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Queen Camilla has revealed on her new podcast that King Charles has a secret talent for mimicking the voices of Harry Potter characters.
Appearing briefly at the end of the first episode of The Queen’s Reading Room, Camilla, who was described as “a lifelong fan of crime fiction”, was asked which books she most enjoyed reading to grandchildren and whether she did different voices for different characters.
“I think the one I enjoyed reading more than anything else was Harry Potter. All the stories,” she answered.
She added: “I can’t mimic voices for love or money I’m completely hopeless at it. I was a really bad actor at school and I’ve never been able to master the art of mimicry but my husband does it brilliantly, he can do all the voices.”
The Queen’s Reading Room was initially launched as an Instagram book club set up by Camilla for literature lovers during the pandemic, before it launched as a charity in February 2023 with the mission of celebrating the power and benefits of reading.
As a charity, it produces free educational content and also holds literary festivals and events.
The podcast – hosted by Vicki Perrin, chief executive of the charity – invites authors from across the world to share their favourite pieces of literature and will feature Camilla being asked about her own reading in each episode.
Also featured in the debut episode was a recorded interview with author Peter James about his hit Roy Grace series when she visited the set of the screen adaptation of his book in 2021.
James told the Queen that he was inspired to write his Dead At First Sight novel about online dating scammers after he was approached directly by Sussex Police.
“People in Sussex have been fleeced out of £5 million in the last few years by internet fraudsters. Would I consider writing a Roy Grace thriller set in that background?” James said.
“If I did, they would give me as much research help as they could. They would show me the files, obviously no names.
“There was one lady in Sussex – £4 million, and there was several at £400,000, £200,000.”
Camilla could be heard exclaiming under her breath in amazement “£4 million… good lord”.
Sir Ian Rankin, known across the world for his Inspector Rebus novels, was the main focus of the first episode, speaking about his reading habits.
The crime writer revealed how he was “obsessed” with comics as a child, including The Beano, The Dandy, Superman and Batman, reading as many as 10 a week.
“Those comics which I was allowed to read became my gateway drug, as it were, to novels,” he said.
The next episode will feature Dame Joanna Lumley and the podcast is available on Spotify, as well as all other platforms including Apple Podcasts.
The Queen has followed in the footsteps of the Duchess of Sussex, whose Archetypes podcast about female stereotypes ran for just one series after her lucrative deal with Spotify ended in 2023.
