14-05-2025
Queen Camilla unveils star-studded lineup for her literary festival - with Rivals author Jilly Cooper and Bridgerton creator Julia Quinn set to attend
The Queen is taking her highly anticipated literary festival to Chatsworth this year, with a star-studded line-up of authors for a celebration that will delight bookworms across the country.
The Queen's Reading Room, the literary charity launched by Camilla, 77, in 2023, announced that the festival will see authors Jilly Cooper, Helen Fielding, Richard Osman, Natasha Brown, and Jojo Moyes carrying out interviews and panel discussions.
Taking place on 19 and 20 September, with tickets going on sale today, the festival celebrates and promotes the transformative power of books.
Over the last two years, the festival has attracted audiences from as far away as the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
In its first two-year tenure at Hampton Court Palace in 2024, it sold nearly 20,000 tickets.
Even more famous faces are expected to take part in this year's events, with Lorraine Kelly set to interview Jilly Cooper and actress Celia Imrie speaking to Richard Osman.
Journalist Reeta Chakrabarti will interview Natasha Brown, author of Assembly.
Bridgerton fans are in for a treat with special themed panel discussion featuring none other than Julia Quinn, the author of the beloved series herself.
Samantha Shannon, Sarah Winman, Joanna Cannon, Kristin Hannah, Peter James, Rupert Everett, Robert Harris, Peter Frankopan, Sebastian Faulks, Lady Anne Glenconner, Gyles Brandreth, Sarah Waters, and Alan Titchmarsh have also all been confirmed to take to the festival stage.
The location in which the festival is being held also has a special literary meaning; Chatsworth, in Derbyshire, is the famous backdrop for the film adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
This year also marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen, which will be celebrated with a special screening of Pride and Prejudice in the Chatsworth Garden to open the festival.
Visitors will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the life and legacy of one of the greatest novelists in English literature via a pop-up exhibition of Jane Austen artefacts.
The exhibition is curated especially for The Queen's Reading Room by Jane Austen's House, an independent museum located in what used to be her cottage in Hampshire.
To end the festival, visitors will enjoy a showing of Sense and Sensibility in the garden.
Vicki Perrin, chief executive of The Queen's Reading Room, said: 'After the success of last year's Queen's Reading Room Festival which saw us fill over 10,000 seats in a single day, we are delighted to be bringing our flagship event back for 2025 - this time to the magical surrounds of Chatsworth.
'As a charity, we are committed to ensuring that everybody can access our events.
Bridgerton fans are in for a special treat - series author Julia Quinn will take part in a special discussion panel at the festival
'We are therefore so excited by the opportunity of connecting with more audiences in the UK at Chatsworth and are immensely grateful to Chatsworth House Trust for hosting us - it's clear that, like us, they are deeply committed to championing creativity and the joy of books.
'Whether you're a fan of romance or fantasy, crime fiction or historical fiction - there really is something for everybody at The Queen's Reading Room Festival and we can't wait to see you there!'
Jane Marriott, director of Chatsworth House Trust, added: 'We are delighted to welcome The Queen's Reading Room Festival to Chatsworth, and to share this exciting celebration of storytelling with our local communities and guests from across the UK and the world.
'We often say that Chatsworth is more than a house; it's a place of creativity and community, learning and ideas.
'This partnership between our two charities demonstrates how true this is, and we can't wait for the festival to begin.'
Queen Camilla previously said her hopes for her literary charity is that it 'will be something that everybody can delve into, and find something that suits them, and enjoy it'.
The charity, which reaches more than 12 million people in 174 countries, also published neuroscientific research in 2023 that found that reading for just five minutes a day can reduce stress levels by almost 20%.
Earlier this year, The Queen's Reading Room launched a medal to recognise people who are championing literature in local communities.
The King and Queen held a event to celebrate the launch at Clarence House in March, attended by a slew of famous actors and authors including Sigourney Weaver, Richard E Grant, Helena Bonham Carter, Dame Joanna Lumley, Antony Horowitz and Kate Atkinson.
'Through literature, we experience life through another's eyes, we are comforted, strengthened, we laugh, we cry, we travel to different lands, and we escape the real world.
'In short, books and those who create them, make life better…much better – so thank you!' the Queen said.
Camilla is a longstanding campaigner on literacy and encouraging reading, and is patron of organisations including the National Literacy Trust, First Story, Corma Beanstalk and Booktrust.
Last year, a report published by the National Literary Trust found that reading rates are the lowest on record, with one in two adults not reading a book at all in the last year.
The Queen's Reading Room Medal aims to highlight the work of 'reading heroes' across the country who are working to help their communities overcome that reading crisis.
