Her Majesty The Queen Visits the Charles Dickens Museum

The Charles Dickens Museum was delighted to receive a visit from Her Majesty The Queen to celebrate our centenary year. 

Queen Camilla visited the Charles Dickens Museum on 26th March 2025 to mark 100 years of the museum. She was greeted by our outgoing director Dr Cindy Sughrue and Mark Dickens, the current head of the Dickens family. Her Majesty toured the historic house and was introduced to Dr Frankie Kubicki, our newly appointed Museum Director as well as Patron and President of the Dickens Fellowship Lucinda Dickens Hawksley. 

The Queen was treated to some special performative readings by our patrons, Simon Callow and Miriam Margolyes and was guided to some of our most treasured items, such as a preparatory sketch of Ebeneezer Scrooge by illustrator John Leech, and The Lost Portrait by Margaret Gillies. 

Her Majesty's visit concluded with a meet and greet with our staff, trustees and volunteers. 

Following the tour, Her Majesty was presented with a facsimile copy of 'A Christmas Carol,' which had been signed by Mark Dickens, Lucinda Hawksley, Miriam Margolyes and Simon Callow. She was also gifted one of Dickens's favourite geraniums by Cathy, our wonderful garden volunteer. 

Sandra Lynes Timbrell, the current chair of our board of trustees paid tribute to the Queen's commitment to reading and literacy, remarking that Dickens is one of the most influential writers in the English language who, "understood storytelling to unite people and to provoke change. His words have deeply influenced our understanding of charity and social responsibility and their relevance endures just as strongly today as they did in his own time."

Her Majesty signed the guestbook before departing, and as a lovely mark for posterity, everyone present signed the book, along with a note of their role within the museum. This guestbook will then be accessioned into our collection to provide a permanent memento of this historic day.