King and Queen Consort to celebrate Colchester’s city status

The King and Queen Consort will celebrate Colchester’s recently awarded city status before having afternoon tea in the library with people from Age UK.

Camilla will be joined in the library by broadcaster and children’s author Dermot O’Leary, and author Frank Cottrell-Boyce, who are both local to the area.

Colchester officially became a city in November 2022, having been awarded the status during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Charles and Camilla will visit Colchester Castle to celebrate with local organisations which represent the city’s heritage and communities.

They will meet those who took part in Colchester’s city status procession last year, including charities, volunteers and refugees who have settled in Colchester.

The couple will also meet the animal care team from Colchester Zoo to hear about their conservation work before revealing the chosen name for the Zoo’s newest addition, a baby white rhino.

Later at Colchester Library, Charles and Camilla will join Age UK for an afternoon tea with local volunteers, service users and The Silver Line staff to hear about the support provided by the charity across the region.

Charles become patron of Age UK in in 2010 when he was Prince of Wales, while Camilla became patron of The Silver Line in 2017 when she was Duchess of Cornwall.

At the library, Camilla will join a gathering of local authors, children, supporters and volunteers to celebrate the Essex Year of Reading.

The countywide campaign was established to help children and young people discover a lifelong love of reading, and help to ensure every Essex child is able to read at their age level or above.

Camilla will be welcomed by characters Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter, played by actors from the local Mercury Theatre.

She will also be joined by O’Leary, who is a keen supporter of the Essex Year of Reading, as well as Cottrell-Boyce.