For years now, Queen Camilla has been involved with all sorts of literary patronages. She claims to be a big reader, and she’s sort of assumed the mantle of the “queen of Britain’s literary community.” She’s friends with tons of writers and writers’ spouses, and she now has a “reading room” podcast and such. Well, on Wednesday, Camilla fluffed up her Farrah Fawcett hair and hosted an awards ceremony at Buckingham Palace. The ceremony? The BBC’s 500 Words, a children’s writing competition. The event was star-studded too – Luke Evans, Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Bonneville and Sir Lenny Henry were all in attendance. You’ve got to remember that Tom is actually quite posh and comfortable with all of the royals and aristos. Luke isn’t posh, per se, but he’s a snazzy dresser and he can play posh very well.

The Queen was hailed at a Buckingham Palace awards ceremony for helping to revive a national writing competition which celebrates young talent. Camilla helped host the BBC 500 Words event and was credited by writer and comic Charlie Higson, a member of the judging panel alongside Sir Lenny Henry, as ensuring the project’s return after a three-year hiatus.

The young finalists had their entries read in the palace’s ballroom by a group of celebrity readers who included Hollywood star Tom Hiddleston, actor Luke Evans and talent show judge Oti Mabuse. The Queen presented the gold awards and the winners will be announced during a special episode of the BBC’s The One Show on March 7, World Book Day.

Hiddleston told Camilla after the ceremony “We’ve had a three-year gap”, and she replied, “and I never ever thought we were going to bring it back again, but the very kind people at the BBC did listen, thought it was a good idea and here we are”.

Since the competition was first launched in 2011 by Chris Evans on the Radio 2 Breakfast Show, it has received more than one million stories from children throughout the UK. Last year entrants in two age categories, five to seven-year-olds and eight to 11-year-olds, were asked to use their creativity and write the story they wanted to read.

[From The Independent]

I mean… what is there to say? I’m not going to make fun of this, I actually think it’s sort of cool. I find some of Camilla’s book stuff to be quite performative, but this is great. A writing competition for kids? And the kids were invited to the palace, and they got famous actors to read the kids’ work? That’s amazing. Anyway, just another reminder that Camilla won, across the board. She got everything she wanted. And more – I doubt Camilla predicted that her husband’s heir would implode so spectacularly.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.