Today Her Majesty The Queen hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace to celebrate the work of The WOW Foundation and to mark the end of its inaugural WOW Girls Festival, which has visited all four nations of the UK over the past six months. Her Majesty the Queen was met by Jude Kelly CBE, WOW’s Founder and CEO.

Queen Mathilde and The Duchess of Gloucester joined Her Majesty for the event, with the reception attended by approximately 150 guests involved in the WOW Girls Festival tour including young people aged 7 to 20 from schools and youth groups, Standard Chartered Futuremakers and WOW Young Leaders; and high profile individuals and supporters of WOW.

Guests at the event included Dame Helen Mirren, Mel B, Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Dame Kelly Holmes, Sophia Smith-Galer, Emma Barnett, Laura Bates, Dr Ronx, Doreen Lawrence and Perri Shakes-Drayton.

To celebrate Her Majesty The Queen’s role as President of The WOW Foundation and the work of the foundation in empowering girls and women, Barbie created a one-of-a-kind Barbie doll in The Queen’s likeness, complete with a WOW badge! The doll was presented to The Queen at the reception.

The WOW Girls Festival is supported by BBC Children in Need and in partnership with WOW UK Girls Champion Barbie who are extending the tour to reach primary aged children, and WOW Global Girls Champion Standard Chartered Bank who are supporting the Girls Festival’s international reach.

The WOW Girls Festival Bus is funded through a partnership between The WOW Foundation and BBC Children in Need and the tour is supported by Arts Council England.