Queen Camilla’s decision to meet Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Scotland on Tuesday has sparked criticism on social media and reignited debate over royal neutrality.
The meeting, at the royal family‘s official residence in Edinburgh, during “Royal Week” was intended to promote reading and literacy.
However, the publication of a photograph showing the queen alongside Rowling prompted a backlash from some because of Rowling’s widely debated views on transgender issues. Many of the negative responses noted that the photo came during Pride Month, intensifying emotional reactions.
Read More on Analysis
Others defended both women, arguing that the meeting was about books and children’s literacy rather than politics.
Representatives for Rowling declined to comment when contacted by Newsweek.
Afua Hagan, a prominent U.K. based royal commentator, told Newsweek: “If you are taking a picture with someone like J.K. Rowling, whose views are front and center, then you are endorsing them, whether you say you are endorsing them or not. From the point of view of royal neutrality this is an own goal.”
Newsweek approached Buckingham Palace by email for comment.
Why It Matters
The monarchy’s constitutional role depends heavily on political neutrality. While members of the royal family routinely meet figures from across public life, the Crown generally seeks to avoid picking a side in controversial debates.
At the heart of the backlash is a belief among Rowling’s critics that to share a platform with her is to endorse her when they believe her views should be excluded. For those critics, Camilla’s decision to pose with Rowling suggested a rejection of their perspective, potentially undermining the monarchy’s neutrality.
Queen Camilla’s Palace Meeting With JK Rowling
Buckingham Palace said Camilla and Rowling met at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh because of their shared interest in reading and children’s access to books.
The royal family’s official social media accounts posted the photo, captioned: “With a shared passion for books and a deep commitment to children reading for pleasure, The Queen and author J.K. Rowling have met at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.”
The Palace added that the pair “discussed the importance of ensuring that young people have access to books and the vital part reading plays in opening doors for future generations.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Camilla launched an Instagram book club that evolved into The Queen’s Reading Room, now a literacy charity promoting reading among adults and children alike.
Camilla has previously praised the Harry Potter books. In 2024, she said during the first episode of The Queen’s Reading Room podcast: “I think the one I enjoyed reading more than anything else was Harry Potter. All the stories.
“I can’t mimic voices for love or money I’m completely hopeless at it. I was a really bad actor at school and I’ve never been able to master the art of mimicry but my husband does it brilliantly, he can do all the voices.”
Backlash Against the Meeting
Hagan said: “J.K. Rowling is just so problematic and she has really ruined the legacy of Harry Potter. It’s such a shame. At the end of Pride Month, for Camilla to be photographed with someone who is a known TERF [Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist] is not a good look at all.
“J.K. Rowling wrote some incredible books and has done a lot for literature and reading but it doesn’t take away from the fact that she has very decisive and very disgusting views.”
The event may have had a literary purpose officially but much of the online reaction focused on gender.
One Instagram comment on the palace’s post read: “As an admirer of the Queen and her Reading Room I’m deeply disappointed in her giving a platform to JKR, any month but especially during Pride Month. There are many other admirable individuals to spotlight who champion reading for children and young people.” The comment was liked more than 14,000 times.
Another comment, liked more than 13,000 times, read: “All young people? Or only some young people?” It was followed by a series of trans rights flag emojis.
India Willoughby, a prominent U.K. trans rights campaigner, wrote on X: “LGBT people—especially the trans community—are absolutely entitled to be disgusted by this photo.”
Commenting on the royal family’s post, Willoughby posted a Princess Diana magazine cover and wrote: “Here’s a real Queen. No surprise Camilla is a terf. She’s got ‘the look’. Diana on the other hand would have 100% been on the side of trans people.”
However, the response was not universally negative. Supporters also defended the meeting and Rowling herself. One commenter wrote: “Thank you, Your Majesty for standing with JK Rowling. Two strong and real women.”
Another praised the author for helping inspire children to read, saying Rowling had encouraged “a whole new generation of children to read again.”
The mixed reaction reflected the extent to which Rowling remains one of Britain’s most polarizing cultural figures.
Why JK Rowling Is Controversial
Rowling became one of Britain’s most controversial public figures after intervening in debates about sex, gender identity and proposed changes to gender recognition laws.
In 2020, she published a lengthy essay explaining her views and linking them directly to proposals being considered by the Scottish government.
Rowling explicitly referenced the “controversial gender recognition plans, which will in effect mean that all a man needs to ‘become a woman’ is to say he’s one.”
Trans activism was, according to Rowling, “pushing to erode the legal definition of sex and replace it with gender” and she said her views had been shaped in part by experiences of domestic abuse and sexual assault.
“When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he’s a woman, you open the door to any and all men,” she wrote.
Scotland approved legislation to change gender recognition laws in December 2022, however, the British government announced in January 2023 that it would veto the new legislation on the basis it conflicted with the overarching Equality Act, governing the whole of the United Kingdom.
Supporters view her as a prominent defender of sex-based rights, while critics argue her comments stigmatize transgender people and undermine transgender rights.
The dispute has made Rowling one of Britain’s most divisive public figures. She has been praised by gender-critical campaigners and many women’s rights advocates, while attracting sustained criticism from LGBTQ activists, transgender campaigners and some former fans.
In June 2020, Rowling took aim at a news article headlined: “Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate.”
“‘People who menstruate,’” she wrote on X. “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”
The controversy has also led to public disagreements with several actors from the Harry Potter films, including Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, who have voiced support for transgender rights.
In 2020, Radcliffe released a statement through LGBTQ+ group the Trevor Project which read: “Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo [Rowling] or I.”
As a result, Rowling occupies an unusual position in British public life. Supporters celebrate her as a defender of sex-based rights and to some she is a symbol of the dangers of “cancel culture.” However, opponents argue her views harm transgender people, who they argue are already a vulnerable group.
Queen Camilla’s Views on Freedom of Expression
While Buckingham Palace gave no indication that discussions about gender politics formed part of Camilla’s meeting with Rowling, the Queen has previously spoken about freedom of expression in the literary world.
In 2023, amid a controversy over changes made to new editions of Roald Dahl’s books, Camilla appeared to defend authors against editorial pressures and censorship.
Addressing writers and literary figures at Clarence House, she said: “Please keep doing so and please remain true to your calling, unimpeded by those who may wish to curb the freedom of your expression or impose limits on your imagination.”
The remarks came after criticism of alterations made to Dahl’s work to remove language considered potentially offensive to modern readers.
Although Camilla did not mention Dahl directly, her comments were widely interpreted as support for authors’ creative freedom and opposition to efforts to rewrite classic texts.
That background may help explain why some supporters saw her meeting with Rowling as consistent with her long-standing support for writers and literary expression. Critics, however, viewed the decision through the lens of Rowling’s role in the transgender rights debate.
Opinions on Rowling are so strong, however, that to have any meeting at all with her will be perceived by some as a rejection of the notion she should be excluded from public life.
One petition to HBO with 4,411 signatures read: “We write to you as a collective of Harry Potter fandom leaders asking you to cancel the proposed television adaptation of the Harry Potter series. Because of JK Rowling’s ongoing transphobic rhetoric, making a Harry Potter series at this time is an endorsement of transphobia.”
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Daniel Orton and Tony Phillips