Queen Camilla has spoken about her father, Major Bruce Shand, being shot in the face by a sniper during the Second World War, describing him as "incredibly lucky" because the bullet passed through without injuring his tongue or teeth.
The royal made the remarks during an appearance on the BBC Arts programme The Book That Changed My Life, which is due to air next week. In the show, Camilla meets a former prisoner, an HGV driver, a man who fell into a depression, and a roadside cafe owner for what she called "one of the most unusual book club meetings I have ever attended" in a message delivered to a press preview.
Father's wartime ordeal
During the programme, the Queen discusses how important reading was to her father. Major Shand served in the Second World War as a 12th Lancer, fought alongside the Desert Rats, received the Military Cross twice, and was wounded and taken prisoner while fighting in North Africa.
Camilla recounted memories of her father and his experience being held in a German prisoner of war camp, where he turned to the written word for solace. "A sniper shot him through his face, he was incredibly lucky because the bullet went in one side, out the other, didn't touch his tongue or his teeth," she said.
"He was taken to a prisoner of war camp and incarcerated for two and a half years. Those places, there's not much to do unless you're plotting your escape. So he said he educated himself because he read every single book, from the bible to the encyclopaedia, whatever was there, he just sat all day long and read, read, read, and that's, I think, how he survived it."
Books as solace and inspiration
She added that, like many of his generation, her father never talked about the war, having buried it all because he had seen such horrendous things. "So we never heard him speaking about his wartime experiences, but he wrote it all down in this book, Previous Engagements."
The Queen reads an excerpt from the book and says: "It was written from the heart. I mean, I cried through most of it. I found it so moving, because I didn't know anything about it and reading managed to get him through it."
In a message delivered at a preview screening of the programme this week, the Queen said books "have certainly enriched my own life beyond measure". She added that while she finds it impossible to point to a single title, author, or genre that stands above others, reading for pleasure has helped entertain, comfort, and inspire her in many ways over the years.
Queen's Reading Room and air date
She said she has long believed that books are "the very best form of escapism", transporting us to other places and into other lives in ways that greatly enhance our own. That is why, five years ago, she launched her Queen's Reading Room, an online space she hoped would foster in adults and children alike a lifelong love of literature.
Camilla said it is her "fondest hope that this film will build on that work, helping demonstrate to audiences around the world just what a difference reading has made to one particular group of people, each of whom has faced challenge or difficulty in their personal lives, and each of whom has been lifted up by the sheer joy and transformative power of reading". The Book That Changed My Life will air on BBC Two and iPlayer on Wednesday, October 14.
