There’s one app in particular that Queen Camilla apparently loves swiping through when she has time to spare.
She discussed her hobby with an author at a literary party yesterday, bonding over a shared ‘obsession’.
But sorry to disappoint – it isn’t Tinder.
Instead, the Queen joked that ‘everybody teases her’ about her predilection for looking up the weather on her phone.
She made the confession at a charity event celebrating the 30th anniversary of the National Literacy Trust, which works to give children and adults literacy skills.
Hosting the event at her own home Clarence House, she chatted with Horrid Henry author Francesca Simon about the miserable weather which meant a planned picnic had to be called off.
‘We were laughing about our mutual love of weather apps,’ Francesca said.
‘She mentioned it was raining in France, where I’m meant to be today, and I said “yeah, I know”.
‘She said everybody teases her, because I’m also looking at weather in various parts of the world, and she’s the same – so we were laughing at our mutual obsession.’
She did not reveal whether the Queen favours the Met Office app, BBC Weather, the iPhone’s native ‘Weather’, or something else entirely.
Francesca, who is a trust ambassador, said the Queen’s support was ‘invaluable’ to the charity and praised her commitment to the cause.
The author added: ‘She turns up and puts her passion for reading, which is very genuine, behind it – so it’s really fun to have that kind of commitment that’s much more than skin deep.’
Axel Scheffler, illustrator of The Gruffalo, agreed that Camilla’s work with the charity was ‘immensely important’.
‘I know she’s read The Gruffalo to her grandchildren,’ he added.
Camilla smiled and laughed as she greeted volunteers and cut a square anniversary cake decorated with fondant books.
Jayden Lowndes, 10, from Stoke-on-Trent, is among the charity’s youngest volunteers and runs a community book trolley at his school.
Jayden said he would recommend The Beast Of Buckingham Palace by David Walliams to Camilla as a book he thought she would enjoy. (A very relevant choice, Jayden, well done.)
The Queen, who is an avid reader, has been a patron of the charity since 2010. Addressing attendees, she said she hoped illiteracy would soon be ‘a thing of the past’.
Over the past 30 years, the National Literacy Trust has supported more than five million children with reading and writing skills and worked with nearly 17,000 schools. In 2023, the charity gifted 528,303 books and is currently campaigning to ensure all primary schools in the UK have a library by 2028.
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