Queen Camilla made a surprise appearance at the Letters Live event at the Royal Festival Hall in London, reading a poignant letter penned by the Queen Mother. The audience reacted with gasps, cheers, and applause upon her emergence onto the stage.
During the event, which is known for its unannounced celebrity participants reading real correspondence, Camilla, 79, admitted to experiencing stage fright. Actress Olivia Colman, 52, who was also a reader, later congratulated the Queen, telling her, "You did a great job." Colman, who appeared in "The Crown," read three letters during the evening.
Camilla read a letter from the Queen Mother to poet Edith Sitwell, dated September 15, 1952. In the letter, the Queen Mother expressed gratitude for an anthology of poems that provided solace during her grief following the death of her husband, King George VI, in February of that year.
"It is giving me the greatest pleasure, and I took it out with me, and I started to read it, sitting by the river, and it was a day when one felt engulfed by great black clouds of unhappiness and misery," Camilla read from the letter. "I found a sort of peace stealing round my heart as I read such lovely poems and heavenly words."
The letter concluded: "I am deeply touched by your thought of me, I love being given books, and I send you my warmest thanks. I am yours, very sincerely, Elizabeth R."
Other participants at the event included actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Simon Callow, comedians Sara Pascoe and Sindhu Vee, and TV barrister Rob Rinder. Musical performances were provided by the band Elbow and the folk duo The Staves.
Camilla, who is patron of the National Literacy Trust, the charity supported by the event, wore a blue Fiona Clare gown and turquoise and diamond earrings. She was later seen speaking with Cumberbatch and his wife, Sophie Hunter, who introduced the readers. The Queen remarked that she had been "terrified" before her reading. Camilla also noted her disappointment at not being able to wear a wireless headset microphone, unlike many other readers, to which Pascoe quipped, "They didn't dare mic you up maybe."
Letters Live, founded in London in 2013, has previously held events in New York, Berlin, and at the Glastonbury Festival, featuring letters from notable figures such as David Bowie and Charlotte Brontë.
Earlier in the week, Queen Camilla visited the Ebony Riding Club in Brixton, south London. The Royal Mews loaned two horses, Taylor and Margate (known as Maggie), to the charity, which uses them to teach disadvantaged children and young people how to ride and care for horses. Camilla, a keen rider and patron of the charity, praised its work and presented trophies to two young riders during her visit.