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Queen Camilla has become the first female member of the British royal family admitted to London's Garrick Club, making history at one of the city's most prestigious private members clubs nearly two centuries after its founding. According to theDaily Mail, the Queen's name was proposed and accepted at a recent meeting, which she attended in person. Her membership is expected to be formally confirmed in April.
The Garrick, founded in 1831,voted to admit women in 2024after nearly 193 years as an all-male institution. The measure passed with nearly 60% in favor after previous votes failed to overturn the status quo. (The resolution required a 50% majority.) The club had faced mounting pressure over the issue, and several high-profile members, including former MI6 chief Sir Richard Moore, resigned after its membership list became public.
PerThe Telegraph, Queen Camilla was drawn to the Garrick for its literary history. Past members have included H.G. Wells, Anthony Trollope, and J.M. Barrie. Camilla has spent much of her royal tenurechampioning literature and reading. In 2023, she foundedThe Queen's Reading Room, a nonprofit promoting the benefits of reading for mental health.
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The news even came the same week as Camilla hosted a reception at Clarence House for the inaugural Queen's Reading Room Medal, attended by actors Sigourney Weaver and Stanley Tucci alongside authors including Jeffrey Archer,Richard Osman, Robert Harris, Lee Child and Jojo Moyes. The charity was founded,she said in remarks at the event,with the "simple aim of sharing my lifelong conviction that books make life better." The inaugural medal recipients were British Jamaican author Selina Brown, who was named the national winner, and Liz Waterland took the local honor forservices to literature in Lincolnshire.
At the reception, Camillaannounced she is filming a BBC documentaryon the power of reading, set to air later this year to mark theUK's National Year of Reading, produced in partnership with the BBC and the Open University. The Queen will reflect on her childhood introduction to books and discussher father, Major Bruce Shand, whose love of reading sustained him during his imprisonment in a German prisoner-of-war camp in World War II.
"We hope to inspire people of all ages to pick up a book, to see the world in new ways and potentially change their own lives," Suzy Klein, head of BBC Art and Classical Music TV, told BBC News. "We are especially delighted that Her Majesty the Queen, a devoted reader and champion of literature, is at the heart of this celebratory new project."
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