WELCOME to the QUEEN'S READING ROOM
The charity and book club of Her Majesty Queen Camilla, championing literature in the UK and beyond.
Play VideoWith their extraordinary power to educate and inspire, books – from authors around the globe – have enriched my life since I was a child. It has therefore been such a joy to watch my Reading Room grow over the years into a thriving book community. Now a charity, I hope that we, together with our partners, can foster in adults and children alike a lifelong love of literature and connect more people with that special magic that can only be found in the leaves of a book.
~ Her Majesty Queen Camilla
The Queen’s Reading Room is the charity working to celebrate and promote the power and benefits of reading and is on a mission to help more people find and connect with books which enrich their lives.
It was formed from Her Majesty Queen Camilla’s book club, which launched in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The club quickly grew into a global online community, as we shared unique insights and conversations with authors selected by The Former Duchess of Cornwall.
Soon, we began to hear from people around the world – telling us that reading was making their lives better – and reinforcing our belief that books make us happier, healthier and better connected by boosting our mental health, brain health and social connectedness.
As a charity, we produce accessible, free educational content around literature 365 days a year through our social channels and website; as well as literary festivals and events; research and campaigns. Join us in reading the selected books each season, or delve into this website to discover reading recommendations, author interviews, never-before-seen archive and lots more. Find out more here and discover interviews with The Queen on her passion for books.
The Queen’s Reading Room Podcast returns with a brand new series
The Queen’s Reading Room Podcast is a place for book lovers – and those who wish they loved literature a little more – to be inspired by the bookish confessions of global literary heroes. Authors from all over the world have shared their own literary treasures with us; revealing their favourite writers, most treasured books and earliest reading memories. This series delves into the homes and hearts of the authors that we love the most.
Episode 1
Neil Gaiman
Episode 2
Mel Giedroyc
Episode 3
Kate Mosse
Episode 4
Peter James
Episode 5
Sir Ben Okri
Episode 6
Santa Montefiore
Episode 7
Clare Mackintosh
Episode 8
Curtis Sittenfeld
Friends of The Queen’s Reading Room Recommend
Stay on your reading journey and be inspired by reading recommendations from your favourite authors and these lovers of literature
His Majesty King Charles III
Bernardine Evaristo
Kazuo Ishiguro
Elif Shafak
Treasures from the Library
Explore some of the UK’s most important and rarely seen books and manuscripts
Books keep our minds fresh and our hearts open.
There is perhaps no greater exercise in empathy than reading a book: placing oneself in another’s shoes, travelling the world and meeting its people. Reading teaches us the value and power of our imagination, as our minds paint pictures to the words and conjure new worlds we may never have dreamed of. And when we realise that power, young or old, who knows what we can achieve. Finding a great book is special; but coming together over a shared love of a story is a very precious thing indeed.
Check out our Books page for stories to make your soul soar, expand your horizons, or simply provide a gentle comfort in times when the world seems dark. Read along with us on our Instagram page, where writers and readers interact, where the reading experience is enriched by education, and where the love of a great story is shared.
Find your next book
Click on each book to access background and exclusive content to enrich your reading experience.
Enjoy interviews with authors, historians, academics and experts.
Some Experiences of an Irish R. M.
By Edith Somerville & Martin Ross
Publish Date: 1899
Some Experiences of an Irish R.M. was the first in a trilogy of books that described the misadventures of Major Yeates, an Anglo Irish countryside magistrate who leaves the British army and moves to Ireland with his new English wife,…
Still Life
By Sarah Winman
Publish Date: 2021 Awards: 2021 InWords Literary Award
1944, in the ruined wine cellar of a Tuscan villa, as bombs fall around them, two strangers meet and share an extraordinary evening. Ulysses Temper is a young British soldier, Evelyn Skinner is a sexagenarian art historian and possible spy.…
I Capture the Castle
By Dodie Smith
Publish Date: 1948
Cassandra Mortmain lives with her bohemian and impoverished family in a crumbling castle in the middle of nowhere. Her journal records her life with her beautiful, bored sister, Rose, her fading glamorous stepmother, Topaz, her little brother Thomas and her…