Her Majesty Queen Camilla celebrated the joy of reading and the power of storytelling in an exclusive conversation with Jenna Bush Hager during her first visit to the United States since she became queen. In an interview that aired on TODAY April 30, Jenna and the queen spoke following her majest y’s appearance a day earlier at the New York Public Library in New York City. She and King Charles III are currently on their first official state visit as Britain’s reigning monarch and queen consort. It was a full-circle moment, as Camilla’s first trip to the U.S. with Charles as a married couple was in 2005, when they had a White House dinner with Jenna’s parents, former President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush. Jenna was also in attendance with her now-husband, Henry Hager. “I love it that we can be back together,” Jenna told her. “And loving books,” Camilla said. The queen remarked that their state visit has been “good fun,” but also a bit of a whirlwind. “It’s been wonderful, and everybody’s been very kind and welcoming,” she said. “Well, it’s always a pleasure to be here. Always, always lovely to be back in New York again.” Camilla, 78, was in attendance to honor the United States and the United Kingdom’s appreciation of literature, according to a royal press release. She started a charity called The Queen’s Reading Room, an online book club, during the pandemic in 2020 with the belief that reading has the power to make life better. “We’re all sitting there, twiddling our fingers, not quite knowing what to do, and I just gave eight of my favorite books to a local newspaper. Bingo,” Camilla said. “All these people write to me all over the world so we thought, we thought why not try and take it a step further?” The Queen’s Reading Room has now reached 180 countries, has a podcast and hosts world-class literary festivals. It also has funded studies, including one that found that just five minutes of reading can reduce a person’s stress by 20%. As part of The Queen’s Reading Room, Jenna hosted a discussion with bestselling authors Min Lee and Harlan Coben about the importance of reading. The TODAY co-host, who has her own Read With Jenna book club, has often shared that she got her love of reading from her mother. For Camilla, it was her father, British Army officer Bruce Shand, who helped her fall in love with books. “Oh, but he was wonderful,” the queen said. “He used to sit at the end of our beds every night and read us these incredibly exciting stories, some of them quite frightening, pillows over our head, but he just gave us this incredible interest.” One of her favorites as a child were by English author A.A. Milne, who originated stories about Winnie-the-Pooh and Christopher Robin. Camilla’s recognition of the writer’s work was especially meaningful as this year marks the beloved bear’s 100th birthday. The first Winnie-the-Pooh tale was published on October 14, 1926. British Royal Family 20 hours ago King Charles III and Queen Camilla honor 9/11 victims on visit to New York British Royal Family 17 hours ago President Donald Trump tells King Charles his mom Mary had a ‘crush' on the royal The queen read a Winnie-the-Pooh story for a group of local children during her appearance at the New York Public Library. She also took a moment to present a “Roo” doll to add to the library’s Winnie-the-Pooh collection. There also were some celebrity guests in the audience to support the queen’s reading initiative, as book lovers Sarah Jessica Parker and Anna Wintour made an appearance. “As many of us have long suspected, books really are good for us,” Camilla told the crowd. “They also have a magical way of bringing people together with their ability to transcend any barrier.” Camilla also had a message for Americans ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary in July. “Well, I’d like to say, keep reading,” she told Jenna. “That’s my message, too,” Jenna replied. “I think it’s very important, and you know, specialist statistics are showing reading is falling in children,” the queen said. “We’ve got to find a way of bringing it up.” “Let’s work together,” Jenna proposed. The royal’s trip to the library was one of the many items on her itinerary during her and Charles’ current visit to the U.S. They arrived in Washington, D.C., on April 27 before making their way to New York. They will also travel to Virginia to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary of independence. There, they will interact with residents and local community groups and enjoy performances from Appalachian cultural groups. The royals will stop by a “block party” in honor of the 250th anniversary, too. “The visit will be an opportunity to recognise the shared history of our two nations; the breadth of the economic, security and cultural relationship that has developed since then; and the deep people-to-people connections which unite communities,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement prior to their arrival.  This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY: King Charles addresses Congress during state visit: Read his speech in full Almost 3,000 sandwiches were made for King Charles’ U.S. garden party. See the full menu King Charles and Queen Camilla are in the U.S. Their schedule this week ...read more read less