The King and Queen have arrived in Scotland for a shortened Holyrood Week. Queen Camilla was busy on Tuesday morning with a literary schedule.
The Queen hosted an event at the Palace of Holyroodhouse where she met with authors, booksellers, and Edinburgh Book Festival representatives to discuss the importance of Scottish literacy.
Queen Camilla met with Scottish author Alexander McCall Smith at the gathering. The author was knighted in honour of his service and dedication to literature, academia, and charity. The pair have met before, as McCall Smith met The King and Queen in 2023 after working on the Great Tapestry of Scotland project.
Sir Ian Rankin and Val McDermid, two Scottish crime authors, also joined The Queen to discuss books and literacy. Rankin shared his thoughts on Queen Camilla’s dedication to literacy:
She’s really interested in literacy. She wants young people reading, she wants everybody reading. There’s no stigma attached to writing, If you write comic books, if you write romance, if you write crime fiction, she’s a fan – anything that gets people reading.
Typically the monarch (along with other members of the Royal Family) spends a week in Scotland meeting with different communities and organisations. However, the visit has been shortened to two days because of the 4 July general election.
