Queen Camilla has revealed King Charles's fondness for biographies in a new BBC documentary about reading, airing on October 14.
Speaking on The Book That Changed My Life, Camilla described the couple's reading habits before dinner. "My husband and I actually read before dinner, we just like sitting quietly and reading," she said. She noted that Charles loves biographies and occasionally "roars with laughter" while reading, which she finds distracting when she is absorbed in her own book.
Camilla described reading as "like the best tonic in the world" and expressed concern about the future of books. "I think it would be a complete and utter tragedy if books went forever," she said.
The documentary explores how literature has transformed the lives of four people: an HGV driver, a former prisoner, a roadside cafe owner, and Ian Kirby from Gateshead, who recovered from depression after joining a book club and reading the autobiography of boxer Glenn McCrory.
Camilla traced her own passion for reading to childhood. Her father, Major Bruce Shand, a Second World War veteran who served with the 12th Lancers and the Desert Rats, read to his children from an early age. She recalled that Shand survived two and a half years in a German prisoner of war camp partly by reading extensively, consuming everything from the Bible to encyclopaedias. After the war, he documented his experiences in a book titled Previous Engagements, which Camilla said moved her deeply.
"Reading managed to get him through it," she said of her father's wartime imprisonment.
Camilla emphasised the importance of early reading for children and highlighted her Queen's Reading Room, launched five years ago as an online platform to foster a lifelong love of literature in adults and children.
"I don't think our childhood would've been the same if we hadn't had books," Camilla said. "You learn so much about people, about life. I think people who don't read miss out so much."
The documentary airs on BBC Two and iPlayer on October 14.