Queen Camilla feels ‘underserving’ of major honour during Scotland trip
It was during a poignant visit...Queen Camilla carried out her first engagement with the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland (QNIS) after she became their patron.
The royal hosted the QNIS in a special reception in the famous Great Gallery at Holyroodhouse Palace in Edinburgh. Queen Camilla welcomed current and past nurses where she was presented with a major honour.
Afterwards she paid tribute to the hardworking staff and made a candid confession.
Queen Camilla hosts nurses in Scotland
Camilla became patron of QNIS in May 2024, following in the footsteps of Queen Elizabeth II who held the position for many years.
QNIS’ association with The Firm stretches back to the 19th century. It was initially set up in 1887 after Queen Victoria made a staggering donation of £70,000 – worth £7.7m in today’s money.
It supports and develops community nurses and midwives across Scotland, and has more than 170 nurses working in the community, from care homes to schools.
Queen Camilla was handed a QNIS bade on Wednesday, (July 4). She was presented the badge by Erica Reid, the QNIS chair.
While accepting the honour during her trip in Scotland, Queen Camilla said: “I feel very undeserving of this award, especially having spoken to so many of you, I’ve seen how much you do for so many things… I’m sure so many people are indebted to your care, they probably wouldn’t know what to do without you.”
Royal celebrates libraries
The honour comes after Queen Camilla ‘wished’ more people would open libraries after she officially launched Ratho Library in Newbridge, Scotland.
The royal, who has had a passion for reading and spoken fondly on it, officially supports a number of literary organisations.
In an impromptu but heartfelt speech, Camilla said the visit “has just reinforced my belief in what wonderful places libraries are, literally from toddlers to pensioners – they manage to inspire a love of reading of books”.
Read more: Princess Anne was ‘opposed’ to Camilla’s queen consort title as she’d ‘never be a true queen’
She added: “To actually see a new library like this… I wish a lot of other people would follow your example and open more libraries all over the country, because I think, sadly, a lot of them have been closing down.
“So to see something as wonderful as this being reopened is all to the credit to all of you who’ve made it happen.”
While there, she spoke to Paula Hawkins, who wrote The Girl On The Train, and told her: “I’m very partial to crime novels.”
What do you think of this story? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page.
