The Queen's Reading Room needs more Queen

In the dog days of winter, when venturing out under darkened, sleety skies is to be avoided if at all possible, an online book club often seems the most appealing kind there is. Here in the UK, on territory in which the daytime TV hosts Richard and Judy once held undisputed reign, a bookish royal has entered the fray: Queen Camilla, whose ‘reading room’ and associated charity was launched on Instagram during the pandemic, and has now branched into podcasts.

The first episode of The Queen’s Reading Room was introduced by the charity’s chief executive Vicki Perrin, to the background music of insistently vivacious strings, the kind they let rip in royal period dramas as squealing young duchesses chase each other through palace corridors before coming face-to-face with a tight-lipped governess. Perrin gave way to the episode’s star guest, crime novelist Sir Ian Rankin, who – the questions having been edited out – appeared to be cast adrift on a long personal reflection about his literary journey and tastes.