Despite the backlash, many have praised the Queen for standing firm, calling the meeting a 'smart move'

Queen Camilla’s high-profile audience with Harry Potter author JK Rowling has sparked a royal optics row, triggering divisions and accusations of "really bad timing."

The Queen met with the bestselling writer at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh to discuss children's literacy.

However, the decision to publicise the meeting on the final day of Pride Month led to backlash from activists, while drawing praise from defenders who commended the Palace for standing firm against "cancel culture."

Speaking exclusively to GB News, LGBTQ+ activist and director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, Peter Tatchell, warned that the imagery sent an ambiguous message to the public regarding trans rights.

"We don't know whether Queen Camilla is aligning with JK Rowling's views on trans rights because Camilla has not publicly expressed an opinion on the issue," Mr Tatchell said.

"But the photo leaves it open to the interpretation that Camilla may share similar ideas about trans people. Clearly it was a deliberate choice by Camilla to invite JK, knowing her trans critical views and knowing that the meeting with her would stir controversy and backlash."

Mr Tatchell argued that the Palace missed an opportunity to show balance on the sensitive cultural issue: "The meeting might have been acceptable if Camilla had simultaneously expressed support for trans human rights. But she didn't.

"Although it may well be the case that the Queen only met JK Rowling because of her contributions to literature, that is not obvious. We don't know. Many LGBT people are either disappointed or angry about the meeting."

The activist urged the Queen to take definitive public action to heal the rift, stating: "The best response Camilla could give would be to express her support for trans acceptance, respect and equality. That would be far more meaningful and valued than an apology."

Etiquette expert Laura Windsor was equally critical of the Palace's handling of the event, pointing to a breakdown in the royal communications strategy given the specific timing of the release.

"It's really a study of how institutions can lose control of a message, isn't it? And they really need to work hard on that," Ms Windsor exclusively told GB News.

"There's a long tradition of having to protect what they stand for, and it's not so much what Camilla was talking about; it was the fact she did it on the last day of Pride Month, and with whom she did it, JK Rowling."

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Ms Windsor stressed that the public display of the encounter overshadowed the meeting's literary purpose: "It's not really the content, it's more about the optics here, and they should have done a better job of it, because the public doesn't just read the context, it also reads the content.

"The photograph captions communicate one thing, but the content - that is what it was all about. You can't deny the content; the public isn't stupid, and it just seemed really bad timing."

However, etiquette expert Jo Hayes offered a starkly different take, mounting a robust defence of the pairing and dismissing the online fury as a vocal minority: "The decision to meet with JK Rowling, and praise said meeting in a post on the Royal Family’s social media channels, has certainly been met with cries of disdain from Rowling critics. But I think the majority of Brits have no issue with the meeting - or, in fact, with Rowling herself."

She added: "Her views on transgender women are her personal views - not criminal hate speech. She’s allowed to have her own views, and she’s allowed to express them."

Ms Hayes argued the event was appropriate given the author's cultural impact: "She has contributed an enormous amount in the literary space - especially for children - and the Royal Family have every right to meet with her in a joint effort to promote/encourage reading for young people.

"The Royal Family does well to stand firm and not bow to ‘cancel culture’ - a culture that has done an enormous amount of harm in the modern world.

"I have no doubt the Royal Family advisors would offer the wise counsel to just ignore the noise, as it’ll die down very soon."

Supporting this perspective, Lynn Carratt, a PR and Entertainment Expert at E20 Communications, deemed the engagement a victory for the Palace's long-term PR strategy, telling GB News: "It was a smart move from a royal PR perspective.

"Queen Camilla has long championed literacy, reading and the importance of books, so meeting one of Britain's most successful authors aligns naturally with her long-term work.

"While JK Rowling remains a divisive figure, the Royal Family's role does not like to involve itself in political or cultural debates, but to recognise her significant contributions to British life."

Ms Carratt concluded that the engagement highlighted the Queen's growing confidence: "The Palace is very careful to focus on achievements rather than controversy, and this engagement reinforced Camilla's commitment to promoting reading rather than making any wider statement.

"Camilla has become increasingly confident in carving out causes that genuinely resonate with her, and this is exactly the sort of engagement that feels authentic rather than performative."