Queen reminisces on 'fun' times with late Dame Maggie Smith at Commonwealth Essay Competition event

Dame Maggie Smith died successful September aged 89, astatine the time, the King and Queen released a written tribute praising the precocious histrion for her awesome vocation and talent

The Queen has reminisced connected sharing bully times with acting royalty Dame Maggie Smith, calling her "a legend" who she ever had "such fun" with.

Queen Camilla was speaking to histrion Toby Stephens of her sadness astir his mother's decease astatine a Buckingham Palace reception for the The Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition. During the exchange, she said she was “so sorry” to larn of the actress’ decease successful September.

In a lukewarm speech arsenic the Queen met with the performers who were owed to work winning essays astatine the event, she told him “we had specified amusive with her”. Stephens replied: “Well, vice versa.”

Dame Maggie Smith died successful September aged 89. At the time, the King and Queen released a written tribute saying: "As the curtain comes down connected a nationalist treasure, we articulation each those astir the world successful remembering with the fondest admiration and affection her galore large performances, and her warmth and wit that shone done some disconnected and connected the stage."

The histrion was among the 4 celebrated faces who work excerpts of stories from the winners and runners up of the effort prize, the longest-running contention of its benignant successful the world. The Queen told young authors they "make maine arrogant to beryllium a subordinate of the Commonwealth" and "fill maine with anticipation for its future".

One of the stories was work by Clive Myrie, who feared helium would beryllium precocious to the engagement portion doing his BBC time job, and was greeted cheerfully by the Queen with the words: “You’ve managed to extract yourself?"

"I made it wide I had an assignment with Your Majesty,” helium joked. The remaining 2 extracts were work by Tanya Reynolds and Richard Ayoade, some of whom spoke to the Queen astir the endowment of the young writers and however moved they had been by speechmaking their stories.

The Queen besides met the young winners and runners up of the prize: 15-year-old Evangeline Khoo, Senior Winner, from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 13-year-old Erynn Liew, Junior Winner, from Puchong, Malaysia; 16-year-old Cristabelle Yeo, Senior Runner-up, from Singapore; and 13-year-old Victor Austin Kiyaga, Junior Runner-up from Mukono, Uganda. She congratulated the teenage writers and their parents, praising their “brilliant, perfectly brilliant” work.

“It’s beauteous to spot each this talent,” she told them, asking questions astir their schools and erstwhile they started penning stories. Victor, who is the 2nd Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition victor from his Ugandan school, utilized the infinitesimal to invitation the King and Queen to his country. The Queen said she would emotion to travel and would “tell my husband”.

Hearing that Christabelle was from Singapore, she said she had “whizzed through” the state connected her mode to and fro the caller Royal sojourn to Australia and Samoa, adding that it was a “very bully spot to stop”. The lawsuit was compered by Gyles Brandreth, a semipermanent protagonist of the Queen’s literacy campaigning, with guests including Booker Prize victor Ben Okri, writer Francesca Simon, erstwhile Spice Girl Geri Horner, and bestselling humanities novelist Philippa Gregory who told the Queen she was “so gladsome you are feeling better” aft her thorax infection.

The lawsuit finished with a show from the Ngāti Rānana London Māori Club choir. Guests were invited to spot books, manuscripts and tiny dolls location books from the Royal Collection, including the Queen Mother’s transcript of PL Travers’ Mary Poppins, published successful 1934.

In a speech, the Queen told guests “it is simply a immense pleasance to invited you to Buckingham Palace today” and celebrated the “record-breaking year” of 35,000 entries from 54 Commonwealth countries. “Pamela Travers (or PL Travers, arsenic it says connected the screen of this book) erstwhile said thing precise astute astir penning that I remembered erstwhile I work your superb entries,” she told finalists. “She said, ‘A writer is, aft all, lone fractional his book. The different fractional is the reader’.

“I deliberation that by this she meant that a truly bully portion of penning stirs up the scholar and, by immoderate unusual magic, makes the scholar portion of the story. This is decidedly existent of our fantastic finalists: acknowledgment to your talents, your readers are taken connected astonishing journeys with you crossed the Commonwealth, from Gambia to Grenada, from Bangladesh to Botswana, from Malta to Malaysia.

"You marque america portion of your story; you invitation america to stock your concerns and your passions; and you eloquently explicit the powerfulness of ‘Our Common Wealth’. I americium afloat of admiration for you all. You marque maine arrogant to beryllium a subordinate of the Commonwealth and you capable maine with anticipation for its future.

"Now, if Mary Poppins were here, I wonderment if she would beryllium telling maine to hurry up with a brisk 'Spit Spot' truthful that we tin get connected to the prize giving. I volition truthful extremity by saying that determination is conscionable 1 connection to picture you all.. You are utterly supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!"