Camilla Shares Her Passion for Literacy with School Children at Windsor Castle
The Duchess of Cornwall shared her passion for literacy with school children today as she attended the live broadcast of a creative writing competition. Camilla stepped out early to congratulate young winners of BBC Radio 2 competition 500 Words as the final was broadcast live on their Breakfast Show from Windsor Castle this morning.
Greeting guests in the castle’s Grand Waterloo Chamber, the duchess spoke of the "incredible imagination and talent" of the entrants and said that, as a member of the judging panel she had found it "a virtually impossible task" to choose the winners.
"Most of all, thank you to all of you young wordsmiths, who have shown us how awesome the English language is today."
From earlier this morning - Here is our Honorary Judge, Her Royal Highness, The Duchess of Cornwall on the power of storytelling.#500Words pic.twitter.com/IkfvpddOOl- BBC Radio 2 (@BBCRadio2) June 14, 2019
Chatting on stage with presenter Zoe Ball and chair of the judging panel Chris Evans, Camilla also admitted that she particularly favored a story about twins as she has twin grandsons.
"The person who wrote the twins story...I put a tick next to that," said the duchess, who has five grandchildren including twins Louis and Gus. Camilla was joined by well-known figures including Downton Abbey actor Hugh Bonneville and television personality David Walliams who read out the bronze, silver, and gold-winning stories for each of the two age groups.
BBC Radio 2’s 500 Words asks children aged 5-13 to put pen to paper and compose an original work of fiction using no more than 500 words. The competition promotes literacy among children, something that the duchess has long been passionate about.
In addition to being an avid reader, Camilla is patron of a number of literacy charities including the National Literacy Trust, BookTrust, Beanstalk, and First Story.
During her speech, she noted the significance of the setting of the event.
"Now you probably came into the Castle thinking of a Royal Wedding or two," the duchess said.
"But they were just the most recent in a long line of memorable royal occasions in this historic place."
She continued, "Windsor Castle is the longest-occupied castle in the world. It was the home of 39 monarchs and it’s at the heart of our country’s history, but alas, as you can no doubt hear, it is now also in the heart of Heathrow’s flight path!"
The duchess then went on to speak about the evolution of the English language throughout the centuries.
"We are still adding words to this day," she concluded. "They say about 1,000 new ones every year. That’s two whole entries for 500 Words!"
Rosa Moody, seven, from Swansea, whose story Fragile Freya won a Bronze award in the 5-9 age group, told T&C she was "so proud" of her story.
"I feel really amazed that it was read on the stage," she added.
Of the duchess, Rosa said, “She was very nice and kind.”
Esmé Harrison-Jones, 10, won a Gold award in the 10-13 age group with her story about chickens.
"It took five days for me to write and as I got further into the story I knew what it was going to be about and what was going to happen," she said.
Harrison Jones also shared what it was like meeting Camilla. "She was saying well done and congratulating me and saying she like doing my story a lot," she said.
For his part, British radio host Chris Evans, who served as chair of the judging panel, described the day as "amazing."
"We’re just dead straight with each other," he says of working with Camilla. "People say ‘how did you get her involved?’ We didn’t get her involved...They contacted us. She heard the show."
He continued, "Her number one thing is children’s literacy."
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