Famed actress Julie Andrews took to the Target Children’s Stage on Sunday afternoon to read from the latest book in “The Very Fairy Princess” series, “Here Comes the Flower Girl,” and answer questions from the all-ages audience, many of whom had been waiting well over an hour so that they could see the stage and screen veteran in the flesh.

Andrews, famous for her roles as Mary Poppins, Maria in “The Sound of Music,” and Queen Clarisse Renaldi in the “Princess Diaries” films, put in a quick plug for Target and Disney’s National Princess Week at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books before reading from “Here Comes the Flower Girl.” 

This charming tale centers around Geraldine, a girl who believes she is a fairy princess; Geraldine finds out that she will be the flower girl for her aunt’s wedding, and so she tries her best to add her “fairy princess” touch to everything from the decorations to the wedding cake.  However, things don’t go as Geraldine plans, but of course, everything works out and the book has a true fairytale happy ending.

In the short Q&A that followed, Andrews recounted humorous stories from filming “The Sound of Music,” talked about her Broadway roots, and explained where she got her inspiration for writing children’s books.

“I kind of fell into that by accident,” Andrews explained.  “I wrote [‘Mandy’] about forty years ago.”  After losing a game to her children, Andrews agreed to write a story for them, and she liked writing so much that she has continued to write children’s books, often with her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton.

Andrews also showed her royal wave to the audience when a young audience member asked about her role as Queen Clarisse in “The Princess Diaries” and talked about how her film debut role in “Mary Poppins” came about.

When asked which film was her favorite to work on, Andrews said after some hesitation, “They were all special in different ways…  I guess, probably ‘Sound of Music’ when all is said and done.” 

Reach reporter Shaina Eng here. Follow Shaina on Twitter.

For complete coverage of the Festival of Books, click here.