First ladies of literature

QUEEN Camilla teamed up with France's first lady at a book prize as she showed her long-standing commitment to literacy.

- Emily Ferguson

The pair launched Entente Litteraire project, a prize for young adult fiction in translation in French and English, during the King and Queen's state visit to France last September.

The inaugural prize ceremony is the second time the Queen, 77, has refused to miss a literary event amid her illness.

On November 12, just a week after Buckingham Palace announced she had a chest infection, she met Booker Prize finalists at her London home, Clarence House.

Yesterday, Camilla said Ms Macron's English was "far better than my French", and seemed to enjoy a reception with authors so much, the visit ran a few minutes over schedule.

She greeted the wife of President Emmanuel Macron with "bonjour", but later told writers she had forgotten much of her own French.