Senior royal could join ‘TikTok and become an influencer’

Queen Camilla could join TikTok to become a book influencer, her friend says.

The Queen’s Reading Room chief recently hinted that King Charles’ wife could take a leaf out of Gen Z’s book book catalogue and create a TikTok account to talk about books.

Speaking with The TelegraphVicki Perrin, director of the charity Queen’s Reading Room, said she was pleased to see the increased interest in reading as more readers used the app to discuss their passion.

She added that there is nothing more important than motivating people to read, regardless of the type of book they read.

She said: ‘The great thing about BookTok is that people from all walks of life say, ‘This is a book that touched me,’ and that’s more important than anything else.’

Grandmother Camilla, 77, is said to be the first royal to publicly join the app after launching her podcast, The Queen’s Reading Room, in January.

At launch, the podcast was among the top 1 percent in the world. Royal fans eagerly listened to the interviews the Queen conducted with various guests.

The popular podcast hosts include Dame Joanna Lumley and Richard E Grant, who were interviewed by Camilla about the books they can’t live without.

The Camilla podcast currently reaches 12 million people in approximately 171 countries.

If Camilla were to pick up her device and start a TikTok channel, she would likely appeal to a younger audience who already use the app for similar purposes.

This charity/book club promotes reading among generations around the world and aims to stimulate and encourage an interest in books and literacy.

Founded in 2021 during the Covid pandemic, the club aims to improve mental and brain health by promoting not only reading, but also ‘social connectedness’.

The Queen decided to expand her reading network after receiving an overwhelmingly positive response to a list of recommended reading she posted on Instagram during the UK lockdown.

The Queen’s Reading Room website reads, with a note from the Queen: ‘Books – by authors all over the world – have enriched my life since I was a child, with their extraordinary power to educate and inspire.

‘It has been a great pleasure to see how my reading room has grown over the years into a thriving book community.

‘I hope that now that we are a charity, together with our partners we can inspire a lifelong love of literature in adults and children and bring more people into contact with that special magic that can only be found in the pages of a book.’

Vikki, the charity’s chief executive, told the Mail earlier this year: ‘Her Majesty is hugely committed, she’s such an extraordinary supporter of the arts and she understands the value of literary festivals and how valuable they are in the UK.’

Camilla, who is known for her love of books, is said to have been working all year round for the charity that Vikki called her ‘baby’.

Speaking ahead of the Reading Room festival at Hampton Court in July, Vikki said Camilla was extremely committed to the festival, saying the Queen was “so concerned about getting it right and making it accessible and open to as many people as possible”.

To expand its empire, the charity has even partnered with researchers from the University of Cambridge to evaluate the impact of reading on the brain.

Earlier this year, research conducted with Camilla’s charity found that walking for five minutes had the same benefits as walking 10,000 steps.

Over the weekend, Camilla will be recording two more episodes for her podcast at the third annual Braemar Literary Festival in Aberdeenshire.