Queen Camilla has become the first royal female to be admitted as a member of the elite Garrick Club after it finally agreed to allow women members after 193 years.

The Mail can reveal that Her Majesty’s name was proposed and accepted at a meeting today – after she secretly attended in person.

The historically all-male private members club in London‘s West End, which was founded in 1831, had long been under pressure to admit female members and finally capitulated in 2024.

Several high profile figures including the former chief of MI6, Sir Richard Moore, had resigned after details of its membership list were revealed.

Previous votes on the issue had failed to overturn the status quo but was eventually passed with nearly 60 per cent in favour.

It is understood that the Queen was proposed and seconded and the mandatory 30 signatures acquired from other members.

Her membership will be formally confirmed in April.

It comes as Camilla held a star-studded reception last night at Clarence House for her inaugural Queen’s Reading Room Medal including Hollywood stars Sigourney Weaver and Stanley Tucci, as well as a host of literary legends including Jeffrey Archer, Richard Osman, Robert Harris, Lee Child and Jojo Moyes.

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Queen Camilla (pictured with King Charles III on March 18) has become the first royal female to be admitted as a member of the elite Garrick Club after it finally agreed to allow women members after 193 years

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The historically all-male private members club in London’s West End, which was founded in 1831, had long been under pressure to admit female members and finally capitulated in 2024

A proud King Charles also attended to support his wife, as did the Duchess of Gloucester.

The royal couple met the award finalists and presented the inaugural National Reading Hero Medal and the Local Reading Hero Medal to the winners Selina Brown, founder of the Black British Book Festival, and Liz Waterland, who saved a community library facility.

Launched last year, the medal recognises ‘Reading Heroes’ who have promoted books and literature in communities across the United Kingdom, working in libraries, schools, homeless shelters, food banks and beyond.

In a speech the Queen said the success of her online reading community, which she founded five years ago, was something ‘beyond anyone’s wildest dreams, especially mine!’

She also thanked the ‘brilliant’ writers who ‘have done so much for us all’.

‘You, and your books, really do make life better,’ she said.

Buckingham Palace also announced that she will appear in a new BBC film to celebrate the power of reading later this year.

Speaking afterwards Aliens star Sigourney Weaver revealed she has even signed up for Camilla’s Queen’s Reading Room newsletter.

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It comes as Camilla held a star-studded reception last night at Clarence House for her inaugural Queen’s Reading Room Medal (Pictured on March 25, 2026)

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In a speech the Queen said the success of her online reading community, which she founded five years ago, was something ‘beyond anyone’s wildest dreams, especially mine!’

And she added she was reading The Far Pavilions by M M Kay after it was recommended by The Queen.

She said: ‘I’m so interested in how this is growing because you can do the same thing in America, it’s energising.

‘The ideas that adults are not reading or reading go their children is sad. Reading is everything. I wouldn’t have a career if I wasn’t a reader.’

The actress added she was ‘shocked’ by recent statistics revealed by Camilla in January revealed only one in two adults in the UK read a book in a year.