Watch: See King Charles & Queen Camilla’s Royal Looks for Trump State Dinner
Queen Camilla is looking back at an early chapter of her life.
King Charles III‘s wife of 21 years shared rare insight into her childhood and how her father, Bruce Shand, sparked her love of reading while celebrating her charity, The Queen’s Reading Room, during her and the monarch’s visit to the United States.
“He was wonderful,” Camilla shared with Today‘s Jenna Bush Hager in an interview that aired on April 30. “He used to sit at the end of our beds every night and read us these incredibly exciting stories, some of them quite frightening, pillows over our head.”
She added of her father, who was a British Army officer, “He just gave us this incredible interest.”
In fact, the queen was able to celebrate one of her favorite authors growing up, A.A. Milnee, during her appearance at the New York Public Library by reading one of the English author’s most famous works to a group of kids. As she admitted to Jenna, who introduced her at the event, “I love Winnie-the-Pooh.”
And the 78-year-old—who launched her book club during the pandemic—emphasized the impact reading can have for all.
“As many of us have long suspected, books really are good for us,” Camilla told the audience at the event, which was attended by book-loving guests Sarah Jessica Parker and Anna Wintour. “They also have a magical way of bringing people together with their ability to transcend any barrier.”
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While Camilla and her husband’s visit to the US ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary is historic, her hope for Americans, especially children, to pick up more books is not a novel idea, but a long-term goal.
“I’d like to say, keep reading,” she noted. “I think it’s very important, and you know, specialist statistics are showing reading is falling in children. We’ve got to find a way of bringing it up.”
And as Camilla and Charles continue their state visit, take a look back at the must-read royal moments of the year so far.
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