Supermodel Lily Cole returned to Cambridge University for her graduation ceremony – a week after scoring a double first class degree.
Lily paraded from King’s College to the historic Senate House to receive her degree certificate, with her proud mum there to watch.
She wore her black graduation gown as she walked in procession with around 100 students from the college, where she has studied for the last three years.
She looked happy and relaxed as she left the ceremony clutching her certificate and joined friends on the college lawns.After the ceremony Lily and the other new graduates were joined by Fellows, college staff, friends and family for a buffet lunch party in the Provost’s Garden.
The skinny model has proved she has brains as well as beauty after gaining the highest possible award in History of Art. She is among a small minority of students to get a double first class degree, which are only awarded to those who gain top marks in their first and final year exams. Her achievement is particularly remarkable as she has spent the last three years juggling her studies with modelling and acting assignments, living between London and Cambridge. Even during her revision schedule she was filming for her debut in Doctor Who, in which she appeared as a man-killing monster called Siren.
Lily, who recently turned 23, has divided her time between studying at Cambridge and working in London. She is recently rumoured to have bought a swanky new £1 million apartment above St Pancreas Station in North London and regularly commuted from there to Cambridge. But throughout her time at the university she has thrown herself into college life, cycling to lectures on a bike, hanging out with her colleagues after class and even modelling in the student newspaper.
Last term she also combined her university life and acting career by starring as the lead role in The Seagull play at the ADC Theatre. She has said that she plans to concentrate on an acting career after graduating this summer. During her time in Cambridge she has starred in Terry Gilliam’s fantasy film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus with Heath Ledger.
She has also filmed for forthcoming roles in There Be Dragons and The Moth Diaries.
“Acting is something I’ve done since I was six years old, performing for my mum and my family in the living room, and I do it because my heart’s in it,” she said in a recent interview.
“I’ll always try to follow my heart into things I love, and modelling is not something I’m dreaming of pursuing forever.”
Lily is now said to be planning a holiday to celebrate her finals’ result. She also scored straight As in her A-levels, gaining top grades in English, philosophy and ethics, and politics at Latymer Upper School in West London.
