Every up and down, every high and low of Queen Camilla’s life has played out like the plot of a bestselling novel.
It’s particularly fitting, then, that books have served as a huge comfort through life’s more difficult moments. Reading, Her Majesty has said, has often been a comfort for her.
“If you learn to read, however difficult your life is at the time, you can pick up a book and you can escape. You can laugh, you can cry, it just takes you out of the real world and it gives you a different dimension to life.”
There are few things more powerful than having a member of the Royal Family shine their spotlight on a specific cause — and that’s just what Queen Camilla has done with reading and literature.
She has spent her whole life having her most private details splashed for the world to devour – but, instead of bitterness, the Queen has risen to her role and continues to go above and beyond.
Not only has she chosen to use her immense platform to spread the word of just how incredible books are but she’s gone one step further and used science to prove what she already knows: reading saves us.
Earlier this month, CEO of the Queen’s Reading Room, Vicki Perrin, explained that just five minutes of reading a day can reduce stress by 19% and improve cognitive function by 11%, while also improving our resilience, empathy and social connection.
Rather like how we have the Princess of Wales throwing her support behind early years development and using science to enrich her understanding, the fact that we have the most senior female member of the Royal Family doing the same with literature rates is transformational.
Yes, Her Majesty, who previously condemned the censorship of Roald Dahl’s work to satisfy modern sensibilities, is also a fierce defender of domestic abuse survivors and a passionate supporter of animal charities, but when she speaks about literature, it is that, above all else, that fires her.
And who can argue with that!
