Buckingham Palace has released a new photograph of Queen Camilla to mark her 79th birthday, alongside a literacy initiative aimed at children across the UK. The announcement highlights the Queen’s continuing public focus on reading and follows her work through the Reading Room charity and other children’s literacy programmes.

Every Year 6 and P6 pupil will receive a special edition of Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures this Christmas, distributed through schools and libraries. The scheme, run with the National Literacy Trust as part of the National Year of Reading 2026, will include a personal message from the Queen; the birthday photograph was taken last month at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland.