The Duchess of Cornwall has revealed the idea behind her online book club has come to fruition – with avid readers “chatting and communicating – swapping ideas”.

Camilla launched her Reading Room on Instagram in January to encourage book fans of all ages to discover new writers and create a hub where literary communities across the globe could connect.

In a video the duchess describes how she has received many letters from Russia and also Indonesia, Australia and Europe with readers beginning to interact with each other.

She said: “They’re so sort of warm and friendly and you know then they recommend their books, which is quite nice to sort of jot down when you are thinking of books.”

Camilla went on to say: “I mean, we’ve a slight lack of communication lately with all of us locked in, we haven’t had our family and friends round us so it’s quite nice to sort of talk to people through books online.

“And I’ve noticed through the comments, there are a lot of people beginning to sort of chat to each other and that’s, you know, that was the idea in the first place, just to get people chatting and communicating – swapping ideas.”

A new portrait of the duchess, taken in the Morning Room at Clarence House, has been released to mark season two of her online book club.

For the new season Camilla has selected four books – Girl by Edna O’Brien, A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, The Red Notebook by Antoine Lauraine and The Secret Commonwealth from The Book Of Dust trilogy by Philip Pullman.