HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN WILL CARRY OUT LITERACY ENGAGEMENTS IN LONDON
Thursday 2nd February 2023
Engagement 1:
Her Majesty The Queen will visit Book Aid International, meeting staff and touring the charity’s warehouse which sends books to communities around the world.
The Queen will visit Book Aid International, a charity that provides over one million brand new books each year to the thousands of communities that need them most, all over the world.
From refugee camps and hospitals to remote schools, Book Aid International harnesses the power of books to break down barriers to reading and learning. Her Majesty will hear how books can give comfort, create opportunities and inspire hope within communities, as well as providing vital access to life-saving information.
The Queen will visit Book Aid International’s warehouse, where books of all kinds are prepared to be shipped to communities across the globe and meet the operations staff who carefully select the titles that will have the most impact. Her Majesty will also meet Book Aid International’s senior team, including the Rt Hon Lord Boateng, Vice Patron, who benefitted from books the charity sent to Ghana, where he spent much of his childhood.
Each book carries a Book Aid stamp, and in the charity’s packing room, the Queen will stamp a selection of children’s books which will be sent to Kigali Public Library in Rwanda, which Her Majesty visited in 2022 whilst in the country for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
In 2021, the then Duchess of Cornwall became Patron of Book Aid International, following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh, who had held the patronage for over five decades.
Engagement 2:
Her Majesty The Queen will join staff, volunteers and young readers at the 50th anniversary celebrations of Coram Beanstalk including a performance by young readers and a celebratory cake cutting.
Coram Beanstalk has helped over 250,000 children to develop their reading abilities, and Her Majesty will hear about the charity’s history and plans for the future, and meet some of the longest serving volunteer helpers. Pupils from Ark Brunel School in North Kensington, who have benefitted from Coram Beanstalk’s support for over four decades, will join poet Joshua Siegal to perform ‘Just a Book?’.
Readings will also be given by winners of ‘Voices’, Coram’s national creative writing competition for children and young people in care, before The Queen Consort and guests enjoy a celebratory slice of cake.
The former Duchess of Cornwall became patron of Coram Beanstalk in 2013, the charity’s 40th anniversary year.
