Queen Camilla makes surprise appearance as she reads emotional, never-before-seen letter from grieving Queen Mother
After her summer holiday in Balmoral, Queen Camilla surprised an audience of thousands to raise funds for a cause close to her heart
Queen Camilla is back from her summer holiday in Balmoral with King Charles and other members of the Royal Family and she’s right back to work, making an unannounced appearance in front of a stunned audience.
Her Majesty took to the stage at London’s Royal Festival Hall on Thursday evening (September 3) to make a surprise reading at Letters Live, a popular event which includes guest speakers reading personal or noteworthy letters on stage.
The Queen, who made the appearance in support of the National Literacy Trust, for which she is the patron, read a moving and emotional letter written by the Queen Mother to the British poet Edith Sitwell, detailing her journey through grief after the death of King George VI.
Stepping on to the stage to audible gasps and much applause, the Queen arrived dressed in a blue Fiona Clare gown with turquoise and diamond earrings.
The letter Her Majesty read aloud was written by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother in September of 1952, not long after she lost her husband of over 28 years in February that same year.
In the moving letter, the Queen Mother wrote, "It was a day when one felt engulfed by great black clouds of unhappiness and misery, and I found a sort of peace stealing round my heart as I read such lovely poems and heavenly words."
Thanking the poet for sending her a book, she continued, "I can never thank you enough for giving me such a delicious book wherein I found so much beauty and hope quite suddenly one day by the river."
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 continued, "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 letter is a true piece of history, offering a rare look at a grieving Queen Mother in a way that hasn’t been seen before. At the time of his death, the Queen Mother reportedly favoured a much more stoical stance, choosing to grieve privately in Scotland.
She would return to public duties not long after, and true to the royal mantra of ‘never complain, never explain’, she seldom spoke of her grief publicly but continued to mourn him privately. According to several royal historians, this included the touching move of keeping his study at Royal Lodge, Windsor, exactly as it was when he died.
The Royal Family’s social media account posted footage of Queen Camilla at the event and described Letters Live as “a celebration of the enduring power of literary correspondence. Each show always features a completely different array of great performers, reading remarkable letters written over the centuries and from around the world.”
