Queen Camilla ditches royal protocol when greeting Joanna Lumley and Judi Dench

Typical protocol is observed by bowing or curtseying when greeting a monarch

Queen Camilla went against royal protocol while greeting Dame Joanna Lumley and Dame Judi Dench at a royal reception over the weekend.

The Absolutely Fabulous star and James Bond actor both curtseyed to the Queen, who preferred to greet her friends more informally by giving them a kiss on the cheek.

The actors were in attendance at The Queen’s Reading Room literary festival reception at Hampton Court Palace on Sunday (11 June), as well as Gyles Brandeth, Richard E Grant and Derek Jacobi.

While there are no obligatory codes of behaviour when meeting members of the royal family, most people wish to observe the traditional forms.

For men, this is a neck bow – only from the head – while women often perform a small curtsy. Some people may prefer to shake hands with the monarch.

But Camilla is thought to be close friends with both Lumley and Dench, so royal protocols are more relaxed when greeting each other.

Lumley attended the coronation on 6 May, and is an old friend of Camilla and the royal family – she attended Camilla and Charles’s wedding in 2005. She criticised Netflix’s The Crown for its portrayal of Camilla, and claimed to have stopped watching it out of loyalty to the royal family. Her concern was that “people think it’s the truth”.

Judi Dench and Derek Jacobi at The Queen’s Reading Room literary festival (PA)

Meanwhile, Dench was snapped in 2018 having a catch-up with Camilla over a vanilla ice cream on the Isle of Wight and is thought to have been a close friend of Camilla’s for some time.

During Sunday’s event, Lumley performed “The Listeners” by Walter de la Mare while Grant read Lewis Carroll’s poem “All In The Golden Afternoon”.

Speaking at the literary event, Grant said: "Anything that encourages people to read and not just read graphic novels, I think is worthwhile."

He said Alice In Wonderland “has been my favourite book since I was seven and I’ve read it every year religiously ever since”.

The Queen’s Reading Room is a charity working to provide opportunities for the appreciation of literature among adults and children in the UK and around the world.

It relaunched as a charity in February, with Queen Camilla choosing a number of books for readers to get involved in her book club.