'Elizabeth was delighted. She had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste. They were all of them warm in their admiration; and at that moment she felt that to be mistress of Pemberley might be something!’ This marks the turning point, in Pride and Prejudice, when Elizabeth Bennet begins to rescind her disdain for the haughty Mr Darcy.
When first reading this passage, I remember my English teacher assuring us that the reason for Elizabeth's change of heart is not the prospect of living in a ginormous and luxurious stately home. However, when Chatsworth House loomed into view as Pemberley in the 2005 film adaptation of the book, I couldn’t help but feel that to live there might be quite tempting.
Fittingly, the home that has been passed down through the Devonshire family for generations will be hosting The Queen’s Reading Room Festival this September, as it celebrates the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birthday.
Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfayden in Pride and Prejudice.
Chatsworth House — a fitting home for Mr Darcy.
The two-day event will feature author talks and book signings by the writer of Rivals, Dame Jilly Cooper, and the pen behind the Bridget Jones stories, Helen Fielding. The enduringly popular Thursday Murder Club author, Richard Osman and, our very own Alan Titchmarsh are also among this years’ line-up.
Jojo Moyes, the award-winning romance novelist who wrote Me Before You, Julia Quinn, the author of the 'Bridgerton' books, Peter Frankopan and Peter James have also been announced as attendees.
Alan Titchmarsh will be attending.
Aidan Turner, who stars in the TV adaptation of Rivals, with Dame Jilly Cooper when she won the Writers Award at Harper's Bazaar Women of the Year 2024.
In celebration of Chatsworth’s Austenian connections, the festival will also feature a garden screening of Pride and Prejudice, which will have been released almost 20 years ago to the day. Over the course of the weekend there will also be a pop-up exhibition of Austen artefacts, curated especially by Jane Austen’s House and the weekend will be rounded off with a showing of Sense and Sensibility, also in the garden.
As part of the festival’s community outreach work, with the support of Chatsworth House Trust, there will be a dedicated book drop-off point, where visitors can donate the books they’ve read and enjoyed to local charities and reading initiatives. The Queen's charity, launched in 2023, works in the UK and abroad to promote books and reading and bring more attention to their positive effects on wellbeing. The charity reaches over 12 million people in 174 countries.
Chatsworth House definitely has the wow factor.
The event will see Lorraine Kelly interviewing Cooper; Fielding and Moyes discussing the process of writing stories with love and hope at their heart; and Quinn taking part in a panel talk about all things Bridgerton. Celia Imrie, best known for playing Bridget Jones’s mother, Pamela, in the film adaptations of Fielding’s work, will also join the line-up to interview Osman, before the release of his new Netflix series based on the books, in which she stars. Journalist Reeta Chakrabarti will also be in attendance to interview the Assembly author Natasha Brown.
The best lines from the authors appearing at the 2025 festival
‘It struck me as pretty ridiculous to be called Mr Darcy and to stand on your own looking snooty at a party. It's like being called Heathcliff and insisting on spending the entire evening in the garden, shouting "Cathy" and banging your head against a tree.’ — Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones’s Diary
‘Bertie Berkshire once described him as a “particularly nasty virus, that one's wife caught sooner or later,” but we all get over it.' — Jilly Cooper, Rivals
‘A candidate [...] who had the advantage of seeming to be an American without the disadvantage of actually being one.’ — Robert Harris, Conclave
‘I told him a story of two people. Two people who shouldn't have met, and who didn't like each other much when they did, but who found they were the only two people in the world who could possibly have understood each other.’ — Jojo Moyes, Me Before You
‘After a certain age, you can pretty much do whatever takes your fancy. No one tells you off, except for your doctors and your children.’ — Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club
‘To say that men can be bullheaded would be insulting to the bull.’ — Julia Quinn, The Duke and I
Robert Harris, the author of Conclave, Rupert Everett, Sebastian Faulks, Gyles Brandreth and Sarah Waters are other names on the line-up. The festival sold nearly 20,000 tickets in its first two-year tenure at Hampton Court Palace, and this year is the first time it will be hosted at Chatsworth in Derbyshire.
Vicki Perrin, the chief executive of The Queen’s Reading Room, said: ‘As a charity, we are committed to ensuring that everybody can access our events. We are therefore so excited by the opportunity of connecting with more audiences in the UK at Chatsworth and are immensely grateful to Chatsworth House Trust for hosting us — it’s clear that, like us, they are deeply committed to championing creativity and the joy of books.’
Jane Marriott, the director of the Chatsworth House Trust said: ‘We often say that Chatsworth is more than a house; it’s a place of creativity and community, learning and ideas. This partnership between our two charities demonstrates how true this is, and we can’t wait for the festival to begin.’
The Queen’s Reading Room 2025 festival will take place on the 19th and 20th of September at Chatsworth, Derbyshire. Tickets are on sale now.
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