- Published
Queen Camilla has recalled secretly reading Lady Chatterley's Lover, the passionate and controversial novel by DH Lawrence, as a teenager in the 1960s.
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Camilla → publish → 1960s
"As teenagers you read a lot of romances.
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you → read → romances
It was the moment of Lady Chatterley, under our pillows, reading that by torchlight.
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Chatterley → read → torchlight
You know the minute something is forbidden, you want to get hold of it," she said about the novel that had been at the centre of an obscenity trial.
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that → know → trial
The Queen spoke about memorable moments in her own reading for BBC documentary The Book That Changed My Life, and about the life-changing power of literacy and books.
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That → speak → literacy
She gave a glimpse of how regular reading is part of her royal marriage: "It's like the best tonic in the world.
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It → give → world
My husband and I actually read before dinner, just sitting quietly and reading.
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husband → read → dinner
"He loves biographies, and PJ Wodehouse.
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He → love → biographies
I occasionally, when I'm deep in a book, hear him roaring with laughter about something," said the Queen about the King's affection for the author of the Jeeves and Wooster comic novels.
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Queen → hear → novels
"It's very off-putting, I can't get back into my book, or I'll suddenly start weeping.
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I → get → book
I think it would be a complete and utter tragedy if books went forever," she said.
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she → think → ?
The Queen also revealed more of her own youthful reading, saying she was "mesmerised" by Charles Dickens's Tale of Two Cities and its depiction of those watching the guillotine during the French Revolution.
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she → reveal → Revolution
"Those ghastly women sitting there knitting while everybody had their heads chopped off," she said.
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she → sit → ?
The Queen, who is 79 years old, said she was part of a generation of women who missed out on higher education, which made reading and books even more important.
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reading → say → education
"I left school quite young.
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I → leave → school
In my day, women didn't go to university, so I think reading has been most of my education," she said.
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she → go → education
The documentary shows the impact of reading on people in stressful circumstances - and that includes Omar, who discovered a love of reading while in prison.
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who → show → prison
Reading was a way of escaping the confines of a cell, at least in his imagination - and the book he remembers most was a tattered copy of Jack Higgins's war thriller, The Eagle Has Landed.
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Eagle → escape → thriller
Chatting to Omar after the screening of the documentary, he said that what struck him most about meeting the Queen was her "authenticity".
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struck → chat → Queen
He said that off camera she was genuinely interested in his role working in prison education - helping a prison population that's facing chronic levels of illiteracy.
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that → say → illiteracy
The pair also shared unexpected connections.
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pair → share → connections
Camilla's father, Bruce Shand, had also been a prisoner, in a different kind of captivity, as a prisoner of war captured in North Africa during the Second World War.
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father → capture → War
He had used books as an emotional escape tunnel, during two and a half years of imprisonment.
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He → use → imprisonment
"He said he educated himself.
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he → say → himself
He read every single book, from the Bible to the encyclopedia, whatever was there, he just sat there all day long and read and read.
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he → read → encyclopedia
And I think that's how he survived it," said the Queen.
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Queen → think → it
She remembered how her father didn't want to talk about the war - "you bury it all because you've seen such horrendous things" - and so it was only when she read his memoir that she understood his experiences.
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she → remember → experiences
"It was written from the heart.
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It → write → heart
I mean, I cried through most of it.
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I → mean → it
I found it so moving.
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it → find → ?
Because if you think, I didn't know anything about it, and reading managed to get him through it."
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reading → think → it
Omar said the Queen had recognised a connection.
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Queen → say → connection
"She talked about the parallels, her father found reading in a prisoner of war camp.
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father → talk → camp
She definitely recognised the resemblance… being in a place you don't want to be and using books to escape it and then books elevating you on many levels," he said.
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he → recognise → levels
Queen Camilla has been running her Queen's Reading Room project for five years, a kind of mega book club, with festivals and events and outreach projects, such as bringing books to homeless shelters.
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Camilla → run → shelters
It's part of her campaign to promote and protect the value of reading and to stop us becoming a culture of screen addicts.
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us → promote → addicts
Perhaps the most moving parts of the documentary are the stories of how books can become lifelines for people facing bereavement or intense loneliness.
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books → become → bereavement
Ian, from the north-east of England, spoke with heartbreaking candour about finding himself in a state of complete social isolation after the death of his mother.
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Ian → speak → mother
"I used to sit with my head on the kitchen table, crying.
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head → use → table
It was such a difficult period of loneliness, of nothingness," he said.
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he → say → nothingness
…and 12 more, not listed.
The Aporia
