Lisa Ray to host Queen Elizabeth II

New Delhi: Life has never been better for actress Lisa Ray, who after successfully beating cancer will now play host to none other than Queen Elizabeth II, during an event to celebrate the creation of Canada. The model-actress born to a Bengali father and a Polish mother in Canada, will host the monarch and her consort Prince Philip at a informal lunch on Monday.

"I will be hosting the informal lunch for Queen Elizabeth`s visit to Toronto this Monday. It`s a huge honour especially on the heels of my recovery," the 38-year-old actress told reporters. Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain is, because of political compromises made over the years, still Queen of Canada and is likely to be Queen of the country for the rest of her life. Ray, who played the beautiful but tragic widow Kalyani in Deepa Mehta`s Oscar nominated film `Water`, had shocked the international film fraternity when she announced last September that she is suffering from Multiple Myeloma, a rare form of cancer. But the actress who shot to fame as a teenager after featuring in a racy Bombay Dyeing advertisement which saw her in a black swim suit, successfully recovered from the disease ten months after the diagnosis. Ray, who was featured in the Canadian edition of Hello magazine as one of the `50 Most Beautiful People` of the country, says that life has never been better for her. "I feel re-connected to the world and it`s people like I have never felt before. I had continued working while undergoing treatment and I am also writing a book now," said Ray. Her most recent movie, `Cooking with Stella` had opened the Indian Film Festival in US city as a benefit for the Los Angeles-based Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research. PTI