Queen Camilla the Swiftie?
The Queen chose Taylor Swift’s latest hit, ‘The Fate of Ophelia’, to celebrate the Booker Prize winner and finalists on social media following a reception she hosted Tuesday at Clarence House. The song is a twist on the tragic end of Hamlet’s heroine, reimagining Swift as an Ophelia-esque heroine who manages to avoid the same fate.
The Booker Prize, one of literature’s biggest awards, was presented in London on Monday evening, with the award going to David Szalay’s Flesh. The Hungarian-British author has previously met Queen Camilla, and the pair reconnected at Tuesday’s reception.
Szalay invited the Queen to visit Vienna, where he currently resides, after she offered her congratulations.
Later, he told reporters how the Booker Prize is such a monumental prize, saying, “It’s such a high-profile prize that I think every novelist, secretly or otherwise, dreams of. To win it is a slightly surreal experience.”
TaylOf Queen Camilla’s advocacy for literature, he said that she does “absolutely wonderful work.”
The Booker Prize judges were also in attendance, including actress Sarah Jessica Parker, who spoke warmly of Queen Camilla. She said that she is very appreciative “of the attention she gives and focuses on literacy and reading and the way it enriches lives.”
The other judges included author Roddy Doyle, who won the Booker Prize in 1993 for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha; Nigerian writer Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀; American novelist Kiley Reid; and British writer Chris Power.
In a speech, Queen Camilla praised the power of literature and the authors who contribute to the medium, telling the authors that they “set the most wonderful example” to get people involved in reading.
“Please keep writing because you bring us such pleasure – not only me, but many others all around the world.”
The shortlist for the Booker Prize included Flashlight by Susan Choi, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai, Audition by Katie Kitamura, The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits, The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller and Flesh by David Szalay.
