Actor Dame Judi Dench, who played the role of Mr Rochester’s housekeeper, Mrs Fairfax, in the 2011 film adaptation of Jane Eyre, has been appointed the honorary president of the Brontë Society.
Dench was appointed to the role as the organisation prepares to celebrate the 200th birthday of Charlotte Brontë on 21 April. The actor said she was “delighted” to have been offered the position, and that she would be “helping the organisation celebrate this significant and iconic literary family”.
“The Brontës are respected and adored the world over and it will be an honour to work with the society to promote their legacy during this important bicentenary period,” said Dench, who was born in Yorkshire.
The anniversary on 21 April will be marked with the laying of a floral tribute at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, where Charlotte Brontë spent much of her life, along with talks at the Yorkshire museum, a birthday party for the local community, and performances of scenes from Jane Eyre by local primary school pupils.
Along with exhibitions at London’s National Portrait Gallery and the Sir John Soane’s Museum to mark Charlotte Brontë’s contribution to literature, and the publication of a short story collection, Reader, I Married Him, edited by Tracy Chevalier and inspired by Jane Eyre, the Brontë Society will also hold a service in honour of the author on 22 April at Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey.
Dench’s appointment follows the resignation of former president Bonnie Greer from the role last June, following disagreements over how the society was being run.
Chair John Thirlwell said he was “thrilled” that Dench was taking up the role. “The Brontë Society is embarking on an exciting new chapter in its history and I can think of no better person to accompany us on that journey,” he said.
