PRINCE WILLIAM - CAROL ANN DUFFY BECOMES FIRST FEMALE POET LAUREATE

CAROL ANN DUFFY BECOMES FIRST FEMALE POET LAUREATE

The first female Poet Laureate is to be named today with Carol Ann Duffy set to be appointed in Manchester later today.

The 53-year-old will be unveiled as Andrew Motion's successor Culture Secretary Andy Burnham at a Manchester press conference and takes a prestigious post held by the likes of William Wordsworth, Alfred Lord Tennyson and John Betjeman.

Duffy, who also becomes the first Scot to hold the post in its 341-year history, has said she intends to give away the annual £5,750 salary.

Her predecessor Motion had admitted his work suffered while fulfilling the "thankless" task of composing poems for events of national significance, such as Prince William's 21st birthday or the Queen and Duke and Edinburgh's diamond wedding anniversary.

And when she did not land the post in 1999, following the death of former Laureate Ted Hughes, Duffy remarked: "I will not write a poem for Edward and Sophie. No self-respecting poet should have to."

However, she has since said the role is important for Britain's cultural health, adding "it's good to have someone who's prepared to say poetry is part of our national life".

Writer Wendy Cope, another poet linked with the role as Motion's ten-year tenure neared its end, called for the position of Poet Laureate to be abolished earlier this year.

"There is no requirement on the part of the Palace or Whitehall that the Laureate write anything at all," she wrote in the new issue of the Royal Society of Literature Review.

"The press and the public expect it and the only way to get rid of that expectation is to abolish the post."

Duffy, who works as Professor of Contemporary Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, will be unveiled as the new Laureate at John Rylands Library in the city today.