The Royal Family has faced criticism online after sharing a photo of Queen Camilla alongside J.K. Rowling.
The image was posted on the Royal Family’s social media accounts on June 30, 2026, and shows the 78-year-old Queen meeting the 60-year-old Harry Potter author at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh during Holyrood Week, which usually takes place from the end of June to the beginning of July. The Palace is the monarch’s official residence in Scotland and is often used for engagements linked to Scottish culture, community and public service.
The post was framed around Camilla’s long-running work promoting reading for pleasure and her literary charity, The Queen’s Reading Room, which she launched in 2021 and has continued to expand through events, partnerships and campaigns aimed at encouraging reading among children and adults.
“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 books and the vital part reading plays in opening doors for future generations.”
The reaction was swift, with some social media users objecting to the timing of the post, which arrived on the final day of Pride Month. Critics pointed to Rowling’s long-running activism on gender issues, including her support for the legal campaign brought by For Women Scotland, which led to a UK Supreme Court ruling on April 16, 2025 that, for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, the terms “woman” and “sex” refer to biological sex. Supporters of trans rights argued that the royal post appeared insensitive given the ongoing controversy.
One person took to social media, writing: “on the last day of pride month as well…”
Another wrote: “What a terrible final day of Pride Month! None of them terribly surprising but still heartbreaking.”
Rowling has previously rejected claims that her views are transphobic, and in an essay published on her website she wrote that she wanted trans women to be safe while also expressing concern about women’s safety in single-sex spaces.
She added:
“When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he’s a woman…then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside.”
Following the Supreme Court decision, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published updated interim guidance on single-sex spaces and services. That guidance has since been challenged by groups campaigning for transgender rights, including the Good Law Project, which argues that the revised approach still risks unfairly excluding trans people from facilities and treating them as a separate category.
In a statement on its website, the Good Law Project said some changes had been made from earlier drafts, but argued the revised version still fell short.
“It still treats trans people as a third sex, suggesting they should be made to use separate spaces – entirely ignoring the harm this causes, and human rights law,” they wrote. “We will keep fighting this discriminatory approach.”
For now, the Royal Family has not publicly commented on the criticism, while Camilla continues a busy summer programme that includes literary, charitable and public engagements across the UK.