00:00Why is nobody clapping for the Pope?
00:30Your Majesty, Your Royal Highness, ladies and gentlemen, it's a huge pleasure to welcome
00:47you to Clarence House this evening to mark the fourth anniversary of my Reading Room
00:53and to thank you all for supporting our work. Now, those of you who follow my Reading Room
01:00on Instagram, which I hope is all of you, will have seen that my most recent recommendation
01:11is Jane Austen's first anonymously published novel, Sense and Sensibility. Interestingly,
01:20one of the first people to buy her book was Sir Future King George IV, who paid 15 shillings
01:26for it two days before it was publicly advertised. He liked it so much that two years later he
01:34bought a second copy. I have here the original receipt from his first purchase and his 1813
01:43edition of the novel, which you are all welcome to look at later. This year, of course, is
01:50the 250th anniversary of Jane's birth. Her voice and characters remain as fresh, witty
01:59and true to life as ever. Who among us has not encountered the pomposity of a Mr Collins,
02:08the dastardly attractiveness of a Willoughby, or the gossiping meddling of an Emma? Another
02:18admirer of Jane's was my husband's great-great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, who found her books admirably
02:26written, interesting and entertaining. I think all of us here would at the very least describe
02:34your books, poems and plays as admirably written, interesting and entertaining, and
02:42we might even go as far as to be much amused by them. Anyway, we are greatly in their debt.
02:51After all, the magic of storytelling lies in the ability to make a community of anyone
02:59who loves to read and who is compelled to write. Through literature we experience life
03:07through another's eyes. We are comforted, strengthened, we laugh, we cry, we travel
03:14to different lands and we escape the real world. In short, books and those who create
03:22them make life better, much better, so thank you.
03:29Making life better is the ultimate aim of my reading room. We believe that books make
03:35for a happier, healthier and more connected society. We know from our scientific research
03:43that reading brings invaluable benefits to brain and mental health, and we see first-hand
03:50the impact stories have on how we understand and articulate the world both as we find it
03:58and as we dream it to be.
04:03As we shall hear in a minute from Vicky, we are putting our efforts as a charity into
04:09leveraging the unique power of books to help rebuild lives, and are committed to taking
04:15them into places where they are so badly needed and often so sadly absent.
04:24From its humble beginnings, admit the voices of quite a few naysayers, my reading room
04:30now reaches over 12 million people in 173 countries each year, with nearly 20,000 visitors
04:44to our festivals to date. It is because of the gift of writers like you, and because
04:52of the passion of every person in this room for promoting literacy and a love of literature,
04:59that we have been able to build such a family of readers. Long may we continue to be inspired
05:06by you all.
05:08Now, if I dare end with a piece of literary advice, I shall leave you with one final quote
05:15from Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility.
05:18If a book is well written, I always find it too short.
05:37Thank you very much.
06:07Thank you very much.
06:37Thank you very much.
07:07I think that's a good thing.
07:09Mostly because it's down to the sewage line.
07:12I think that's taking it too far, isn't it?
07:15I think that's a good thing.
07:17I think it's a good thing.
07:19I think it's a good thing.
07:21I think it's a good thing.
07:23I think it's a good thing.
07:27Absolutely.
07:29Fairway is for libraries and I think that's a good thing.
07:31Another charge.
07:33You should be all-
07:39I rarely go down that far.
07:43Don't worry.
07:57How long?
08:01I'm very nervous.
08:05Hello, it's not me.
08:08I know, I was just here the night before.
08:10I was here the night before.
08:13I'm sorry.
08:14I can't hear you.
08:16Go for it.
08:17I'm really nervous.
08:20I've been one or two meetings with my...
08:22I've been one or two meetings with my...
08:25I'm really nervous.
08:26I'm really nervous.
08:27I'm nervous.
08:28I'm nervous.
08:29I'm nervous.
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