Queen Camilla has revealed the light-hearted habit King Charles has that interrupts their quiet reading sessions before dinner.
The Queen said she and her husband regularly sit together with their books before eating, but the King’s sudden bursts of laughter can make it difficult for her to concentrate.
She shared the private detail in the BBC documentary The Book That Changed My Life, which explores the transformative effect reading can have on people.
Charles’s laughter interrupts Camilla’s reading
“My husband and I actually read before dinner. We just like sitting quietly and reading,” Camilla said.
However, the peaceful atmosphere does not always last.
“I occasionally, when I’m deep in a book, hear him roaring with laughter about something,” she explained. “It’s very off-putting. I can’t get back into my book.”
Camilla said she sometimes has an equally emotional response to what she is reading and may suddenly begin crying.
Despite the interruptions, she described their shared reading ritual as “a lovely, quiet time.”
The Queen also revealed that Charles particularly enjoys biographies and the works of British comic novelist PG Wodehouse, which could explain some of the laughter coming from his side of the room.
Camilla calls books ‘the best tonic’
Reading has long been one of Camilla’s most prominent public interests.
She said that when she has experienced a particularly difficult week, her grandchildren know that she will switch off her telephone and retreat into a book.
“It’s like the best tonic in the world,” she said. “You come out of it feeling better.”
Camilla also credited books with providing much of her education, explaining that women of her generation did not commonly attend university.
“You learn so much about people, about life,” she said, while stressing the importance of encouraging children to read from an early age.
Queen warns against disappearance of books
Camilla issued a passionate warning about declining reading habits and the possibility of books disappearing from everyday life.
“I think it would be a complete and utter tragedy if books went forever,” she said.
“It’s part of our heritage. If there’s no reading, personally I think we might as well all give up, because I don’t think we’d even be human any longer.”
The Queen launched her Reading Room project in 2021. It has since developed into The Queen’s Reading Room, a charity that promotes books and encourages reading among adults and children.
She also serves as patron of literacy organisations including the National Literacy Trust and BookTrust.
Documentary explores books that transform lives
The Book That Changed My Life also examines Camilla’s early love of literature.
She recalled secretly reading DH Lawrence’s once-controversial novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover by torchlight as a teenager because its forbidden reputation made it more appealing.
Another book with particular significance for her was Previous Engagements, a memoir written by her father, Major Bruce Shand, about his Second World War service and time as a prisoner of war.
Camilla said the memoir moved her to tears because her father’s generation rarely discussed what they had experienced during the war.
The Book That Changed My Life is scheduled to air on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer at 9pm on Wednesday, 14 October.
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