We have big royal news coming out of Clarence House- The Queen will be hosting a literary festival in June! Obviously, as an historian of monarchy, I am excited to witness the Coronation (from a distance) and all of the history that comes with it. However, as a reader, I am quite excited about this festival. Reading is in an odd place right now. BookTok (aka book-themed posts on TikTok) have made reading more popular again but also a target for mocking. I will happily take any public support of reading we can get now! Let’s look at the details for The Queen’s Reading Room Festival!
A New Charitable Organisation
Her Majesty launched her online book club in January 2021. After receiving an incredibly positive response to a booklist she shared during lockdown in April 2020, Camilla decided to establish an online book club to help foster community and encourage a love of reading. Each quarter, she releases a new list of books. Every two weeks, a new book is discussed on the Instagram page, with discussion questions, author interviews and recommendations, and book club suggestions are given.
In late February 2023, The Queen announced that The Queen’s Reading Room is now officially a charitable organisation. TQRR’s goals are to share a love of reading, to foster community around reading, and to connect readers and authors.
HM’s Welcome Message from The Reading Room on Vimeo.
A New Literary Festival
While announcing that The Queen’s Reading Room would now be a charitable organisation, Camilla also announced that she would be hosting a festival at Hampton Court Palace in June. Authors, historians, and performers will host different talks throughout the day. As of the end of February, there is no confirmed schedule. However, there are already some confirmed authors, performers and historians attending: David Olusoga, Dame Harriet Walter, Ken Follett, Dame Judi Dench, and Austentatious.
You will also be able to take literary-themed tours of Hampton Court Palace if you are so inclined.
The Queen’s Reading Room Festival Details
Who: The Queen’s Reading Room, Authors, Performers, attendees
When: Sunday 11 June
Where: Hampton Court Palace (Surrey)
Tickets (and a schedule) will be made available sometime in the beginning of March. I am hoping that because this whole festival and project were born out of an online book club that there will be some sort of online ticket available to see some of the talks. Community is not only the people that are physically close to you, of course. However, Camilla is not known to love online events so I would not be shocked if there wasn’t. (Please keep your fingers crossed for those of us living further away!)
Proceeds from tickets will be going to both The Queen’s Reading Room and Historic Royal Palaces. Both are fantastic organisations and I think that this is a very smart partnership for TQRR to establish.
If you are interested in learning more about the different HRP properties, you can visit my posts on:
Kensington Palace: The Queen’s Apartments, The King’s Apartments, Victoria Revealed: Tiaras
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Will you be attending The Queen’s Reading Room Festival?
Cheers,
The Historian
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Very exciting news! A wonderful event in a wonderful place.