Queen Camilla sends royal support for the rebuilding of Spellow Library Hub
Queen Camilla has written to the Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram expressing her sorrow at recent events in the region, particularly the attack on the Spellow Library Hub in Liverpool.
A noted advocate for reading and its power to inspire, Queen Camilla’s letter was accompanied with the donation of a box of nearly 70 books, as a contribution to the rebuilding of the Spellow Library Hub in Walton.
Welcoming the donation, Mayor Rotheram said:
“I’d like to offer my heartfelt thanks to Queen Camilla for her thoughtful letter and gift of books which give a much-needed boost for the people of the city region at a very difficult time.
“Her Majesty’s gift, along with donations of books and support from hundreds of authors and thousands of other people, reminds us that the good in this world far outweighs the bad and bolsters our determination to come together and rebuild in the wake of recent events.
“The burning of a library was such a shocking image, symbolising the ignorance of those who seek to divide us. With the help of the Queen’s donation, and of everyone else who has given their support, we will ensure that they do not succeed.”
Councillor Liam Robinson, Leader of Liverpool City Council, said:
“It’s very thoughtful of Queen Camilla to reach out to support Spellow Library Hub in its darkest hour. I’d like to thank her on behalf of everyone in Walton and Liverpool for this touching act of generosity. Her gift is a great example of how much we as a nation value our libraries and the power of reading. This has been illustrated by the overwhelming response we’ve received since that depressingly mindless act of vandalism, be it through the Go Fund Me donations or the #ReadingNotRioting campaign led by author Marnie Riches. It’s so encouraging to see that hope has now replaced hate, and its power is far greater and its legacy much deeper.”
Queen Camilla, who read to Liverpool schoolchildren on a royal visit to the city’s Central Library last year, provided a box of 67 books for the library, including works by Bernardine Evaristo, Hilary Mantel and Michael Morpurgo.
Her Majesty has long been a champion of literature, and the power of reading to educate and inspire, and established The Queen’s Reading Room charity, which grew from a book club Her Majesty established during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A “GoFundMe” set up to raise funds for Spellow Library Hub has now raised nearly £250,000 and hundreds of authors, including Philip Pullman and Val McDermid, Nigella Lawson and Liverpool-born, Children’s Laureate Frank Cotterill-Boyce, have donated books or offered support for the library.
The 67 books donated by Queen Camilla include:
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
- The Tiger who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- Archangel by Robert Harris
- War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
- Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
- Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
- Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks
- Hairy Maclary from Donaldsons Dairy by Lynley Dodd
- The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel
- My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
- The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
- The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse by Charlie Mackesy
Main Photograph - Official Australian portrait of Queen Camilla (Photograph by Millie Pilkington 2024)
