Gillian Anderson And Fiennes Entertain British Royals At Dickens Event

Gillian Anderson and Ralph Fiennes entertained Charles, Prince OF Wales and his wife in London on Tuesday (07Feb12) with readings to mark the 200th anniversary of literary legend Charles Dickens' birth.

The prince and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall led the global celebrationsto mark Dickens' 1812 birth at the U.K. capital's Westminster Abbey, andalso stopped by the Charles Dickens Museum.

Anderson, who played Miss Havisham in a recent BBC adaptation of Dickens' Great Expectations, gave a private reading for the royal visitors - and was delighted with her audience's reaction.

She says, "I was very impressed by how relaxed and how much fun they are. They're very funny and like to have a joke".

Fiennes read from Dickens' Bleak House.

A service honouring the author also took place in Portsmouth, south England - where he was born - and featured readings by actor Simon Callow and actress Sheila Hancock.