The Queen’s Reading Room Festival at Chatsworth House

Now in its fourth year, The Queen has joined authors and festival-goers at 'The Queen's Reading Room Festival'. 

On the lawn of Chatsworth House, Her Majesty visited the Writer’s Room tent, where aspiring writers could seek advice on publishing their work, and the Poetry Tent, where poems were displayed on a ‘Poetry Tree’. 

In the Book Club Tent, The Queen joined members of local book clubs and representatives from the Elm Foundation, with which The Queen’s Reading Room has been working as a local charitable partner over the past year.

The Queen’s Reading Room, launched by Her Majesty The Queen in 2023, is a charity celebrating and promoting the transformative power of books in the UK and beyond. The charity was born from an Instagram book club launched in lockdown of 2021.

Through neuroscientific research, the charity seeks to discover and celebrate the unique power of books to improve brain health, mental health and social connection. Its study using brain scans and skin conductance tests found that just five minutes of reading fiction both reduces stress by nearly 20% and improves the brain’s capacity to manage stress; all while boosting concentration and focus and reducing feelings of loneliness.

Addressing guests at the Festival, The Queen said:

I created my Reading Room simply because, like all of us here, I love books and their life-enhancing power and I want to share that love with others. In those early days, I had no idea if anybody would be interested, but 6 years on, we are a global community of millions from over 180 countries, swapping recommendations, undertaking research and donating thousands of books to women’s refuges and homeless shelters.

Following this, Her Majesty watched a performance of William Sieghart’s Poetry Pharmacy, in which actor Natascha McElhone performed poetry prescribed by Sieghart to treat emotions.

Staged to celebrate the National Year of Reading, The Queen was also shown Chatsworth’s House of Stories exhibition, featuring items of particular significance to Chatsworth, including first and early editions of works by Chaucer, Dickens, Oscar Wilde and Charlotte Brontë.

Finally, The Queen spent time with literary figures taking part in the festival, including Lee Child, Elif Shafak, Kate Atkinson and Ken Follett.