Queen Camilla becomes honorary member of Stationers’ Company

The Queen has been clothed in the livery of the Stationers’ and Newspaper Makers’ Company – the City of London livery company for the communications industries.

The honour means that Queen Camilla becomes a freeman and liveryman of The Stationers’ Company. The award recognises Queen Camilla’s work in promoting literacy and reading, including her charity – The Queen’s Reading Room, as well as the Coronation Libraries project.

The livery was presented at a ceremony at Stationers’ Hall in London, conducted by newly appointed master of the Stationers’ Company, Doug Wills.

Wills, who is emeritus editor at the London Standard and Independent, was only elected as master at the start of the month, taking over from previous master, Paul Wilson.

The ceremony was witnessed by a number of invited guests including the mayor of London, Alastair King; First Sea Lord Gwyn Jenkins, City Remembrancer of the City of London, Paul Wright; and editor in chief of The Independent, Geordie Greig.

Her Majesty’s sponsors for the ceremony were the first two female Masters of the Company, Helen Esmonde and Moira Sleight.

Following the ceremony, The Queen was shown around Stationers’ Hall where she learned about the charitable work of the Stationers’ Foundation in education and welfare and the Stationers’ Hall Charity.

Matt Stockl, a former apprentice of The Queen’s Royal Bindery Apprenticeship Scheme at Windsor Castle, a scheme set up in partnership with the Stationers’ Company, was commissioned to bind a book written by Stationer Margaret Willes, A Shakespearean Botanical, which was presented to Her Majesty by Zachary Welsh, a pupil at Leigh Stationers’ Primary Academy.

The Queen was also shown historic copyright registers in Stationer’s possession dating back to 1557, in particular that of an entry made in 1623 for the right to copy the plays of William Shakespeare, now known as The First Folio.

Among its various programmes to promote the print and communications industries, Stationers’ has recently announced that it has opened applications for its 2026 Stationers’ Company Warrants scheme.

The scheme provides new warrants and 2025 warrant renewals for relevant companies, which are granted based on a set of criteria including original design and high-quality manufacturing or production techniques, sustainability, and relevance to the industry or market sector.

Stationers’ also recently announced the shortlist for its annual Innovations Excellence Awards, which aims to celebrate innovations in the UK content and communications industry.

Shortlisted entries for this year’s awards include brands such as Xerox, FabLittleBag, XigXag, Workplace 360, and Interflex. The winners will be announced at a champagne reception on October 17^th at Stationer’s Hall.