Queen Camilla has described the US state visit as “good fun” (Image: NBC/TODAY)
Queen Camilla has described the first three days of her and the King’s state visit to the US as “good fun” in an interview with an American news network.
Her Majesty chatted to broadcaster Jenna Bush Hager during her visit to the New York Public Library last month.
The Queen, in a navy blue crepe silk dress and coat by Fiona Clare, with a Britannia red, white, and blue brooch that belonged to the late Queen, joined a reception hosted by The Queen’s Reading Room at the iconic venue in the Big Apple, celebrating the joy of reading and the power of storytelling.
Around 100 guests, among them actress Sarah Jessica Parker, Gyles Brandreth, and authors Harlan Coben and Min Jin Lee, gathered to celebrate the literary, publishing, and cultural worlds in both the UK and US.
In the interview that aired on Thursday, TODAY co-host Jenna Bush Hager remarked: “You’re here on this historic visit, 250 years of our country.”
Queen Camilla met up with Today’s Jenna Bush Hager (Image: Getty)
The Queen responded: “That’s extraordinary.” When asked about her experience so far, the Queen said: “It’s been a whistle stop. It’s been really good fun. But we have moved quite fast.
“You’ve been to a lot of places, to quite a few,” Jenna observed. “We have, but it’s been wonderful,” Camilla replied. “And everybody’s been very kind and welcoming. It’s always a pleasure to be here. Always lovely to be back in New York.”
When asked about her message to Americans on the nation’s 250th anniversary, Camilla responded, “Well, I’d like to say, keep reading. I think it’s very important, and you know, specialist statistics show that reading among children is falling. We’ve got to find a way of bringing it up.”
The Queen discussed how her charity, The Queen’s Reading Room, began as an online book club during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. She shared a list of books, driven by her strong belief that reading can improve wellbeing and offer an escape from day-to-day life.
“We’re all sitting there, twiddling our fingers, not quite knowing what to do, and I just gave eight of my favourite books to a local newspaper. Bingo,” Camilla explained. “All these people write to me all over the world, so we thought, why not try and take it a step further?”
The charity has since evolved into a podcast and now reaches 180 countries.
In her speech at the event, the Queen described how her father inspired a love of reading in her during childhood, saying, “Indeed, the first Americans I knew and loved were the characters I met in my treasured children’s novels: Little Women, What Katy Did, Charlotte’s Web… I knew, even then, that books are the best friend you can have – in good times and bad.”
In the TODAY interview, the Queen was asked about the influence of her late father, decorated British Army officer Major Bruce Shand, on her love of reading. “Oh, but he was wonderful,” she said with enthusiasm. “He used to sit at the end of our beds every night and read us these incredibly exciting stories, some of them quite frightening, with pillows over our heads, but he just gave us this incredible interest.”
Among her childhood favorites was A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh, and during yesterday’s engagement, she read an excerpt to local children before reuniting the Roo bear with the rest of the 100 Acre Wood family of toys.
The original Roo toy had been missing from the collection since the library acquired it, so the Queen gifted a replacement soft toy to complete it.
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