Queen Camilla appeared in high spirits as she made a surprise appearance at a book event in central London on Wednesday. 

The royal, 77, dropped in at the event’s open-air venue in Bloomsbury, central London, to congratulate finalists for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and Non-fiction and hail the founders of the award for having ‘brought the female voice from the margins of the literary world to its very centre’. 

The avid reader was snapped basking in London’s 23-degree weather while conversing with those who were invited to the occasion, as they posed for pictures together in a picturesque garden.

Founder and author Kate Mosse, who invited Her Majesty to attend the anniversary event, said her presence had been kept secret: ‘Nobody knew, which is why people were so surprised. If you’re going to lay on the Queen, if it’s not Beyoncé, it’s got to be the actual Queen.’

She added: ‘You can tell when someone has read your book genuinely and when they’ve been given a briefing sheet. And she’s a reader, a genuine reader, and someone who genuinely champions women.’

Camilla looked regal as she stepped out in the eye-catching Grace dress made with Liberty Green Peacock Manor Silk from Bombshell London.

The frock has a green peacock pattern with long sleeves and a collared neckline, along with a belted waist to show off her slim frame.

It retails for £599 and is described as being ‘inspired by Grace Kelly and Dior dresses of the 1950s’. 

The mother-of-two paired her ensemble with suede indigo-coloured heels and accessorised with gold jewellery, sporting her glitzy £4,500 Van Cleef & Arpels 18 carat gold bracelet featuring the famous blue clover motifs and vibrant turquoise earrings. 

The queen wore her signature platinum blonde tresses down in a wavy blow-dry and opted for natural makeup with a hint of pink lipstick.

In the Green Room area, she was introduced to the six authors shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, including Nussaibah Younis, whose novel Fundamentally tells the story of an academic who travels to Iraq to deradicalise a teenage Islamic State recruit.

She joked that the competition was stiff between finalists, telling Camilla, ‘We are trying to take each other out. The Champagne glasses are spiked – there could be one less standing by this afternoon!’

The Queen recognised Yael van der Wouden, author of The Safekeep, telling her: ‘We met at the Booker [Prize]. Good to see you again.’

And turning to Tell Me Everything writer Elizabeth Strout, she said: ‘I have read your books, they are lovely.’

‘Good luck to you all,’ she told the group. ‘I shall be thinking of you.’

Her Majesty was then introduced to the six shortlisted authors for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction, which include Neneh Cherry, Rachel Clarke, Chloe Dalton, Clare Mulley, Helen Scales and Yuan Yang.

The Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction is held annually and is open to all female writers from around the world who are published in the UK and are writing in English.

Each winner receives a cheque for £30,000 and a piece of limited-edition artwork known as the ‘Charlotte’, both gifted by the Charlotte Aitken Trust. 

The shortlist consists of six books described as being united ‘by the power of hope and the necessity of resistance to initiate change’.

Camilla including singer-songwriter and rapper Neneh Cherry, whose debut book, A Thousand Threads tells the story of her career.

‘I wrote a memoir, a book about my life,’ she told Camilla.

‘It took more than four years to write it and I’m still slightly recovering. It’s out there now, I have let it go, it’s out in the world.’

The Queen told Claire Mulley, whose Agent Zo tells the story of the Polish wartime resistance fighter Elzbieta Zawakca, ‘I think I will put that on my holiday reading list.’

And she delighted author Chloe Dalton by telling her she had read her memoir Raising Hare about swapping the rat race for a rural life.

‘Thank you so much, I am honoured,’ she replied.

The Queen was then reunited with Girl, Woman, Other author Bernardine Evaristo, winner of The Women’s Prize Outstanding Contribution Award – a special one-off award for the 30th anniversary year.

There was a quick stop off in a pop-up Waterstones tent, where authors had been signing their books and Camilla was told the bar was kept open late for those queuing to meet their favourite writers.

‘Quite right,’ she agreed.

On a visit to an audio stand playing a recording of readers’ favourite literary quotes, she chatted to Aurelie de Troyer, Audible’s head of regional content for Europe, about audiobooks.

