Palace broadcast makes radio history

Mark Lawson was given access to royal library

BBC Radio 4 has made broadcasting history by hitting the airwaves live from Buckingham Palace.

The Front Row programme was the first radio show to come live from the Queen's home during a reception for the book world.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh threw a party for 600 people on Thursday night.

Among the guests were Harry Potter creator J K Rowling and "aga saga" novelist Joanna Trollope.

The Queen will meet the cream of publishing world

Mark Lawson presented the programme from the palace, which included discussions about the state of publishing and trends in bookselling.

Lawson also looked at how the Queen has been portrayed in recent fiction and reported from the royal library.

The first broadcast from Buckingham Palace was the Jubilee message by King George V on 6 May 1965.

Christmas and Commonwealth Day messages have also been transmitted by the BBC, but Front Row was the first radio show to come live from the palace.

As part of the royal publishing day, Prince Philip accompaned the Queen on a whistlestop tour of publishing houses and bookstores.

They visited Bloomsbury Publishing and Waterstones bookshop in Piccadilly, London, where they met the winners of the Reader's Digest Chain Booksellers of the Year award.

The Queen also met Poet Laureate Andrew Motion at a London School where he is taking part in a poetry workshop.