Queen Camilla is celebrating her 79th birthday today, July 17, 2026, with the release of a new photograph and an announcement that every Year 6 and P6 child across the UK will be gifted a special edition of the bestselling book Impossible Creatures by award-winning author Katherine Rundell this Christmas.
New Photograph Released for the Occasion
The new image, taken by royal photographer Chris Jackson last month in the State Drawing Room at Hillsborough Castle, Northern Ireland, shows the Queen dressed in a regal dark blue dress. She accessorised her outfit with a diamond and sapphire butterfly brooch, which was presented to Queen Elizabeth II at the Birmingham Spring Fair in February 1977.
Renewed Commitment to Children's Literacy
The photograph was released to coincide with the Queen's renewed commitment to supporting children's literacy. The generous programme will be delivered in partnership with the National Literacy Trust, of which Her Majesty is Patron. Reading and the importance of literature has long been one of the Queen's main charitable focuses.
Earlier this month, she joined youngsters in Ashdown Forest, the inspiration for A. A. Milne's Hundred Acre Wood in his Winnie the Pooh books. The visit was held to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the publication of the first Winnie the Pooh book in 1926.
Queen Camilla's Lifelong Passion for Reading
Camilla has spent her whole life being a passionate reader and even launched the Queen's Reading Room back in January 2021, which recommends new reads every month. The initiative offers exclusive content and is, in Queen Camilla's own words, “a resource, a reassurance and a refuge to all book lovers”.
She previously said: “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.”
A Modern Consort
The new update comes as Queen Camilla celebrates her 79th birthday today. Unaware of the future that lay ahead, Camilla Rosemary Shand was born in London on July 17, 1947, to Major Bruce and Rosalind Shand. Before her marriage to King Charles, Queen Camilla was married to Andrew Parker Bowles, with whom she had two children, Tom and Laura.
As a modern consort, Camilla regularly tackles subjects which the Royal Family previously wouldn't have aligned themselves with, including domestic violence.
