Queen Camilla has revealed her heartfelt wish during a visit to a newly opened library in Edinburgh. The Queen, who is in Scotland for Holyrood Week alongside King Charles and other members of the Royal Family, officially launched Ratho Library in Newbridge on Tuesday.
She told a group of librarians, figures from the city’s annual literary festival and leading writers that she “wished” more people would open such facilities. The Queen, who has a passion for reading and officially supports several literary organisations, chatted with Paula Hawkins, the author of The Girl On The Train, and told her, “I’m very partial to crime novels.”
In an impromptu speech, she said her visit “has just reinforced my belief in what wonderful places libraries are, literally from toddlers to pensioners – they manage to inspire a love of reading of books”.
She added: “To actually see a new library like this… I wish a lot of other people would follow your example and open more libraries all over the country, because I think, sadly, a lot of them have been closing down.
“So to see something as wonderful as this being reopened is all to the credit to all of you who’ve made it happen.”
The BBC reported in September that more than 180 council-run libraries have either closed or been handed over to volunteer groups in the UK since 2016 after the corporation submitted freedom of information requests.
In contrast, City of Edinburgh Council has made a commitment to its 28 public libraries to continue developing the resources as thriving community spaces.
Camilla’s visit also marked the launch of a five-year initiative by the Edinburgh International Book Festival in partnership with Edinburgh City Libraries.
Called Paper Trails, the project supported by Sir Ian will operate in five local libraries, including Ratho Library, to promote literature in local communities, including using the mobile library service to bring authors and artists into care homes.
The community of Ratho was served by a mobile library while the permanent facility was rebuilt, opening in the spring, and Camilla toured a similar mobile unit and joked with Sir Ian when she spotted some of his novels on the shelves.
She quipped “I’m sure they go down very well with the readers,” before donating a collection of books.
During her visit, the Queen also sat down with a group of children from a nursery which shares its premises with the library and also met a group of budding authors and poets from the Citizen Collective Young People’s Writers Programme.
She told them: “I can see I’ve met you at very early stages in your career – good luck.”