‘When the Queen met Camilla’: Happy Valley’s Sarah Lancashire meets Queen Consort in viral video

A video of Happy Valley star Sarah Lancashire meeting Camilla, Queen Consort has gone viral on TikTok.

The pair met at an International Women’s Day event the Buckingham Palace event alongside the 2021 Strictly Come Dancing winner and EastEnders actor Rose Ayling-Ellis and former Tehran prisoner Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty was also among the guests alongside Afrobeats singer Tiwa Savage, performer Elaine Paige and Leader of the House of Commons, Conservative MP Penny Mordaunt.

As Camilla appeared to praise Happy Valley, Lancashire said: “Thank you very much indeed, I’m amazed you found time to watch.”

Happy Valley ended after three seasons in February, with a dramatic showdown between Lancashire’s Sergeant Catherine Cawood and her nemesis Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton).

After Camilla appeared to ask about the show’s future, Lancashire replied: “Well, there’s no season four. It’s all done. It’s the right thing to do, we just can’t keep doing it. It’s an emotional assault course. To be honest, it would kill me.”

Camilla, president of the Women of the World (WoW) Festival, which has been staged across the globe and will welcome the public this week in London, was joined at the palace by women from across society, including entrepreneurs, entertainers, athletes, authors and journalists.

In a social media post Camilla highlighted the importance of the day, writing: “International Women’s Day is a day to celebrate female achievements, to encourage and inspire one another, and to thank the women in our lives for their contribution to society.”

Official royal social media accounts highlighted the “remarkable women” the Queen Consort has met during the past 12 months, from the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska to Ayling-Ellis, recognised for her work highlighting the deaf community.

Camilla added: “To me they represent not only themselves and their own efforts, but also the millions of brilliant women who make a difference each day. Because, to steal a quote, ‘Behind every great woman… is another great woman.’”

The Queen Consort chatted to Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a dual British-Iranian national, detained by Tehran in 2016 after a holiday visit with her daughter Gabriella to see her parents.

Following six years of imprisonment, she landed back in Britain in March 2022 after the UK finally agreed to settle a £400m debt dating back to the 1970s.

She told Camilla: “I’m happy to be here – it’s lovely to be free.”

Additional reporting by Press Association