The Queen’s Reading Room Festival Is Back For 2025 – In A New Location

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After three years at Hampton Court Palace, Queen Camilla’s literary festival is spreading its wings and zooming away to a new location – with a fitting literary connection, no less. In this year, the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, The Queen’s Reading Room Festival will take over Chatsworth House for two days of joyous connection and conversations about the written word. Here’s what you need to know.

The Queen’s Reading Room Festival 2025: Line-Up, Location, Tickets & More

Queen Camilla launched her charity, The Queen’s Reading Room, in 2023, following the success of her Instagram book club launched in lockdown in 2021. The charity is all about promoting the transformative power of books, and its events over the last two years have reached 20,000 people, with more than 12 million people in 174 countries connecting with the charity online. The flagship annual event is a beloved literary festival: The Queen’s Reading Room Festival.

‘After the success of last year’s Queen’s Reading Room Festival which saw us fill over 10,000 seats in a single day, we are delighted to be bringing our flagship event back for 2025 – this time to the magical surrounds of Chatsworth,’ says Vicki Perrin, The Queen’s Reading Room’s chief executive. ‘As a charity, we are committed to ensuring that everybody can access our events. We are therefore so excited by the opportunity of connecting with more audiences in the UK at Chatsworth and are immensely grateful to Chatsworth House Trust for hosting us – it’s clear that, like us, they are deeply committed to championing creativity and the joy of books.

‘Whether you’re a fan of romance or fantasy, crime fiction or historical fiction, there really is something for everybody at The Queen’s Reading Room Festival,’ Vicki adds. ‘We can’t wait to see you there!’

Who’s On The Line-Up?

Jilly Cooper, Helen Fielding, Richard Osman and Alan Titchmarsh are top of the bill for The Queen’s Reading Room Festival 2025. They will be joined by the likes of Jojo Moyes, Julia Quinn, Peter Frankopan, Peter James and plenty more. Key events include:

Rivals author Jilly Cooper interviewed by Lorraine Kelly
Helen Fielding and Jojo Moyes in conversation about the process of writing stories full of love and hope
Author Julia Quinn on a special Bridgerton discussion panel
Richard Osman interviewed by legendary actor and star of his upcoming film adaption, The Thursday Murder Club
Journalist Reeta Chakrabarti interviewing Assembly author Natasha Brown

Samantha Shannon, Sarah Winman, Joanna Cannon, Kristin Hannah, Rupert Everett, Robert Harris, Sebastian Faulks, Lady Anne Glenconner, Gyles Brandreth and Sarah Waters will also take to the Festival stage across the varied literary programme.

Because this year also marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, the Festival will host suitably themed events, including special al fresco screenings of Pride and Prejudice – in the grounds where some scenes were filmed – and Sense and Sensibility. Other highlights include a pop-up Austen exhibition and author book signings across the weekend.

As part of community outreach efforts, guests will also be encouraged to bring books they have enjoyed to the festival and donate them at the dedicated book drop-off point. All books will then be donated to local charities and reading initiatives.

Chatsworth House

Where & When?

The Queen’s Reading Room Festival will take place on 19 and 20 September 2025 at Chatsworth, Derbyshire. The news follows the first two editions of the festival being held at Hampton Court Palace, with organisers hoping the move up north will open the Festival to new audiences located nearby, though the 2023 and 2024 editions welcomed visitors from as far away as the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

‘We are delighted to welcome The Queen’s Reading Room Festival to Chatsworth, and to share this exciting celebration of storytelling with our local communities and guests from across the UK and the world,’ says Jane Marriott, director of Chatsworth House Trust. ‘We often say that Chatsworth is more than a house; it’s a place of creativity and community, learning and ideas. This partnership between our two charities demonstrates how true this is, and we can’t wait for the festival to begin.’