‘The nice thing about it is that you can take it with you wherever you go,’ said Camilla.

Making a speech in the Woolf tent in Bedford Square, Her Majesty said the launch of the women’s only prize in 1995 had ‘brought the female voice from the margins of the literary world to its very centre.’

And she hailed it for having ‘transformed the literary landscape for women.’

She said: ‘Three decades later, your achievements are impressive. Budding authors have benefitted from the wisdom of those who have trodden the same path. 

‘Careers have been launched, bestsellers have flown off the shelves into the hands and hearts of the public, and each year you distribute 3,000 books to people in need. And you have forged a community of 16 million readers who love, in your own words, ‘original, accessible and brilliant’ literature.

‘In short, you have transformed the literary landscape for women. If I might return to Virginia Woolf – who never won any kind of award for her work, but who did have this tent named after her – and misquote her, ‘A woman must have a prize of her own if she is to write fiction.

‘Happy birthday, congratulations and thank you to every one of you who has been involved over the last 30 years. ‘And the best of British luck to all our wonderful finalists tomorrow!’

Camilla is highly passionate about promoting literacy in the UK and internationally, with a focus on encouraging children to read from a young age. 

She is patron of several organisations which promote and support literacy, including the National Literacy Trust, Book Trust, First Story, the Wicked Young Writer Awards and Beanstalk.

During a talk on World Book Day in 2020, the queen stressed the importance of reading to children at a school and said: ‘If can give you one piece of advice, it is to put down your phones and pick up a book, especially before you go to bed. 

‘Books never lose their signal or run out of battery and they will always take you to a thousand different worlds with every turn of a page.’ 

 

This comes as the queen braved the rainy weather to visit what she called ‘the most beautiful racecourse’ and open a new stand that was named in her honour last week.

Despite the downpour, Camilla, who took shelter under a sheer umbrella, was on jolly form and smiled broadly as she chatted to locals after touring privately-owned Hexham Racecourse – Northumberland’s only track.

The Queen was shown around the venue, 600ft above the town, which boasts views across the county and an undulating jump track which sits in a natural amphitheatre.

Camilla, under a photograph of the late Queen’s horse No Trumps, which won a race at the course in 2019, said she hoped to come back with a runner one day.

She wore a pale-blue Bruce Oldfield outfit and a horseshoe brooch marked Minoru, which was a horse owned by Edward VII.

After officially opening the Queen Camilla Stand, she said: ‘How thrilled I am to be here in Hexham.

‘I haven’t been here, I am ashamed to say, before but it really is the most beautiful racecourse. It has the most wonderful views.

‘Unfortunately, I didn’t bring the weather with me, I can imagine what it is like on a sunny day because it looks pretty good on a day like this. Next time, I hope to come back with a runner. Hopefully it emulates No Trumps.’ 

The Queen intermittently used an umbrella during the visit and even conducted a walkabout outside the Abbey in a downpour to meet members of the public, which included her tactful avoidance of a group of anti-monarchy protesters from Republic. 

The Queen spoke to racing industry figures including trainer Charlie Brooks, who said afterwards: ‘She is very engaged in racing issues and, without putting words in her mouth, is understanding of the challenges – she knows her stuff.’

Robert Whitelock, racecourse manager, showed the Queen around the site and said afterwards: ‘It is wonderful that she came up here and I think she is delighted about the stand being named in her honour.’

Racing has been held in Hexham since 1670 and National Hunt Racing started at the current site in 1890.

The Queen, like her late mother-in-law before her, is a long-standing supporter of horse racing and has loved horses since she was a girl.

She once told ITV Racing: ‘I could probably ride before I could walk.’

A follower of jump racing from her teenage years, Camilla recognised the odds were against being a winning racehorse owner.

Speaking to the channel in 2021, she said: ‘I think people go into racing who don’t know a lot about it and think ‘Oh, we will buy a horse and it will win a race’, but it’s terribly difficult to win any race anywhere. 

‘The odds are actually stacked against winning, aren’t they?’

Queen Camilla is a longtime and avid supporter of the sport and along with the King, has inherited Elizabeth II’s beloved thoroughbreds.