Did you know that the new King of Britain, King Charles III, has a deep love for books? So much so that he has authored a few books in different genres including a children's book for young readers!
In 1980, King Charles III-- then known as Charles, Prince of Wales-- published a children's book titled 'The Old Man of Lochnagar'! King Charles III was roughly 31 years old then. Illustrated by Sir Hugh Casson, it is a story of an old man who lived in a cave in the cliffs near the corrie loch, Lochnagar-- a mountain that overlooks the royal family's Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Interestingly, King Charles III had earlier told this story to his younger brothers, Andrew and Edward, in their childhood and he later got it published.
'The Old Man of Lochnagar' by Prince Charles was also adapted into an animated short-film by the BBC, wherein Robbie Coltrane provided the voice for the hermit and Prince Charles narrated the story! The book was later also adapted into a musical stage play and performed as a ballet, as per Wikipedia.
Over the years, King Charles III developed his interests in arts, gardening, and organic farming. Thus he has also written a few books on architecture, art, gardens, and nature and the environment. Some of his published books that give a glimpse of his expertise on these topics are 'Highgrove: An English Country Garden', 'The Prince's Speech: On the Future of Food', 'Climate Change', among others.
Meanwhile, his wife and the Queen Consort Camilla share the King's interest in arts and literature. So much so that she runs a Royal reading book club called The Reading Room on social media. Every season, Queen Consort Camilla-- earlier known as Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall-- shares her book recommendations with fellow readers on her book club wherein she later discusses them, and also holds interesting conversations with popular authors. The Duchess of Cornwall’s Reading Room was started in January 2021.
Queen Consort Camilla's book recommendations shared at the begining of 2022 included four books: ‘The Magpie Murders’ by Anthony Horowitz, ‘Hamnet’ by Maggie O'Farrell, ‘The Queen's Necklace’ by Alexandre Dumas, and ‘My Brilliant Friend’ by Elena Ferrante.
Have you read any of these books? Tell us in the comments below!
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