Camilla Parker Bowles is celebrating her 70th birthday in a couple of days and some schoolchildren helped her celebrate the big day early – with a bus.
The kids, who helped select 70 of United Kingdom’s favourite children’s books, arrived on the old school London bus to Camilla and Prince Charles’ Clarence House with comedian David Walliams dressed as a conductor at the helm.
WATCH: Prince Charles and Camilla emerge to screaming locals after their wedding.
The tea party was to celebrate the Duchess’ Bookshelves Project which will see 70 schools, many in disadvantaged areas, gifted the books lucky enough to make the cut.
Continuing with the theme of 70, the Duchess was also gifted a set of the books as an early birthday present.
Some of the 70 books voted in by students.
The Duchess makes no secret of her love of literature and is patron of, or associated with, six organisations involved with the project, including the National Literacy Trust, Beanstalk, BookTrust, First Story, Roald Dahl Literary Estate and the Wicked Young Writer Awards.
At the party, she thanked guests for her early birthday present.
“I’m thrilled to be patron of so many literacy charities. It’s something I love more than anything,” she said.
“People always say thank you but it’s no hardship for me. I love meeting all the children. I know most of the books backwards because I read them to my grandchildren.
A much younger Charles and Camilla.
“I will have a terrible time with them fighting over this bookshelf. I am going to plonk it somewhere in the middle and let them borrow them.”
The Duchess was quick to stress, with a smile, that “it isn’t quite my birthday yet. I am hanging onto the last few days!”
