Queen Camilla celebrates 79th birthday with book giveaway for children
Queen Camilla announced that she will celebrate her 79th birthday by distributing books to children in England.
Camilla has made children’s literacy one of her main themes and is a patron of the National Literacy Foundation.
Buckingham Palace announced a special edition on Friday. Impossible Creatures It will be given annually to children 6 and P6 this Christmas by Katherine Rundell.
In the fantasy novel, the first book of the series, a boy named Christopher and a girl named Mal team up to save the magical island chain from the hands of the villain.
Impossible Creatures It was named Waterstones Book of the Year in 2023 and won the British Book Awards Children’s Fiction Book of the Year in 2024.
Buckingham Palace also released a new photo of the Queen to celebrate her birthday on Friday.
The photo, taken in June in the State Drawing Room of Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland, shows her wearing a blue dress and a diamond and sapphire butterfly brooch that once belonged to her mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth.
It was presented to the late Queen at the Birmingham Spring Fair in February 1977.
Kensington Palace, Prince William and Princess Catherine’s office, shared the photo on social media and shared the following message: “Wishing Her Majesty the Queen a Happy Birthday!”
The Queen plans to spend her birthday celebrating privately, but there will be a 41-gun royal salute in Green Park to mark the occasion.
The book giveaway will be delivered in partnership with the National Literacy Foundation.
It celebrates the National Year of Reading 2026, where the foundation aims to instill the joy of reading and make it a part of daily life.
Impossible Creatures It will be delivered to children through schools, libraries and community outreach.
Each book will have a royal stamp on the cover and include a message from Camilla, who describes the book as “a brilliant fantasy” from “one of my favorite authors”.
As well as the National Literacy Foundation, Camilla is also a patron of BookTrust and Coram Beanstalk, other charities focused on literacy.
She also founded The Queen’s Reading Room, a charity that started as an Instagram book club during Covid lockdowns and now hosts events and provides free educational content.
