Queen Camilla waves to well-wishers as she departs the Unicorn Theatre (Image: AP)
reminisced about secret theatre trips with her grandchildren as she chatted to actor Rory Kinnear and author Malorie Blackman on Wednesday afternoon.
Camilla, 77, met the award-winning actor during a visit to The Unicorn, the UK’s leading charitable theatre for children.
Reflecting on the visit, Mr Kinnear said: “[The Unicorn] is somewhere I used to bring my kids when they were small, I still bring my youngest, and we were just talking about how she used to bring her grandchildren, but we’re both at the point where they’re almost becoming too old now.”
He added: “It’s a wonderful place not only for entertaining kids but also for inspiring and giving that first taste of creativity and imagination for so many people.”
The Queen has previously spoken about how she loves to take her five grandchildren on secret theatre trips and has even brought them to The Unicorn, of which she became patron in 2005.
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Just before Christmas, Camilla privately watched Operation Mincemeat her daughter Laura Lopes, son-in-law Harry Lopes, grandchildren Louis, Gus, and Eliza Lopes, granddaughter Lola Parker Bowles, and her niece Alice Irwin.
And in May, Her Majesty revealed that she took her grandchildren to see the musical Guys and Dolls.
The visit to The Unicorn, her first since 2019, saw the Queen speak with a group of children about the importance of creativity and their role in helping create the latest production, Pig Heart Boy, adapted from the book by former children’s laureate Ms Blackman.
The play is centred around protagonist Cameron, who has a faulty heart as a result of an infection and needs an urgent transplant. In desperation, his father finds a doctor who will give his son the heart of a genetically modified pig and the play is about what ensues.
The Queen listened to Ms Blackman, who has also judged Her Majesty’s 500 Words competition, explain the concept and discuss the importance of creativity in childhood.
Camilla was seen nodding as Ms Blackman said: “I think stories and the theatre are so important because what they do is they tell us we’re not alone.
“Also they allow us to understand other people and perhaps more importantly they allow us to know ourselves through the lives we encounter in the stories we read and in the theatre we watch.”
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Queen Camilla speaks with Rory Kinnear at a reception during a visit to The Unicorn (Image: Getty Images)
The Queen, an avid reader and literacy champion, said she was “looking forward” to watching the new production.
Pig Heart Boy was adapted by Winsome Pinnock and was informed by the theatre’s young associates, aged 8-13 years old, many of whom have long-term health conditions.
During Wednesday’s engagement, the Queen was also invited to observe a Creative Hub schools workshop where primary school children were busy at work creating a poem to celebrate the lost animals of the British Isles.
The Unicorn, in Southwark, offers a wide range of programmes for children aged 18 and under and welcomes 60,000 families and schools to its venue annually.
Its Creative Hub, launched last year, connects Unicorn artists and facilitators with children aged 0-13 years in local boroughs Lambeth, Southwark and Tower Hamlets.
Before departing, the Queen joined a reception with guests, staff and supporters of The Unicorn.
During the reception, she was handed a letter to the King from five-year-old Theodore Multescu, who had written to the monarch about his school’s eco-council and fundraising to the WWF, of which Charles is patron.“I’ll give it to him,” Camilla told Theodore, adding that her husband would be “very pleased” to receive the letter.