Dame Edna Everage swept into the West End to launch her farewell show with some stern words for her audience and the Duchess of Cambridge.

The star, played for decades by Australian comedian Barry Humphries, is embarking on a farewell tour of the UK in October, including a stint at the London Palladium.

The show, called Eat, Pray, Laugh, will also include Humphries’ other creations including drunken cultural attaché Sir Les Patterson.

The comic, who appeared at a press conference in character as his most famous creation, said she would miss her long-standing co-star Madge Allsop, who was played by Emily Perry until her death in 2008.

She said: “She was for many years my sidekick, she would stand at my side and I would kick her.”

Dame Edna had a warning for fans who were tempted to dress down at the shows, saying: “I don’t want to see slovenly dress in my theatre because if I do, I will make an example of you.

“I don’t want to stand on that stage and see people in dirty sneakers, as the Americans call them, or in horrible jeans with holes in the knees and T-shirts, none of that.”

The Australian said the Palladium shows – her first West End appearance in 15 years – would be “a wonderful opportunity for me to recycle some old material”.

She also thanked “little Kate Middleton” for not going into labour during her press conference: “I said, ‘hold off darling while I have the press conference’.

“I said, ‘cross your legs and count to a thousand’, and she has. The royal baby is being postponed specially so my coverage is not obliterated.”