Camilla celebrated her 79th birthday on Friday, releasing a new portrait by Chris Jackson, taken when the monarchs were in Hillsborough Castle, Northern Ireland, recently. The Queen is wearing a diamond and sapphire butterfly brooch that belonged to the late Queen, on her Fiona Clare royal blue dress.
Camilla is said to be celebrating her birthday privately, but to mark the occasion, she’s also doing something very public – giving a book to every Year 6 pupil in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Queen is a champion of literature and reading, patron of The Literacy Trust as well as BookTrust and head of her own charity, The Queen’s Reading Room.
The book she’s chosen is Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell, to celebrate the National Year of Reading 2026. The give-away, in partnership with Bloomsbury Publishing and The Literacy Trust, is the biggest campaign in a generation and aims to inspire a love of reading in children. Each book will have a special royal stamp and a message from the Queen, “Impossible Creatures, by one of my favourite writers, is a brilliant fantasy that will introduce you to a host of mythical friends and terrifying enemies... and I hope that you will love it as much as I do.”
Author Katherine Rundell said, “The Queen’s gift is given at the best possible time. I’m so immensely honoured and thrilled that Impossible Creatures will be put in the hands of so many brilliant young readers.”
What a lovely idea! Shame we’ve already got the book in our house (Kerry) – I wonder if we email Camilla, she’ll let us pop over and peruse another from her library. No? Too much?
Last week they were p-p-p-picking a penguin, this week the King and Queen got to say hello to hedgehogs and owls, whilst visiting Blandford Forum in Dorset, on Thursday. Whilst meeting locals, they were introduced to two special residents – a baby hedgehog from Dorset Hedgehog Rescue, who was a little prickly in the presence of their majesties, plus an owl – toowhit (sorry, we can’t stop punning) Charles said, “It’s past its bedtime”. He also pulled a pint, saying it was, “maybe a good day to drown a few sorrows,” after England’s World Cup defeat the night before. What a hoot.
There’s no stopping our powerhouse Princess Royal. This week saw her on a three-day tour of South Korea where she had a royal meet and greet with a rather entertaining robot. The futuristic humanoid made Anne smile as it ran back and forth during a demonstration at Korea University in Seoul - and even gave her a wave.
During the trip, the Princess also attended commemorations for the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Imjin River at the United National Memorial Cemetery, and met veterans of the Korean War. During the battle, 400 members of the Gloucestershire Regiment – the "Glorious Glosters" – held out against 10,000 Chinese troops for three nights. The cemetery is the resting place for 2,339 soldiers, sailors and airmen, with casualties from the UK representing the highest total.
We loved William’s episode of The Reluctant Traveler With Eugene Levy broadcast last October. And now it appears so do the Emmy’s judges, as it’s been nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Program. The third season of the Apple TV+ travel show also received a nomination for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special.
The Apple TV episode, called Living the Royal Life in the UK, saw William giving the Canadian star a ‘personalised tour’ of Windsor Castle and taking him for a pint in a pub. The show made global headlines thanks to William’s most revealing interview to date, touching upon his toughest year ever and his plans for shaking up the monarchy.
Meanwhile, Meghan is also up for an Emmy, albeit a less prestigious Daytime Emmy for With Love, Meghan. The Duchess celebrated her Outstanding Lifestyle Series nomination by posting on Instagram: “A huge congratulations to the amazing crew, producers, and team who worked on With Love, Meghan on Netflix.”
The show ranked 1,218th in Netflix’s list of most popular shows and is not returning for a third season. Although future specials or other one-off projects have not been ruled out. The 78th Emmy Awards is held 14 September, the 53rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards is on 30 October.
It’s royal birthdays a-go-go! From Camilla’s 79th to George’s big week as he hits his teen years this Wednesday. The prince is already chilling on his summer holidays, where no doubt he’s getting excited about starting at his new school, Eton, in September. Happy birthday, George! (And happy birthday to The Royal List’s Maria this Tuesday!)
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