Queen praises young writers at reception for essay contest winners
THE Queen has praised “brilliant” young writers during a reception for the winners of this year’s Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition at Buckingham Palace.
Camilla said the competition had brought “communities across the Commonwealth closer together”.
The 140-year-old contest, the world’s oldest international writing competition for schools, has “given young people the opportunity to express themselves on the issues that matter most”, she said.
Camilla met the 2023 winners and runners-up, as well as Dr Linda Yueh, executive chairwoman of the Royal Commonwealth Society, and broadcaster Gyles Brandreth, an RCS ambassador.
This year’s participants, aged between 11 and 17 from India and Malaysia, were asked to write on the subject of “a youth-powered Commonwealth”. with extracts from the winners’ essays read out at the palace by literary figures and actors including Dame Joanna Lumley, Sir Ben Okri and Sanjeev Bhaskar.
During her speech, avid reader Camilla described how Queen Victoria was also a “passionate lover of literature”.
“She was particularly fond of the works of many authors, including Jane Austen, Lord Tennyson, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte and Lewis Carroll.
“Legend has it that, having admired Alice In Wonderland, the Queen wrote to Lewis Carroll to request first editions of any of his other books.
“By return of post she received a copy of his Syllabus Of Plane Algebraic Geometry. Probably not what she was after,” the Queen said.
Praising the entrants, Camilla said: “Well done to each and every one of you, you are quite brilliant and I have, as ever, enormously enjoyed reading your entries.”
The winners of this year’s competition were Siddhi Deshmukh, senior winner, 17, Mumbai, India; Shreeya Sahi, junior winner, 12, Panchkula, India; Yong Sin Kong, senior runner-up, 15, Johor, Malaysia; and Mitali Ragtah, junior runner-up, 11, New Delhi, India.
On Wednesday, the Queen met women leaders from across the Commonwealth at an event in London dedicated to addressing domestic violence.
Camilla said it was “so important” for her to attend the event at Marlborough House focused on safeguarding women and children from domestic violence.
The Secretary-general of the Commonwealth, Baroness Scotland, greeted Camilla as she arrived at the headquarters of the Commonwealth in central London.
Baroness Scotland said one in three women in the world will be affected by domestic violence at some stage in their lives, adding that women were “disproportionately affected” in every form of crisis.
She said that having the support of Camilla was “wonderful”, adding that the Queen had a “great care for people”.
Baroness Scotland, the first woman to serve as attorney general for England and Wales, told the PA news agency: “So many people would like to be silent, and it’s not necessarily a comfortable thing to talk about.
“But Her Majesty has been absolutely adamant that she would be a spokesperson for all those women who think they have no voice.”
Camilla, dressed in a forest green blazer, attended a reception of dignitaries which included the Britishghanaian entrepreneur and actress Lady Dentaa Amoateng.