Queen Camilla reveals torchlight teenage read and the King's laughing habit

Queen Camilla read Lady Chatterley's Lover by torchlight as a teenager.

She revealed the secret in the BBC documentary The Book That Changed My Life, in interviews published on 9 October 2026. D. H. Lawrence's novel was the subject of an obscenity trial when first published in full in 1960. Camilla got to it much earlier in life, and under the covers.

"I left school at 16," she said. "Reading has been most of my education." HELLO! Magazine

She credits her father, Major Bruce Shand, with starting the habit. He sought solace in books while held as a prisoner of war. She said he passed that love of reading to her as a child.

The documentary also opens the door on evenings with King Charles III. The couple read quietly together before dinner. It does not always stay quiet.

The King loves biographies and the comic novels of P. G. Wodehouse. Camilla said he distracts her by roaring with laughter at his own book. She is trying to concentrate on hers.

For the film, the Queen hosted tea at Clarence House with Omar Mentesh, Peter Lloyd, Sarah Heward and Ian Kirby. Each spoke about how reading helped them through illness, injury or difficult periods. Camilla reflected on the childhood experiences that sparked her own passion for reading and the comfort she still finds in books, as the BBC reported when the programme was announced.

The project links to The Queen's Reading Room, the book charity Camilla started to share reading recommendations and bring writers and readers together. Five years after its launch, it reaches 12 million people across 184 countries.

What makes this stand out is how ordinary it sounds. A torch under the blankets. Two people reading before supper. One of them laughing too loudly.