The Duchess of Cornwall drew words of wisdom from a favourite redheaded literary character (and met another famous ginger) when she welcomed young winners of the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition to St James’s Palace for a special reception.
Sharing a passage from the novel “Anne of Green Gables,” Camilla, who serves as Vice Patron of the Royal Commonwealth Society, spoke about the special bond members of the Commonwealth share.
“To quote the famous Canadian literary character, Anne of Green Gables, ‘I’m so thankful for friendship: it beautifies life so much,'” she said. “Our Commonwealth community gives each of us 2.4 billion friends. And I believe the 2.4 billion of us do much to beautify life for one another: rejoicing in each other’s successes, benefitting from each other’s wisdom, and supporting and sustaining one another through difficult times.”
Along with award-winners and their families, competition judges, and literary figures, Geri Horner, better known as Ginger Spice of The Spice Girls, also attended the event. Horner, who serves as a Royal Commonwealth Society Ambassador, greeted Camilla in a video tweeted by Daily Mail reporter Rebecca English. In the footage, Camilla chatted with the star, telling her that Prince Charles was “a complete workaholic” when Horner asked how he was doing.
The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition is the world’s oldest international writing competition for schools and each year, young people are asked to submit essays responding to a specific theme. The Duchess of Cornwall congratulated the 2021 senior winner, 16-year-old Kayla Bosire from Nairobi, Kenya, and the two runners-up, Aditi Nair and Raisa Gulati, both from India. Due to travel restrictions, Camilla presented a certificate via video call to 13-year-old Ethan Charles Mufuma from Mukono, Uganda, who was this year’s junior winner.
During the event, the Duchess of Cornwall also met Cassandra Nguyen, the 2020 Junior Winner from Canada, since the 2020 awards were presented virtually.
Camilla also shared her joy at the essay competition’s record-breaking number of entries, with 25,648 young people submitting essays – the most since the contest began in 1883. She went on to give her own version of an essay based on this year’s theme, “Community in the Commonwealth,” although she noted she doubted “that they would qualify me as a Senior Winner – or even a very, very Senior Winner.”
Speaking about the power of storytelling, the Duchess of Cornwall praised how “the young people who enter this Competition bring us together with their powerful stories, essays, poetry and letters on the issues that most matter today, making the profound accessible.”
Ending her speech by stressing her determination “to visit more Commonwealth countries as soon as I can,” the Duchess of Cornwall circled back to Anne Shirley. “And now I shall heed more wise words from Anne of Green Gables,” she said, sharing that “the point of good writing is knowing when to stop.”
The Royal Commonwealth Society, founded in 1868, works to improve the Commonwealth through efforts in youth empowerment, education and high-level advocacy. The Society founded The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition “to promote literacy, expression, and creativity among young people” throughout the Commonwealth’s 54 member nations.
