The Radio 2 Book Club, The Radio 2 Book Club, The Royal Library at Windsor Castle (celebrating 500 Words)

The Radio 2 Book Club

The Radio 2 Book Club

The Royal Library at Windsor Castle (celebrating 500 Words)

3 March 2026

28 minutes

Available for over a year

Come with Sara Cox on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Royal Library in Windsor Castle. Housing over 45,000 items, this library is a treasure trove for book lovers, with texts dating back hundreds of years.

Our guide is one of the curators, Elizabeth Clark Ashby, who tells us the history of the library, what her job entails day-to-day, and picks out four amazing artifacts to show us. These are:

A handwritten manuscript by Mozart (aged 11)

The complete works of Shakespeare, which was owned by Charles I

A tiny jeweled miniature book, made for Queen Mary's dolls house

A copy of Jane Eyre, inscribed by Queen Victoria to Albert

Windsor Castle played host to the Gran Final of 500 Words - the UK's most celebrated children's writing competition. Exceptional young writers from all across the UK were invited to a reception, hosted by Her Majesty The Queen, honouring their imagination, creativity and remarkable stories.

The Grand Final was hosted by Alex Jones and Roman Kemp and the six winning entries – to be revealed in a special edition of The One Show on Friday 6th March - were read at the event by Sara Cox, Jodie Whittaker, Joanna Page, Bradley and Barney Walsh, Big Zuu and Paterson Joseph.

*you can hear more from Sara's trip to Windsor on her teatime show on Radio 2, on Thursday 5th March.