Judi Dench appointed Bronte Society president

Dame Judi Dench has been named the new honorary president of the Bronte Society as it marks the bicentenary of Charlotte Bronte’s birth.

Dench will be officially voted in at the society's annual general meeting in June.

Dench told the BBC that she was “delighted” to be offered the role. She said: "It will be an honour to work with the society to promote [the Brontes'] legacy".

Chair John Thirlwell said the society was "thrilled" and could "think of no better person" to be its president.

The society is to mark the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Bronte's birth next week with events at the Bronte Parsonage Museum, as well as a service at Westminster Abbey in London.

Last year, former president Bonnie Greer stepped down as president amid an “internal feud over how to preserve the legacy of the Bronte sisters”.