The 75-year-old’s remarks follow controversial language changes to many of Roald Dahl’s popular children’s books after the publisher brought in “sensitivity readers”.
“Please remain true to your calling, unimpeded by those who may wish to kerb the freedom of your expression or impose limits on your imagination,” Camilla told a room of authors at Clarence House on Wednesday.
The assembled authors allegedly laughed and responded “hear, hear” and the Queen Consort added, “Enough said.”
Last week, Dahl’s publisher Puffin announced that several of the legendary author’s books would be amended to remove outdated and offensive language.
The impacted titles include school library classics like Matilda, The Twits, James and the Giant Peach and The Witches.
In the 1983 novel The Witches, Dahl describes that witches are bald beneath their wigs. Forty years later, a new line has been added to the book which reads, “There are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.”
The alterations have even impacted Dahl’s most popular book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
References to the character Augustus Gloop as “fat” have been removed, while Oompa Loompas are no longer referred to as “little men” in favour of “little people”.
The new edits are not the first time Dahl has faced criticism for the Oompa Loompa characters.
During his lifetime, Dahl was repeatedly criticised for depicting fictional characters as African slaves.
The author was also often accused of making anti-Semitic remarks, which prompted his heirs to publish a posthumous apology on his behalf in 2020.
The Queen Consort is known to be a voracious reader herself and recently listed reading to her grandchildren as her favourite pastime.
