King Charles and Queen Camilla’s Nightly Routine: She Calls His Laughter Very Off-Putting

Queen Camilla has opened up about her evenings with King Charles, sharing one of his habits that she finds very off-putting during their quiet reading time together.

The couple, married since 2005, often sit down with books before dinner as part of their routine. In the upcoming BBC documentary The Book That Changed My Life, which airs on October 14, Camilla describes how the King sometimes interrupts her concentration.

She says that when she is deep in a book she occasionally hears him roaring with laughter about something. It is very off-putting and she cannot get back into her book. Sometimes it even makes her start weeping, though she still calls the time a lovely quiet one.

Camilla’s passion for reading started in childhood when her father read to her and her siblings. She left school quite young and says reading has been most of her education. She believes literature has transformative power and that it would be a complete and utter tragedy if books went forever. To her, reading is like the best tonic in the world.

She launched The Duchess of Cornwall’s Reading Room in 2021 as a book club with reading recommendations. It is now called The Queen’s Reading Room and includes a podcast that has drawn big names from the arts world.

Even though they enjoy each other’s company, the couple reportedly do not share a bedroom at their London home, Clarence House. A 2017 Daily Mail report from an insider described three bedrooms there: one for Charles with a double bed decorated to his taste, one for Camilla with a double bed decorated to hers, and a shared bedroom they can use whenever they like. It is not known if that arrangement still stands.

The documentary focuses on the power of books to change lives as Camilla meets people whose stories highlight reading’s impact.