The Queen lived up to the teaching that it is better to give than receive as she marked her 79th birthday yesterday.
Camilla announced that children in the final year of primary school will get a unique edition of a best-selling book as part of her bid to boost reading.
All Year 6 pupils in Britain, aged 10-11, will be given a copy of Impossible Creatures, by the award-winning author Katherine Rundell, for Christmas.
Each book will contain a personal message from the Queen, part of which will say: ‘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.’
The book will be distributed through schools and libraries, alongside a collection of free resources, Buckingham Palace said.
The Queen’s Christmas Present initiative is being delivered in partnership with the National Literacy Trust (NLT), of which Camilla is patron. The programme aims to celebrate the National Year of Reading 2026.
NLT research has shown that children’s enjoyment of reading declines most steeply as they move from primary to secondary school, which is the age group targeted by the initiative, in Year 6 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and in P6 in Scotland.
Ms Rundell said: ‘I’m so immensely honoured that Her Majesty has chosen Impossible Creatures as her Christmas Gift to every child in Year 6. It is given at the best possible time. This is the National Year of Reading, a reminder that the things reading gives us – creative imagination, intellectual freedom, critical thinking, ethical compassion, good jokes, delight in great ideas – must be at the heart of our future.
Her Majesty Queen Camilla has marked her birthday by announcing that all children in the final year of primary school will get a unique edition of a best-selling book as part of her bid to boost reading
Katherine Rundell whose book Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne has won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction in 2022
All Year 6 pupils in Britain, aged 10-11, will be given a copy of Impossible Creatures, by the award-winning author Katherine Rundell, for Christmas
‘This generation of brilliant kids face extraordinary challenges ahead. And books, if we ensure they have access to them, will be their strongest and sharpest tools with which to build a future.’
NLT chief executive Jonathan Douglas said: ‘Reading unlocks children’s imagination, sparks their curiosity and brings unrivalled benefits for their futures.
‘With the invaluable support of our patron, Her Majesty, and Katherine Rundell, we are incredibly proud to be celebrating the National Year of Reading.’
The Queen’s Christmas Present is the latest of a series of literary initiatives by Camilla, who founded the charity The Queen’s Reading Room to celebrate the benefits of reading.
A new portrait was also released to mark her birthday. The image – which shows Camilla in a blue dress sporting a diamond and sapphire butterfly brooch – was taken at Hillsborough Castle, Northern Ireland, last month.
The brooch was presented to the late Queen Elizabeth II at Birmingham’s Spring Fair in 1977.
