Queen Camilla’s book festival – that’s become 1 of UK’s best days out | Royal | News

She may be the brain behind some of the steamiest Regency romances in which smart, witty women fall for handsome titled men while scheming London matrons prowl around Mayfair’s ballrooms like acerbic lionesses, but author Julia Quinn hasn’t let success go to her head – even when it hits the pillow. “I don’t dream about my characters at night,” she smiles. “When I close my computer, that’s it for the day.”

Julia is speaking about her famous Bridgerton series, which exploded onto the world’s stage in 2020 after receiving the full Netflix and Shonda Rhimes treatment. The first season received 113 million views, but when the scene opener is Dame Julie Andrews as the notorious Lady Whistledown, quoting Lord Byron’s immortal words, “Of all b*****s dead or alive, a scribbling woman is the most canine,” you know you’ve got a guaranteed hit on your hands.

The Sunday Express is speaking to the American writer from her home in Seattle, Washington, days before she jets to the UK for the ultimate celebration of reading and literature – the third annual Queen’s Reading Room Festival. This year’s event, running next Friday and Saturday, is being held at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire for the first time, with Julia as one of its guest speakers.

“I love going to book festivals but this one just seemed special,” she says. “I love that the UK has someone like the Queen backing this – in a way that we don’t have in the US. That’s what she’s chosen to do with her platform, by using her position to foster reading. I want everybody to do that. So getting invited was like what? Me? OK!”

Bridgerton returns for its fourth series next year with second Bridgerton brother, Benedict, becoming the focus. “I watched the first lot,” Queen Camilla said of series three of the hit show when touring a Bridgerton-themed garden at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2024.

So what’s it like to know that royalty, and the Queen no less, has seen your work?

“It’s surreal!” laughs Julia. “I’ve seen it mentioned so many times in popular culture, but to have somebody royal say they’ve watched it or read it is crazy and a complete honour.”

An irrepressible love of storytelling is something that spurred the Queen to set up the Reading Room back in January 2021. Recommending new reads every month, the project is, in Queen Camilla’s own words, “a resource, a reassurance and a refuge to all book lovers”.

Even though the charity is entirely independent and responsible for its own fundraising, having someone as passionate as the Queen at its heart is certainly a huge bonus.

It’s fitting, then, that books have been her comfort through life’s challenging moments. Reading, Her Majesty has explained, has often been her salvation. “If you learn to read, however difficult your life is at the time, you can pick up a book and you can escape. You can laugh, you can cry, it just takes you out of the real world and it gives you a different dimension to life.”

So she will undoubtedly be thrilled that the festival has grown as quickly as it has, and attracted talent such as Julia. This year’s star-studded line-up also includes Dame Jilly Cooper, Thursday Murder Club author Richard Osman – in conversation with acting veteran Celia Imrie, star of the new Netflix film based on the bestselling book – Bridget Jones author Helen Fielding and Sebastian Faulks.

“For a literary festival to grow this quickly is almost unprecedented,” says Vicki Perrin, CEO of the Queen’s Reading Room. “This year we will be seating our 20,000th seat. It feels crazy to have done that within three years. There’s just been such a positive reaction to the work we do and we’re so blessed to have world-class talent lining up to appear.”

This year’s festival coincides with the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth and will be celebrated with a special screening of Pride and Prejudice in the gardens – a poignant touch as Chatsworth doubles at Mr Darcy’s Pemberley home in the movie.

It’s one of the many reasons Julia was so drawn to the festival. “Usually [at festivals] I’m in the backdrop of a college campus or convention centre so to be at the backdrop of Chatsworth lends it a magical air,” she says.

But there’s a strong message that underpins the work of the Queen’s Reading Room that also appeals. Neuroscience studies conducted by the charity have proven that just five minutes of reading a day can reduce stress by 19% and improve cognitive function by 11%. It also improves resilience, empathy and greater social connection.

“We’re in a reading crisis,” says Vicki about the figures. “Children’s reading rates are the lowest on record and adults’ reading rates are not far behind. Last year, half the UK population neither read nor listened to a single book. Since 2015, the number of non-readers in the UK has gone up by 88% because we’re so glued to our screens.”

She cites a study published by the University of Sussex which found that 60% of respondents felt screen time was making them unhappy. “We’re forgetting that when there’s so much on offer on our screens, the whole world is like a book.

“Her Majesty is someone who says books are for everyone and if you’re interested in anything in the world, you’ll be interested in a book because there will be one for you. That is such a powerful message and so needed – she’s absolutely and completely determined to get more people reading more.”

Julia agrees. “I’m a science girlie, so I think it’s amazing. I love that the charity’s work is backed by science. The data confirms what I’ve always known, which is that reading de-stresses and calms you down.”

And if there is anyone best placed to spread the word, it is the Queen who is “the most well-read person” Vicki has ever met.

“I find it hard to keep up with her,” she laughs. “I’ll pop in and we’ll chat about the books she wants to feature in that month’s Reading Room and she’ll be sitting in her armchair with stacks upon stacks of books surrounding her, plus more piled high on every table. She’s got such a knowledge of what’s coming out, who’s writing what and what’s coming out next – as well as classical fiction. It’s really extraordinary.”

The Queen’s passion for reading comes from her father, Major Bruce Shand, who encouraged her to read as a young girl and it’s clear that it still fires her imagination today.

“She’s got amazing peacock blue eyes, and when she talks about books, they just light up”, says Vicki. “You can see the genuine, authentic passion, and that this is something that she just wants to share with people. Having the privilege of building a charity where the founding patron is so completely committed and so passionate, it’s just a dream, and lots and lots of fun along the way.”

If there’s one thing for sure, it is that the Queen’s taste in literature is diverse and far-reaching. “She loves crime thrillers, but then equally she’ll talk to you about the classics that not many people have heard of,” says Vicki. “She’s just got this absolutely encyclopedic knowledge of what’s coming out next.”

As for Julia, she can’t wait to soak up the literary atmosphere. “I love hearing other authors speak when the opportunity arises,” she says. “It’s so much fun to be in a crowd of people who love reading, it’s a different energy.”

She first came to England as a 17-year-old on a gap year with youth charity English Speaking Union, which provides young people with speaking opportunities on cultural exchanges. “I ended up at a school called Westenberg, which is in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, where the King has a home,” she says. “So I joke that I’m one of the Americans who knows how to say Gloucestershire!”

Despite the initial culture shock, she describes her time here as a “wonderful experience”. Now, she’s returning to the country all these years by royal invitation. “If there is an opportunity to meet Queen Camilla, I would be very excited,” she says.

It’s an incredible journey to have been on, one beyond any writer’s imagination.