Queen thrills London show audience with surprise letter reading

The Queen thrilled the audience at a packed-out central London show when she made a surprise appearance to read a letter.

Camilla topped the bill in Letters Live at the Royal Festival Hall, an event known for its mystery line-ups of stars who read monologues from real correspondence.

Some audience members gasped and a deafening applause broke out as the Queen arrived on stage.

The star-studded event also featured readings from actors Jessie Buckley, Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch, but the audience appeared especially excited when Thursday night’s show featured royalty.

Camilla reads a letter as she takes part in a performance of Letters Live (Chris Jackson/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Chris Jackson

Camilla read a letter from the late Queen Mother to poet Edith Sitwell in which she thanked Ms Sitwell for sending her an anthology of poems to help as she grieved the death of her husband King George VI.

In the note, dated September 15 1952, the Queen Mother, Charles’s maternal grandmother, told of how she found solace in the poems as she mourned the late King, who had died that February.

Camilla, an avid reader who champions the importance of literacy in much of her work, read to the captivated audience at the Royal Festival Hall, saying: “My dear Miss Sitwell, it was so very kind of you to send me a copy of your lovely book.

“It is giving me the greatest pleasure, and I took it out with me and I started to read it, sitting by the river and it was a day when one felt engulfed by great black clouds of unhappiness and misery.

Camilla read excerpts from a letter written by the late Queen Mother (Chris Jackson/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Chris Jackson

“I found a sort of peace stealing round my heart as I read such lovely poems and heavenly words.”

The letter Camilla read concluded: “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.”

Olivier-award winner Simon Callow, Law & Order: UK star Dame Harriet Walter and TV barrister Rob Rinder were also on the surprise line-up.