Photo: Adam Gray – Pool/Getty Images
King Charles and Queen Camilla continued their eighth-grade social-studies field trip on Wednesday, traveling from Washington, D.C., to New York City to see the sights. After a visit to the 9/11 memorial, the couple split up, with Charles going to Harlem to learn about urban farming and Camilla heading to midtown for an interactive Sex and the City fan experience. That’s what it’s called when you get to go to the New York Public Library with Sarah Jessica Parker.
Much like SJP, Camilla is a book lover and literacy advocate — the two previously met last November at a reception for the Children’s Booker Prize. The queen was at the NYPL promoting her charity, the Queen’s Reading Room, alongside Parker, Anna Wintour, and book-club maven Jenna Bush Hager.
“Every time you shine a spotlight on reading and the relationship between a reader and a book and how it changes lives and enriches lives and cultivates empathy and curiosity, I’m so grateful,” Parker told People. “And for Her Majesty, it means a great deal.”
“What I love about her is her love of reading,” Bush Hager said of Queen Camilla. “And she’s here promoting that at a time when we’re desperate for our kids to read more, for books to be a bigger part of the conversation.”
What I love about the queen is how excited she was to be looking at this old map:
Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images
Of course, Camilla came bearing gifts. The NYPL is home to the original stuffed animals owned by A.A. Milne’s son, Christopher Robin, who served as the inspiration for the Winnie the Pooh characters. Since 1987, the library has had a mostly complete set but was missing Roo, the baby kangaroo. Camilla brought a reproduction of Roo straight from Merrythought, the same company that made Christopher Robin’s beloved stuffies.
Sadly, Camilla did not have time to reenact the moment where Carrie realizes Big will not be showing up to their wedding. Maybe next time.
