Queen Camilla Shares Personally Signed Note—and Her Final Line Says It All

When it comes to the royal family, there are a few things we’ve come to expect: polished appearances, stunning photos and plenty of public support for charities and causes. What’s a little less common? Getting a glimpse of something genuinely personal, especially when it comes directly from a royal.

That’s exactly what Queen Camilla offered following the death of bestselling author Lord Jeffrey Archer. In a social media post shared on October 6, the Queen published a personal note expressing her condolences and reflecting on the author’s life and work.

Archer, a former Conservative MP who went on to become a bestselling novelist, died suddenly on Monday at age 86. He had also served time in prison after being convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice in 2001.

"Seldom does an author get to live a life as rich, varied and colourful as any of the characters in their books, or with as many surprising plot twists," the note began. "Jeffrey Archer was an exception to the end."

"It was therefore with sadness that I learned of his death yesterday, on the eve of publication of his final work and so soon after appearing at my Queen’s Reading Room Festival," the post continued.

Queen Camilla went on to offer her sympathies to Archer’s wife, Mary, and the rest of his family. "I hope it may be some consolation for them to know what pleasure Jeffrey brought to me and so many millions of readers through the pages of his works."

She also acknowledged that Archer’s life was not without controversy, writing, "While not without flaw, his friends will recall him as an irrepressible life force through all the many differing chapters of his life."

And then came a particularly memorable sign-off. "Wherever the next page turns to, I trust there will be champagne and Shepherd’s Pie in abundance.," she wrote, signing the note, "Camilla R."

The message comes just weeks after Archer appeared at Camilla’s Queen’s Reading Room Festival at Chatsworth in September, where he discussed the art of building a successful novel.

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