Queen Camilla was comforted by actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman after she delivered a surprise reading at the Royal Festival Hall in London on Thursday night. The Queen stunned the packed audience when she made an unannounced appearance at Letters Live, the celebrated show where famous faces perform readings from real letters.
Gasps rippled through the crowd as the Queen walked on stage, followed by thunderous applause as she approached the lectern to read a letter penned by the late Queen Mother to the poet Edith Sitwell, dated September 15, 1952, just months after the death of King George VI.
Praise from fellow performers
During the interval of the show, actress Olivia Colman, who herself delivered three readings that night, praised the Queen in the artists' bar. "You did a great job," Olivia told her. "I love that they keep it a secret who's coming out. Did you hear the shock when they heard it was you?"
Camilla then confessed to Southbank Centre chief executive Elaine Bedell that she had been "terrified" ahead of her performance. Other performers on the night included Oscar-winning actress Jessie Buckley, and Laurence Fishburne, alongside Daniel Kaluuya, Simon Callow, comedians Sara Pascoe and Sindhu Vee, and television barrister Rob Rinder.
A long walk to the lectern
Dressed in a blue Fiona Clare gown with turquoise and diamond earrings, Camilla told Ms Colman, as well as actor Benedict Cumberbatch who also performed a reading: "All of you were so terrific." Mr Cumberbatch reassured the Queen: "It's a long walk to that lectern, but once you're there it's a lovely audience."
Most of the readers wore wireless headset microphones – and Camilla joked that she was "upset" that she did not get to wear one. "They didn't dare mic you up maybe," Sara Pascoe said.
The Queen Mother's letter
Addressing a captivated audience of hundreds, Camilla read from the late Queen Mother's letter: "It was a day when one felt engulfed by great black clouds of unhappiness and misery. I found a sort of peace stealing round my heart as I read such lovely poems and heavenly words."
The Queen Mother's letter also quoted the poet George Herbert: "Who could have thought my shrivel'd heart, could have recovered greennesse? It was gone quite underground." She reflected that sorrow felt "small and selfish" yet "bangs one about until one is senseless." She thanked Ms Sitwell warmly for the gift, writing: "I can never thank you enough for giving me such a delicious book wherein I found so much beauty & hope quite suddenly one day by the river."
The letter closed as she read: "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."
The event was held in support of the National Literacy Trust, of which the Queen is patron. Founded in London in 2013, Letters Live has since taken place in New York, Berlin and even at Glastonbury festival, with recordings of some readings going viral online. It has brought letters written by people as varied as David Bowie and Charlotte Bronte to the stage. Camilla, a well-known bibliophile, has made championing literacy a central pillar of her charitable work.
