Camilla, the Queen Consort, has urged authors to resist curbs on freedom of expression in an apparent reflection on the backlash against changes to Roald Dahl’s books.
Speaking at a Clarence House reception to mark the second anniversary of her online book club, Camilla told authors: “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.”
In videos posted on social media, the queen consort then looked up with a smile and said: “Enough said”, which is being interpreted as a subtle dig at rewrites to Dahl’s work. Her comments were greeted by cheers of “hear, hear”.
The Daily Telegraph previously revealed hundreds of changes had been made to Dahl’s original texts, in order to remove language deemed inappropriate. These included many descriptions relating to weight, mental health and gender – which some say are not suitable for young readers.
For example, in The Twits, Mrs Twit is no longer “ugly and beastly” but just “beastly”, and in James and the Giant Peach, Aunt Sponge is no longer “terrifically fat / And tremendously flabby at that”, but is instead “a nasty old brute”.
The changes have been made to the new editions of Dahl’s stories published by Puffin, with the approval of the Roald Dahl Story Company. The review began in 2020 when the company was still run by the Dahl family, and concluded last year after the estate was sold to Netflix.
Among the public figures to have intervened in the row is Salman Rushdie, who tweeted: “Roald Dahl was no angel but this is absurd censorship.” Philip Pullman, author of His Dark Materials, suggested Dahl’s work should be allowed to fade away and be replaced by modern children’s writers.
Pullman said Dahl’s work would not disappear overnight from shelves in homes, school libraries and elsewhere. “What are you going to do about them? All these words are still there, are you going to round up all the books and cross them out with a big black pen?”
Earlier this week, Rishi Sunak also portrayed the changes as an attack on free speech. The prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “When it comes to our rich and varied literary heritage, the prime minister agrees with the BFG that we shouldn’t gobblefunk around with words.”
The spokesperson added that it was “important that works of literature and works of fiction are preserved and not airbrushed. We have always defended the right to free speech and expression”.
The Roald Dahl Story Company has said “it’s not unusual to review the language” during a new print run and any changes were “small and carefully considered”.
Dahl, who died in 1990, has regularly featured among the UK’s favourite authors, but his legacy has been under the spotlight in recent years. In 2020, his family apologised for the “lasting and understandable hurt caused by the author’s antisemitic statements”.
