Queen reflects on reading 'forbidden' Lady Chatterley's Lover under the pillow
Queen Camilla discusses her lifelong love of reading, recalling how she secretly read 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' as a teenager. She emphasizes the importance of literacy and shares how reading remains a central part of her life with the King.
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The article provides a humanizing look at the British monarchy through the lens of cultural literacy and personal habits.
Figure caption, "It's like the best tonic in the world": Queen Camilla on why she loves to read
Royal correspondent Published 10 October 2026, 06:00 BST Queen Camilla has recalled secretly reading Lady Chatterley's Lover, the passionate and controversial novel by DH Lawrence, as a teenager in the 1960s.
"As teenagers you read a lot of romances. It was the moment of Lady Chatterley, under our pillows, reading that by torchlight. You know the minute something is forbidden, you want to get hold of it," she said about the novel that had been at the centre of an obscenity trial.
The Queen spoke about memorable moments in her own reading for BBC documentary The Book That Changed My Life, and about the life-changing power of literacy and books.
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