Ok - so I realised that the html colors are hex, and that if I convert the
hex to dec I can then do what I want...so...
I made the following function:
Function HexToDec(ByVal Hex As String) As Color
' Declare variables
Dim strHexRed As String
Dim strHexGreen As String
Dim strHexBlue As String
Dim strDecRed As String
Dim strDecGreen As String
Dim strDecBlue As String
' Remove # character
If Left(Hex, 1) = "#" Then
Hex = Right(Hex, (Len(Hex) - 1))
End If
' Fix length of hex color to 6 characters
If Len(Hex) > 6 Then
Hex = Left(Hex, 6)
End If
' Set RGB hex values
strHexRed = Left(Hex, 2)
strHexGreen = Mid(Hex, 3, 2)
strHexBlue = Right(Hex, 2)
' Set RGB dec values
strDecRed = CLng("&H" & strHexRed)
strDecGreen = CLng("&H" & strHexGreen)
strDecBlue = CLng("&H" & strHexBlue)
' Return colour to calling code
Return (Color.FromArgb(strDecRed, strDecGreen, strDecBlue))
End Function
Which I can now call like thus:
cell.backcolor = HexToDec("#d4c5db")
or
cell.backcolor = HexToDec("d4c5db")
Seems to work well - if anyone has better solutions I'm open to suggestions

)
Regards
Rob