Overview

• At Chatsworth on September 19, she launched the festival marking Jane Austen’s 250th anniversary and joked about a Pride and Prejudice lake re‑enactment during her remarks.
• Speaking with a hoarse voice, she indicated recovery from acute sinusitis after missing the Duchess of Kent’s Requiem earlier in the week, having since resumed public duties during the US state visit.
• Programming included a live Jane Austen performance, displays of artefacts from Jane Austen’s House museum, and an outdoor screening of Pride and Prejudice on the estate lawns.
• She placed books in a donation station with all contributions going to The Elm Foundation’s service users and met survivors discussing reading’s benefits with neuroscientist Professor Sam Wass.
• At a reception she met writers including Richard Osman, Jilly Cooper, Jojo Moyes, Helen Fielding and Julia Quinn, and noted the charity’s growth to an online community of over 180,000 with an annual audience near 12 million.