'One of our greatest writers': King leads tributes to Sir Tom Stoppard

King Charles III and Queen Camilla have led tributes to famed playwright Sir Tom Stoppard, who died aged 88, hailing him as "one of our greatest writers".

"A dear friend who wore his genius lightly, he could, and did, turn his pen to any subject, challenging, moving and inspiring his audiences, borne from his own personal history," they said.

Sir Tom, who won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for the screenplay for Shakespeare In Love, "died peacefully at home in Dorset, surrounded by his family", his agents said on Saturday.

Tributes have poured in from around the world for the playwright who captivated audiences for more than six decades with work that explored philosophical and political themes.

The King and Queen added they were "deeply saddened" by Sir Tom's death and sent their condolences to his family.

"We send our most heartfelt sympathy to his beloved family. Let us all take comfort in his immortal line: 'Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else'."

The line is from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, one of his most notable stage works which also include The Real Thing.

Paying tribute to his "favourite playwright", Sir Mick Jagger posted on social media: "He leaves us with a majestic body of intellectual and amusing work. I will always miss him."

Author Robert Harris, a friend of Sir Tom's, praised his talent and joy for life.

"He lived one of the most enviable lives I can think of. He was immensely talented, he was a very happy man, very witty and he enjoyed life. He came to lunch here in the summer and he was still smoking and indeed he was making notes in the summer for writing," the Times reported.

Australian-British author of the 1979 novel Puberty Blues, Kathy Lette, remembered Sir Tom as "one of the wittiest people I ever met".

Sharing a picture of them on social media, she wrote: "A conversation with him left you reeling from irreverent & imaginative quip-lash."

Sir Tom received many honours and accolades throughout his career, including being knighted by the late Queen for his services to literature in 1997.

He also wrote for film, TV and radio. He adapted Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina for the 2012 film starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law.

In 2020, he released his semi-autobiographical new work titled Leopoldstadt - set in the Jewish quarter of early 20th Century Vienna - which later won him an Olivier award for best new play and scooped four Tony awards.

Nicholas Hytner, who directed Stoppard's play The Hard Problem at the National Theatre in London 10 years ago, celebrated the playwright's "astonishing generosity and curiosity about the work of others".

"He was a great writer and a legendary host but those of us lucky enough to know him and work with him will remember him as an exceptional enhancer of the lives he touched," according to the Guardian.

The Olivier Awards organisation, which recognise excellence in theatre, said West End theatres would dim their lights for two minutes at 19:00 BST on 2 December to remember the playwright.

In a post on X, it said Sir Tom had won three Olivier Awards and five Tony awards - for Broadway theatre - as well as the Oscar for Shakespeare in Love.

"That recognition attests to the remarkable range and enduring impact of his work on both stage and screen," it said.

Rupert Goold, artistic director of the Almeida Theatre, described Sir Tom as the "most supportive, most generous man" whose "magic was present in everything he wrote".

Born Tomas Straussler in Czechoslovakia, his parents fled from imminent Nazi occupation when he was still a baby and went to Singapore, where his father died in a Japanese prison camp.

He, his mother and brother had escaped ahead of the Japanese invasion and went first to Australia, later to India. There his mother met and married an Englishman, a Major Kenneth Stoppard, before moving to England.

He later learned from relatives that all four of his grandparents had been Jewish, and that they had died in Nazi concentration camps.

"I feel incredibly lucky not to have had to survive or die. It's a conspicuous part of what might be termed a charmed life," he said in US magazine Talk in 1999, as he reflected on returning to his birthplace Zlin in what is now the Czech Republic.

Lyricist Sir Tim Rice said he "was in awe of nearly everything" Sir Tom did.

"He was able to mix intellectual arguments and philosophical thought with sheer wit and fun and that was apparent in Rosencrantz And Guildenstern, which was his first big success, and I remained very much in awe of him, but he also became a friend and I was very honoured to know him," he told BBC News.

"He's written at least half a dozen, probably twice that, plays that will live for a long, long time - however brilliant plays are, a lot of them don't last much beyond their era, but I think Tom Stoppard's will, no question."