained how she has managed to stay healthy and reach the age of 90 by following some simple rules.

She said: 'I don’t have second helpings. I eat a bit less nowadays – unlike my husband who likes little-and-often snacks like biscuits out of the tin when I am not looking.

'My guilty pleasure is Pringles. If I am having my one glass of wine at the end of the evening.. and the glass is getting bigger.. they are addictive.

'And if I finish work late and I come home starving I have been known to have toast and marmalade and a glass of wine.'

Mary previously revealed she kept her options open when she first met Paul.

The former Bake Off judge said she wanted to 'keep her options open' even though she liked Paul.

She described Paul as 'the London one' while she also had 'several' boyfriends in Bath where she was studying catering in the week.

Speaking with former Bake Off star Sue Perkins on her An Hour or So With podcast, Mary said: 'Paul was a friend of my brother's, and I met him and we sort of did things together.

'But I had another boyfriend in Bath, and he was in London and I used to go home at the weekend.

'Paul was the London one and I had a Bath one, actually there were several in Bath... You keep your options open.'