Backlash continues to flood the comments section of an Instagram post from the British royal family’s official account, days after it was published. According to Pink News, the comments on the post featuring Queen Camilla with Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling have since been limited. Instagram’s “limited comments” setting lets an account restrict who can comment or automatically hide comments containing certain words, without necessarily disabling commenting altogether. As of Thursday, the comment section still had the comments box open to some users and appeared to have more than 9,000 comments visible.
The controversy began earlier this week on June 30, when Queen Camilla met with Rowling at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. According to the photo caption, the meeting took place “with a shared passion for books and a deep commitment to children reading for pleasure,” and that the two “discussed the importance of ensuring that young people have access to books.”
However, it drew immediate criticism given Rowling’s public stance on transgender issues. Commenters at the time called the meeting poorly timed, noting it fell on the last day of Pride Month. Many posted trans pride flag emojis alongside messages of support for the transgender community. One commenter wrote, “As an admirer of the Queen and her Reading Room I’m deeply disappointed in her giving a platform to JKR, any month but especially during Pride Month. There are many other admirable individuals to spotlight who champion reading for children and young people.” Another said, “Very sad to see and read while in some places in England queer books are BANNED from libraries and schools.”
Rowling has increasingly spoken out against transgender rights in recent years. Responding to criticism in 2023, she said, “I was not uncomfortable with getting off my pedestal and what has interested me over the last 10 years, and certainly over the last two, three years, particularly on social media [is people saying]: ‘Oh, you’ve ruined your legacy. You could have been beloved forever. I do not walk around my house thinking about my legacy.”
In 2025, she shared a photo of herself to her X account, smoking a cigar while holding a cocktail and appearing to be on vacation at a warm locale. The photo was accompanied with the caption “I love it when a plan comes together.” The post had been published soon after the UK supreme court ruled that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex.
Several actors from the Harry Potter franchise have publicly criticized Rowling’s comments and spoken out in support of transgender rights. “I disagree with Jo [Rowling]’s comments,” Eddie Redmayne, star of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, said in 2020. “Trans women are women, trans men are men and non-binary identities are valid.”
Emma Watson, who starred in all eight of the original Harry Potter films, more recently spoke more about her fallout with Rowling over the issue. Watson previously said, “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.”
Rachel King (she/her) is a news writer at Town & Country. Before joining T&C, she spent nearly a decade as an editor at Fortune. Her work covering travel and lifestyle has appeared in Forbes, Observer, Robb Report, Cruise Critic, and Cool Hunting, among others. Originally from San Francisco, she lives in New York with her wife, their daughter, and a precocious labradoodle. Follow her on Instagram at .
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