HM The Queen joins the celebrations for the BBC 500 Words Final

HM The Queen joined Francesca Simon and the other judges of the BBC 500 Words competition at Windsor Castle for a very special event. The winners of the writing competition were revealed in a special edition of The One Show broadcast on 7th March, which you can watch here.

Here is Francesca with fellow judges Sir Lenny Henry, Malorie Blackman and HM The Queen.

During the celebrations Francesca met Peyton Kershaw from Goole near Hull who is a big fan of Horrid Henry. One of the finalists this year, Peyton Kershaw was in the top 50 last year and so met many of the judges at Buckingham Palace. You can read more here.

Find out more about the event on the BBC here.

Fabulous Francesca Facts

"Families are great sources of comedy because they are about people trapped together. Only the parents chose to be there and the rest of you are stuck with these people that you might not necessarily like"

"Nobody feels emotions like children and with Henry, the war is constant and total. Anyone who has lived in a family has these shared experiences - the car journey from hell, nits or vomiting"

"I’ve never met a child who doesn’t love hearing stories. It’s a good way of introducing them to books and it’s a great way of getting them to understand stories that they might not be able to read themselves"

"We all love stories, it all helps making sense of the world"

"Horrid Henry speaks to the impish, rebellious child in all of us"

"My first book was called Papa Forgot and was published in 1993"

"I’ve written over fifty books"

"My birthday is 23rd February"

"I’m a bit scared of the dark"

"My hobbies are reading, cooking and going to the theatre"

"My favourite author is Anthony Trollope"

"My most disliked food is beetroot"

"My favourite colour is aquamarine"

"My favourite food is scallops"