Queen Camilla finds her 'first Americans' in childhood classics

At the New York Public Library, Queen Camilla turned the grand halls into something closer to a love letter to reading than a formal royal stop.

According to a royal press release, the engagement was designed to honour both countries’ long-standing appreciation of literature.

That belief has been at the heart of her initiative The Queen’s Reading Room, launched during the pandemic in 2020. 

As she recalled with characteristic understatement, as “just giving eight of my favourite books to a local newspaper” quickly snowballed into something far larger.

The Queen reflected on how stories shaped her earliest sense of America- long before any state visit.

“The first Americans I knew and loved were the characters I met in my treasured children’s novels: Little Women, What Katy Did, Charlotte’s Web. 

I knew, even then, that books are the best friend you can have,” she told guests, drawing a warm response from the audience gathered among the library’s iconic stacks.

Camilla spoke about how books don’t just entertain children, but quietly expand their world, building empathy, curiosity, and confidence.

She also recalled how childhood reading can leave a permanent imprint, the kind that lingers far beyond school years and into adulthood. 

The event drew a distinctly New York cultural crowd, with actress Sarah Jessica Parker and former Vogue editor Anna Wintour among those in attendance.