She is slowly recovering. This November 12, 2024, Queen Camilla wishes to be present at the reception organized at Clarence House by the Booker Prize Foundation, a charity which organizes each year the presentation of the eponymous prize, equivalent to the Goncourt prize in France. Passionate about literature and herself the creator of an association promoting reading, The Queen's Reading room, the wife of Charles III gathers her forces to receive the six finalists.
Hours before the award ceremony, dressed in a white shirt and black Fiona Clare pinafore dress, Camilla enters the Garden Room after a weekend off at Ray Mill, her country home in Wiltshire. “I'm much better. I'm still coughing but I really wanted to keep this appointment,” she says, having barely entered the room. An honor for her guests since the Queen canceled her engagements last week, including the Remembrance Sunday ceremony this November 10, although dear to her heart. No Camilla either this November 13 at the premiere of Gladiator II which she should have attended with the king. Nor at the Food Surplus Festival this Thursday, November 14, the sovereign's birthday, at which she was to be present.
The doctor's orders are clear, rest for the queen. Questioned about her state of health by one of the writers present at Clarence House, Percival Everett, Camilla seemed positive. “I'm on the right track, these things always take a little time to heal…but fingers crossed I'm getting through it.” On November 5, Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen was suffering from a lung infection. Reassuringly, the Queen's communications team clarified that it was a seasonal virus but that she would be ready for her weekend commitments. Ultimately, no. Camilla has canceled everything except this annual reception for the Booker Prize finalists that she holds so dear.
Queen Camilla will have brought good luck to Samantha Harvey, since the 49-year-old author won the 2024 Booker Prize in the evening for her novel Orbital. The book depicts a day in the life of six astronauts, two men and four women, living aboard a space station. Climate crisis and philosophy are at the heart of this novel which surely pleased the sovereign since she admitted to her guests that she had been “impressed” by their writings. This afternoon, Camilla will join TV and film industry professionals at a cocktail reception at Buckingham Palace. Deprived of the cinema, she will go to bed early, with a good book.
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