King Charles and Queen Camilla have been in Edinburgh, Scotland since last Friday. They went to Scotland for the annual Holyrood Week, and they’ve been making the required appearances here and there. On Tuesday, Camilla went solo to the Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture, where she checked out a new exhibition. Also on Tuesday: Camilla invited Scotland-based author JK Rowling to Holyroodhouse for a private conversation and a photo. Tuesday was the last day of Pride Month, famously a celebration for the LGBTQ+ community, and Rowling is rather famously a massive transphobe.
Queen Camilla courted controversy this week as she welcomed Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling to visit with her in Scotland. On Tuesday, June 30, the Queen, 78, shared a photo with Rowling, 60, as they met at Holyroodhouse in support of Camilla’s childhood reading initiatives.
“With a shared passion for books and a deep commitment to children reading for pleasure, The Queen and author J.K. Rowling have met at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh,” the post read. “Her Majesty and Ms Rowling discussed the importance of ensuring that young people have access to books and the vital part reading plays in opening doors for future generations.”
Some followers found the post distasteful, however, as it fell on the final day of Pride Month and Rowling has a history of making anti-trans comments.
Rowling’s public statements against transgender women have led many to label her a transgender-exclusionary radical feminist, or TERF. The author — who first came under fire in 2020 for making remarks widely condemned as transphobic — has denied being transphobic, defending her views as pro-feminist.
For what it’s worth, it’s not like Rowling simply made a handful of poorly-thought-out remarks and then backtracked and apologized. That’s not what happened. She went full-on transphobe, and when she was called out on it, she doubled-down and tripled-down and made it her entire personality for more than six years now. She’s even bad-mouthed former Harry Potter actors when they’ve tried to stand up for trans people and LGBTQ rights. Many believe that Rowling has done irreparable damage to her legacy with all of this. It’s actually pretty bonkers that THIS is what Camilla decided to do too. This isn’t even the first time Camilla has used “literacy” to push a shady and/or right-wing agenda either. What terrible decisions being made by terrible people. (Usually, Camilla is a bit more sly with this sort of thing too – this is sort of out of character for her.)
With a shared passion for books and a deep commitment to children reading for pleasure, The Queen and author J.K. Rowling have met at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. Her Majesty and Ms Rowling discussed the importance of ensuring that young people have access to… pic.twitter.com/Yx1Xy6olqC
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) June 30, 2026
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Buckingham Palace’s social media.
