Queen Camilla has shown off how talented an artist she is during a visit to the Shirehampton Primary School in Bristol where she met with famed illustrator Rob Biddulph.
The new Queen was in the city to help launch an initiative to create 50 coronation libraries which are to mark the coronation. During a session with children at the school, Camilla drew a cartoon version of Queen Mary’s Crown, which was the crown used for her during the coronation service. Although she was impressed with her drawing, she did describe her picture as a “little wobbly”.
The engagement was Camilla’s first solo outing since the coronation service earlier in the month where she sat down for the step-by-step drawing of the crown.
The royal coloured her picture in purple and even signed the drawing, as she sat with pupils while they drew their own versions.
Camilla was joined by children’s authors Cressida Cowell, Malorie Blackman, Francesca Simon and Jasbinder Bilan as they opened the first of the coronation libraries, and she even joined a reading session at the venue.
The 75-year-old joined the children during a reading of Horrid Henry: The Queen’s Visit, which unceremoniously ends with the Queen getting covered by a bucket of mud and straw.
Camilla unveiled a plaque at the library commemorating her visit, and she is already a patron of the National Literacy Trust and a passionate advocate of reading and literacy.
The libraries are being set up in communities with low levels of reading among children, as well as those hit by the cost of living crisis where parents may be unable to afford books for their children.
They will come stocked with 23 books that have been chosen by children across the nation, and these will bear a commemorative plate marking the coronation.
On Wednesday, Camilla and King Charles stepped out on a joint engagement at Covent Garden where they met members of the local community, businesses, market traders and arts organizations.
Their first stop was St Paul’s Church, known as the Actors’ Church, to mark its 390th anniversary. The King and Queen then visited the Covent Garden Apple Market to meet local market traders specializing in British arts and crafts, as well as local restaurateurs.
The pair’s final stop was the Royal Opera House, which houses The Royal Ballet, The Royal Opera, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. As Prince of Wales, His Majesty became patron of The Royal Opera in 1975, President of The Royal Ballet in 2003 and Patron of the Royal Opera House in 2009.
The King and Queen’s joint coronation took place on 6 May at Westminster Abbey.
Following the service, the newly crowned King and Queen travelled back to Buckingham Palace in the Gold State Coach, with members of the royal family in the carriage procession behind.
