Jump directly to the content

THE Queen rubs shoulders with Hollywood stars including Tom Hiddleston, Luke Evans and Hugh Bonneville at Buckingham Palace.

Camilla, 76, held the bash for the BBC’s 500 Words competition in the Palace ballroom.

Queen Camilla shakes hands with Tom Hiddleston at the bash for BBC’s 500 Words competition
4
Queen Camilla shakes hands with Tom Hiddleston at the bash for BBC’s 500 Words competitionCredit: Reuters
Camilla also met with comic Sir Lenny Henry
4
Camilla also met with comic Sir Lenny HenryCredit: AFP

She also met with comic Sir Lenny Henry and Britain’s Got Talent star Skylar Blu.

The writing competition, which was launched in 2011, was postponed during the pandemic, but returned in late 2023, attracting 44,000 entries from kids in two age categories, 5-7 and 8-11.

One of the judges is Fast Show star Charlie Higson, author of the Young Bond series of novels — and he said the Queen had been vital to the event’s return.

He added: “She’s genuinely been a huge supporter of this, really keen on promoting literacy and it was really down to her that the competition came back — she twisted a few arms and said, ‘This is a really good thing, you’ve got to carry on’.”

READ MORE ON QUEEN CAMILLA

This year’s final will be broadcast on BBC1’s The One Show next Thursday to coincide with World Book Day.

Camilla has been continuing royal engagements while the King, 75, and Princess of Wales, 42, have stepped back as they both recover from their respective surgeries.

Charles was pictured in his State Bentley as he was driven to Buckingham Palace for his weekly audience with PM Rishi Sunak.

Camilla also met with Britain’s Got Talent star Skylar Blu at the bash in the Palace ballroom
4
Camilla also met with Britain’s Got Talent star Skylar Blu at the bash in the Palace ballroomCredit: Getty
Charles was pictured as he was driven to Buckingham Palace for his weekly audience with Rishi Sunak
4
Charles was pictured as he was driven to Buckingham Palace for his weekly audience with Rishi SunakCredit: Darren Fletcher
Queen Camilla smiles at official appearance after returning to London while Charles to support him through cancer treatments
Topics