Camilla describes reading routine with King Charles

Queen Camilla has described how she and King Charles read together before dinner, sharing details of a quiet routine that she says is sometimes interrupted by his laughter or her tears. Her remarks feature in the BBC documentary The Book That Changed My Life, which is scheduled to air on BBC Two on October 14, 2026, and be available on BBC iPlayer. Camilla said the King enjoys biographies and books by P.G. Wodehouse, whose Jeeves and Wooster stories can make him laugh aloud. She said she sometimes finds the laughter distracting when she is absorbed in her own book, and can also be moved to tears by what she is reading. The documentary brings together four people whose lives Camilla described as having been changed or helped by books. The contributors include a former prisoner, an HGV driver, a roadside cafe owner and a man who experienced depression after an incident at home. Camilla described the gathering as an unusual book club meeting. One contributor, Ian Kirby, said in the programme that joining a book club and reading boxer Glenn McCrory’s autobiography helped him after depression.