Queen Camilla joined 150 volunteers and schoolchildren at the British Library on Wednesday to mark the National Year of Reading, taking part in The Big Lunch across several marquees in the venue’s piazza. The Queen cut a cake in the shape of a marmalade sandwich alongside Paddington Bear, who was unveiled as the National Year of Reading ambassador for 2026.
Camilla, patron of the National Literacy Trust, visited the library’s Fairy Tales exhibition, where she saw children dress up as characters and participated in an improvised storytelling activity, beginning with the words: “Once upon a time.” She met 12-year-old author Betsy Griffin, who was diagnosed with a rare and inoperable brain tumour at age two which left her blind. Betsy, whose book Out Of The Woods was published by Harper Collins in 2024, gifted the Queen a copy. Camilla told her: “I hear you wrote a book. I’m so impressed, that’s absolutely incredible.”
Poet Laureate Simon Armitage recited a short poem and introduced two newly appointed Young Poet Laureates for London, Maya, 11, and Latifah, 14. Armitage described their application process as “gruelling,” comparing it to “The X Factor meets Britain’s Got Talent meets the Makerfield by-election all rolled together.” The two schoolchildren performed pieces written especially for the day.
Speaking to volunteers and pupils, Camilla said: “I just want to say how proud I am of being patron of The Big Lunch, of the National Literacy Trust and of the Royal RVS. To be patron of all three and get them all joining together for this wonderful National Year of Reading is very exciting.” She also spoke to pupil librarians from primary schools in London that have benefited from the National Literacy Trust’s Libraries For Primaries campaign.
The Queen met social media influencer Jack Edwards, also a National Year of Reading ambassador, who has more than 800,000 followers on Instagram. They discussed running their own book clubs. Edwards said: “We spoke about how we both run book clubs. I have Inklings. She has the Queen’s reading room. So, it was nice to compare notes about what we’re reading this month.”
The National Year of Reading 2026, launched by the Department for Education in partnership with the National Literacy Trust, aims to address a steep decline in reading enjoyment among children and young people, said to be at a 20-year low. The project, which has 35,000 volunteers, hopes to recruit 100,000 in total and “inspire millions” of all ages to read.
