Queen Camilla marked the centenary of A.A. Milne’s beloved Winnie-the-Pooh stories with a visit to Ashdown Forest in East Sussex, the landscape that inspired the fictional Hundred Acre Wood. The milestone celebrates 100 years since the books were first published in 1926. During her appearance—marking her first visit as the Royal Literary Fund patron—the Queen arrived in a black Range Rover wearing a green leaf-patterned dress to open a new walking trail named Queen’s Walk.
Queen Camilla Marks Winnie-the-Pooh Centenary at Ashdown Forest
During the visit, the Queen played a traditional game of poohsticks at Pooh Sticks Bridge alongside children’s authors including Dame Julia Donaldson, illustrator Axel Scheffler, and official Winnie-the-Pooh sequels writer Jane Riordan, as well as broadcaster Gyles Brandreth, who wore a red Winnie-the-Pooh jumper. Reflecting on her childhood, the Queen shared that she spent a lot of time playing poohsticks when she was young. Peering over the bridge’s edge during the game, she remarked, Mine’s still going strong,
though she did not win the race. Esme Coulter, 17, who secured a joint third-place finish playing poohsticks with the monarch after winning a poetry competition, called the experience amazing.
BBC Radio 4 Announces Special Centenary Programming and Drama
Complementing the royal visit, BBC Radio 4 has scheduled a special week of broadcasting this October to celebrate the centenary. The programming will be introduced by Her Majesty the Queen via a specially recorded opening captured earlier this year at Pooh Sticks Bridge in Ashdown Forest. In her introduction, the Queen describes Winnie-the-Pooh as offering kindness, wisdom
and simplicity in a very complicated world.
The broadcast schedule includes five 15-minute readings from the first Winnie-the-Pooh collection, airing daily from Monday 12 to Friday 16 October at 11.45am. The readings feature an acclaimed cast comprising Sir Lenny Henry, Ambika Mod, Jim Broadbent, Toby Jones, and Hayley Atwell. Additionally, Radio 4 will rerun the series Who Are You in Winnie-The-Pooh?
featuring Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce.
Unveiling Trails, Memorials, and a New Play
The royal visit also highlighted local conservation and literary heritage. The Queen unveiled a plaque for the new Queen’s Walk trail at a memorial site dedicated to A.A. Milne and original illustrator E.H. Shepard, located at The Enchanted Place where Christopher Robin bids farewell to the animals in the stories. Praising the enduring character, the Queen called Winnie-the-Pooh a universal hero
and noted that people love him and his friends all over the world.
The celebratory week on BBC Radio 4 will culminate on Saturday 17 October at 3.00pm with Drama on 4: Save the Hundred Acre Wood,
a new play written by Edward Kemp. The drama explores the true story of the campaign to protect Ashdown Forest and examines how Christopher Robin Milne eventually became involved in efforts to preserve the landscape that inspired his father’s writing, despite spending much of his life distancing himself from the famous stories.
