Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom Instagram – Earlier today, The Queen officially opened the 2025 Cliveden Literary Festival, before hosting a reception for authors, festival supporters, charity partners, and students from the London Academy of Excellence Tottenham. 📚
In a speech addressing guests, Her Majesty said:
“There are few houses and gardens in England that are quite as steeped in literature as this one. Rudyard Kipling stayed in the early 1900s. JM Barrie enjoyed strolling in the woods. George Bernard Shaw briefly came to escape the Blitz. Henry James and Edith Wharton holidayed here. The estate is praised in Jerome K Jerome’s “Three Men in a Boat”, it inspired Kenneth Grahame to write ‘The Wind in the Willows’ and I understand that it is even possible to order Ian Fleming’s “Vesper Martini” at the bar – a drink that was a favourite of the late, much-missed Dame Jilly Cooper.” | Posted on 11/Oct/2025 23:34:11
