Olivia Williams reveals she will never be cancer-free

Olivia Williams has revealed that she will never be cancer-free after a rare tumour was repeatedly misdiagnosed.

"If someone had f**king well diagnosed me in the four years I'd been saying I was ill, when they told me I was menopausal or had irritable bowel syndrome or was crazy, then one operation possibly could have cleared the whole thing and I could describe myself as cancer-free, which I cannot now ever be," The Crown actor, told The Times.

In the interview, Williams recalls enduring a myriad symptoms from aching limbs to chronic diarrhoea as she visited doctors in three countries over a four-year period.

Doctors initially suspected the autoimmune disease lupus or that she was perimenopausal, but both were ruled out after testing.

Finally, a UK rheumatologist discovered Williams had a cancerous tumour in her pancreas.

Williams has undergone multiple surgeries to remove the tumour, but because of the late detection, it has metastasised to her liver. She now takes medication and undergoes regular scans.

She has also been treated four times with targeted internal radiotherapy.

"It's supposed to buy me maybe a year, maybe two or three years, of freedom from treatment," she said. "In the best-case scenario, it would have made (the metastases) disappear, but that didn't happen."

Williams has had a notable career on stage and screen, including playing Camilla Parker Bowles in the final two seasons of Netflix's The Crown.

She also appeared in two episodes of Friends as Felicity, a bridesmaid at Ross and Emily's wedding.