Queen welcomes stars to palace for young writers’ competition

The Queen welcomed a star-studded line-up to Buckingham Palace for the final of a national writing competition, including Oscar-winning actress Olivia Colman, comedian Matt Lucas, and two Gladiators dressed in Lycra.

The BBC 500 Words competition, which received almost 44,000 entries, encourages children of all abilities from across the UK to write.

Before the final on Wednesday, Camilla met BBC executives, hosts Alex Jones and Roman Kemp, and judges comedian Sir Lenny Henry, screenwriter Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Noughts And Crosses writer Malorie Blackman, Horrid Henry author Francesca Simon and actor Charlie Higson.

The Queen presented the medals and the winners will be announced during a special episode of the BBC’s The One Show on March 6, World Book Day.

The young finalists had their entries read in the palace’s ballroom by a group of celebrities who included Colman, Lucas, McFly’s Danny Jones and Tom Fletcher, and actress Rose Ayling-Ellis.

Camilla gave a speech at the final, during which she said: “Some decades ago, a famous author said this: ‘You can make anything by writing’. He was quite right.

“By his writing, this man made many things: a wintry land that could only be entered through a wardrobe, mysterious creatures that could talk and play the flute, boxes of enchanted Turkish Delight and a lion whose roar could break spells.

“He was, of course, CS Lewis, whose The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe was published exactly 75 years ago.

“Just like CS Lewis, you have proved through this competition that ‘you can make anything by writing’.”

The stars met Camilla after the final and she chatted about Strictly Come Dancing with Fletcher, who told her he had competed in the same year as Ayling-Ellis, but “didn’t do quite as well”.

Speaking to Lucas, the Queen praised the “fantastic” stories the children had written, and he replied: “I need to up my game as a writer, I’m very fearful,” adding “they’re all going to overtake me”.

Camilla said she hoped the children will keep on writing.

The One Show’s Alex Jones introduced the Gladiators to the Queen, saying “then we have Harry, but you might know him as Nitro”, which was met with laughter.

Nitro told the Queen that the Gladiators “seem to have such a pull with these young children, which is amazing”.

After the recording of the final in the ballroom, Camilla hosted a reception in the picture gallery.

After the final, Sir Lenny told reporters that for the children it was “sort of the most extraordinary day ever”.

He said: “What a great day, is my big thought, to stand here with the Queen and watching all these kids from all over Britain arrive to the ballroom is a wonderful thing, and you can see their eyes, they’re like, ‘what, I was in my living room this morning, and now here I am’.

“It’s sort of the most extraordinary day ever.”

He added that the Queen promoting literacy was “good”, saying: “We need public figures to promote literacy in this country, because we want kids to read more.”

Asked what his thoughts on audio books were, he said: “As somebody who listened to all of Treasure Island from London to Cornwall once, with my daughter, I think that anything that draws a child into listening to a story and wanting to know what happens next is brilliant. We should support that.”

Sir Lenny said: “I’ve always loved reading, so I think it’s one of the reasons why I am who I am, because I read all the time.”

Higson, the author of the first novels in the Young Bond series, said he often wonders “how I would have turned out if we had smartphones and computers and tablets when I was a kid, because I spent my whole time writing”.

He added: “It’s so encouraging and exciting that kids still write stories, still enjoy stories and, you know, every year we get the package of the final 50 stories and you think, what are we going to get this year?”

Higson said it was “fantastic” that the Queen was promoting literacy, adding: “She genuinely is passionate about it.

“She does a lot of work in that area. She used to read to her grandchildren.”

He said the day must be “very surreal” for the children.

Asked for his thoughts on Amazon MGM Studios taking creative control of the 007 character, he said: “Well, I think it’s going to be really exciting to see what happens. I’ve got no inside information.

“Obviously, it would be lovely if they did consider doing something with my books.

“It’s the start of a whole new chapter.”

Asked if he was positive about it, he said: “I think so, you know, as a Bond fan, you think, well, you know, let’s get some more Bond stuff like that.”

He said he thought there has been a “slight problem” over the last 20 years where “there hasn’t quite been enough Bond coming out”.

The Queen met children including Camilla Birkett, seven, from Reading, who said she spoke to the Queen about their names and how both of their dogs had recently died and they had both got new dogs.

She said: “She’s called Camilla Rosemary and I’m called Camilla Rose.”

Claire Birkett, Camilla’s mother, said her daughter’s conversation with the Queen was “really lovely”, adding: “She told us that she totally understood how you would feel, and that her dog died too, and that she’d got a new puppy.”

Nitro, whose real name is Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, said he met the late Queen Elizabeth II “as Harry” at Buckingham Palace, adding: “Last time I was dressed well and to be fair I did come dressed correctly, and once they told me that they wanted me in my outfit, I thought ‘my oh gosh, I must have set history as surely I must be like the least-dressed man in this room’.”

Since the competition was launched in 2011, by Chris Evans on the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show, it has received more than one million stories from children throughout the UK.

The judges, with new judge, singer Olivia Dean, came together previously at Buckingham Palace, chaired by The One Show’s Alex Jones, to read the stories and deliberate on the finalists.

The ceremony celebrated the achievements of six winners from two age categories, five to seven and eight to 11, with recognition given to gold, silver, and bronze recipients in each group.