Queen Camilla has hailed the “magic” of books and their power to bring people together during a speech at the New York Public Library.
Guests at the historic venue included Sex and the City actress Sarah Jessica Parker, TV host Gyles Brandreth, opera singer Katherine Jenkins, and Condé Nast’s Global Chief Content Officer and Vogue’s Global Editorial Director Anna Wintour.
The Queen said it was “a huge pleasure” to visit “one of the world’s greatest libraries”, a place she had “always wanted to visit”.
Her remarks focused on the enduring importance of literature and the cultural ties between the UK and the United States, drawing on the legacy of British-American journalist Alistair Cooke.
She noted that “exactly 85 years ago, a kind of ‘cultural exchange’ took place” when Mr Cooke became a US citizen, later hosting his long-running radio programme Letter from America with the aim of “explaining American life to a British audience”.
The Queen praised Mr Cooke as “a genuine wordsmith, with a profound passion for books”, adding that great literature has the power to transform readers.
Quoting Donald Hall, she said: “When we read great literature, something changes in us that stays changed.”
Reflecting on the setting, she suggested the library itself works a similar kind of “alchemy”, telling guests it “changes its visitors for the better” and could even be described as “an enchanted place”.
Queen Camilla and Sarah Jessica Parker attend a literacy event at The New York Public Library
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Queen Camilla speech attended by A-listers including Sarah Jessica Parker and Anna Wintour
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In a lighter moment, Camilla drew comparisons with the fictional world of Winnie-the-Pooh, noting its characters had made their own “pilgrimage to set up home in this very building”, another example of cultural exchange.
The Queen also highlighted the literary figures who have crossed between the two nations, including Henry James, TS Eliot and Sylvia Plath, as well as more recent writer Bill Bryson. She quoted his reflections on British life, including a fondness for “Marmite, village fetes, country lanes” and “beans on toast”.
Turning to the deeper significance of storytelling, Camilla cited American writer Joan Didion, telling the audience: “We tell ourselves stories in order to live.”
“We all need stories. And, therefore, we all need books,” she added, describing her own lifelong love of reading, inspired by her father.
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Queen Camilla speaking at the New York Public Library
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She recalled how her earliest encounters with American culture came through classic children’s novels such as Little Women, What Katy Did and Charlotte’s Web, saying she had long believed “books are the best friend you can have – in good times and bad”.
The Queen also spoke about the success of her Reading Room, an online book club she launched during the pandemic, “simply recommending books I’d enjoyed in the hope that others might like them too”.
She said the initiative had grown “beyond my wildest dreams”, now reaching more than 12 million people in 183 countries.
It has since become a charity, promoting the value of reading and helping to provide books to those in need, including survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
Anna Wintour and Sarah Jessica Parker pictured at the New York Library
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Highlighting its impact, she pointed to research suggesting that “even five minutes of reading fiction a day can reduce your stress levels by almost 20 per cent and enhance your mental well-being”, adding: “As many of us have long suspected, books really are good for us.”
Concluding her speech, the Queen emphasised literature’s unique ability to unite people across borders and backgrounds.
“They also have a magic way of bringing people together, with their ability to transcend almost any barrier,” she said.
She added that she would be “delighted” if her Reading Room could play a part in the long tradition of cultural exchange between the UK and the US, and called for a shared effort “to spread the word that… ‘there are never enough books’.”