Queen reveals King Charles’ favorite book genre and says he ‘bursts out laughing while reading’
Want to bookmark your favorite articles and stories to read or view later? Start your independent membership today.
Join us today
Already a member? Log in
The Queen spoke about her love of reading and also gave insight into the King’s literary habits.
Speaking on the BBC Arts program The book that changed my lifebroadcast next week, Queen Camilla said reading is “like the best tonic in the world”.
Camilla also revealed King Charles’ penchant for biographies, saying he would “roar” with laughter every now and then as they read before dinner.
She said: “My husband and I read before dinner, we just like to sit quietly and read. »
The king loves biographies, the queen said, adding: “Sometimes, when I’m immersed in a book, I hear him laughing out loud about something. It’s very off-putting. I can’t get back into my book.”
She added that it was “a nice quiet moment” and “I think it would be a total tragedy if the books disappeared forever.”
In the documentary, Camilla explored the transformative power of reading, bringing together four people whose lives have been changed by literature.
She spoke to a truck driver, a former prisoner, a roadside cafe owner and a man who suffered depression following an incident at his home.
Describing the gathering in a preview message to the press, she called it “one of the most unusual book club meetings I have ever attended.”
Camilla also spoke about the origins of her passion for books, while discussing her own passion for reading, alongside that of the king and her late father.
She said: “I left school quite young… so I think reading was the bulk of my education.
“We must have been very, very young when my father started reading to us. I think that’s where my love of reading came from.
“We were transported to all sorts of other worlds.
“I don’t think our childhood would have been the same if we hadn’t had books.
“We started with Treasure Island and Peter Pan, all those lovely old classics.
“You learn so much about people, about life. I think people who don’t read miss so much.
“That’s why I think it’s so important to get kids reading early.”
Major Bruce Shand served in World War II as the 12th Lancer, fought alongside the Desert Rats, was awarded the Military Cross twice, and was wounded and taken prisoner while fighting in North Africa.
The Queen recounted memories of her father and his experience of being held in a German prisoner of war camp, when reading reinforced her lifelong enthusiasm for the written word.
“A sniper shot him in the face. He was incredibly lucky because the bullet went in one side and came out the other, without hitting his tongue or teeth,” she says.
“He was taken to a prisoner of war camp and incarcerated for two and a half years. In these places there’s not much you can do unless you plan your escape.
“So he said he educated himself because he read every book, from the Bible to the encyclopedia, whatever was there, he would sit all day and read, read, read, and that, I think, is how he survived.
“Like this whole generation, they never talked about the war. He buried everything because he had seen such horrible things.
“So we never heard him talk about his war experiences, but he wrote it all down in this book, Past Engagements. »
The Queen read an extract from the book, then said: “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 it managed to help her cope.”
In a message from the Queen delivered at a preview screening of the program this week, she said the books “have certainly enriched my own life beyond measure”.
She added: “While it’s impossible for me to single out a single title or author, or even a single genre, that stands out above the rest, reading for pleasure has helped to entertain, comfort and inspire me in many ways over the years.
“I have long believed that books are actually the best form of escape, transporting us to other places and other lives – other hearts and other minds – in a way that greatly enhances our own.
“That’s why, five years ago, I launched my Queen’s Reading Room, an online space that I hoped would spark a lifelong love of literature in adults and children and connect more people to that special magic that can only be found in the leaves of a book.”
Camilla said it was her “greatest hope that this film builds on that work, helping to demonstrate to audiences around the world how reading has made a difference to a special group of people, each of whom has faced challenges or difficulties in their personal lives, and each of whom has been uplifted by the pure joy and transformative power of reading.”
One of the documentary’s contributors, Ian Kirby, from Gateshead, fell into a deep depression after a traumatic incident at home.
He turned his life around after joining a local book club and picking up the autobiography of local boxing hero Glenn McCrory, which gave him a new perspective on his own experiences.
He now describes himself as leading a rich and fulfilling life, with reading at the heart of his recovery.
Speaking in the documentary, he says: “That’s the beauty of a book. It can give you experiences you’ve never had, but they can also be inspiring.”
The Queen ended the documentary by saying that “books change people’s lives”.
The book that changed my life will be broadcast on BBC Two and iPlayer on October 14.
Gn world
