Patronages The Queen is the
patron or president of more than 100 charities and organisations. She is the honorary
commodore-in-chief of the
Royal Navy Medical Service. In this role, she visited
the training-ship HMS Excellent in January 2012, to award medals to naval medical teams returning from service in Afghanistan. She is also an honorary member of other patronages and in February 2012, she was elected a
bencher of
Gray's Inn. In February 2013, she was appointed Chancellor of the
University of Aberdeen, a role which is ceremonial and involves conferring graduates with their degrees. She took up the office in June 2013. She is the first female chancellor of the University of Aberdeen and the only member of the royal family to hold the post since it was created in 1860. In 2015, Camilla's presidency of the
Women of the World Festival, an annual festival that celebrates the achievements of women and girls as well as looking at the obstacles they face across the world, notably domestic violence, was announced. In 2018 and 2020, she became the vice-patron of the
Royal Commonwealth Society and the
Royal Academy of Dance, respectively, of which Queen Elizabeth II was a patron. In March 2022, as president of the
Royal Voluntary Service, Camilla launched the organisation's Platinum Champions Awards to honour 70 volunteers nominated by the public for their efforts in improving lives in their communities. In the same month, the Queen made Camilla patron of London's
National Theatre, a role previously held by Camilla's stepdaughter-in-law
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. In January 2024, Camilla became the first royal patron of the Anne Frank Trust UK. In May 2024, after a major review of royal patronages and charity presidencies, Camilla took on 15 new patronages, including
Army Benevolent Fund,
Royal Academy of Dance,
Royal Voluntary Service,
Royal Literary Fund,
Royal Foundation of St Katharine, and
Queen's Nursing Institute.
Osteoporosis In 1994, Camilla became a member of the
National Osteoporosis Society after her mother died from the disease that year. Her maternal grandmother also died from the disease in 1986. She became patron of the charity in 1997 and was appointed president in 2001 in a highly publicised event, accompanied by Charles. In 2002, she launched a mini book,
A Skeleton Guide to a Healthy You, Vitamins and Minerals, which aims to help women protect themselves from the disease. The following month, she attended the Roundtable of International Women Leaders to Examine Barriers to Reimbursement for Diagnosis and Treatment of Osteoporosis conference along with 13 eminent women from around the world. The event was organised by the
International Osteoporosis Foundation and hosted by
Queen Rania of Jordan and during it, she made her first public speech. The international conference, which took place in
Lisbon, Portugal, brought together worldwide public figures to focus on osteoporosis treatment and called for government assistance around the world. In 2004, she attended another conference in
Dublin, organised by the Irish Osteoporosis Society. The following year, she visited the United States
National Institutes of Health in Maryland to give a presentation on osteoporosis to high-profile health figures. welcomes Charles and Camilla to the NIH for a discussion on osteoporosis with Surgeon General
Richard Carmona and other health officials, November 2005. In 2006, Camilla launched the Big Bone walk campaign, leading 90 children and people with osteoporosis for a 10-mile walk and climb around
Loch Muick at the
Balmoral Estate in Scotland to raise money for the charity. The campaign raised £200,000, and continues almost every year as one of the fundraisers for the charity. In 2011, she appeared in the BBC Radio drama
The Archers, playing herself, to raise the profile of the disease, and in 2013 teamed up with the television series
Strictly Come Dancing to raise funds for the National Osteoporosis Society. By 2006, she had spoken at more than 60 functions on the disease in the United Kingdom and around the world and had also opened bone scanning units and osteoporosis centres to help people with the disease. She continues to attend conferences around the world, and meets with health experts to further discuss the disease. For her work on raising awareness of osteoporosis around the world, Camilla was honoured with an Ethel LeFrak award in 2005 from an American charity and received the Kohn Foundation Award in 2007 from the National Osteoporosis Society. In July 2007, Camilla opened the Duchess of Cornwall Centre for Osteoporosis at the
Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro. In the same year,
King's College London awarded her an
honorary fellowship for raising the profile of osteoporosis. In 2009, the National Osteoporosis Society created The Duchess of Cornwall's Award (later renamed
The Queen's Award for Osteoporosis), which recognises achievements in the field of osteoporosis. In 2016, she received an honorary doctorate from the
University of Southampton in recognition of her efforts in raising awareness about osteoporosis. In 2019, the National Osteoporosis Society was renamed as the Royal Osteoporosis Society.
Victims of rape and sexual abuse After visiting nine
rape crisis centres in 2009 and hearing accounts from survivors, Camilla began raising awareness and advocating ways to help victims of
rape and sexual abuse to overcome and move past their trauma. She often speaks to victims at a rape crisis centre in
Croydon and visits other centres to meet staff and victims, around the United Kingdom and during overseas tours. During a 2008 meeting with the then-
mayor of London,
Boris Johnson and later on a
BBC Radio 4 programme in 2025, Camilla recounted an incident from her teenage years when on a train to Paddington at 16 or 17, a man assaulted her—only for her to defend herself using her shoe and then report the man to authorities, leading to his arrest. In 2010, alongside Boris Johnson, she opened a centre in
Ealing, West London, for rape victims. The centre later expanded to other areas including
Hillingdon,
Fulham,
Hounslow, and
Hammersmith. In 2011, Camilla opened the Oakwood Place Essex Sexual Assault Referral Centre at Brentwood Community Hospital in
Essex. She is patron of the
Wiltshire Bobby Van Trust, which provides home security for victims of crime and domestic abuse, and of
SafeLives, a charity that campaigns against domestic abuse and violence. In 2013, Camilla held a meeting at Clarence House which brought together rape victims and rape support groups. Director of Public Prosecutions
Keir Starmer and Home Secretary
Theresa May (both future prime ministers) were guests at the occasion. At the occasion, she introduced a plan to help the victims: about 750 wash-bags, created by her Clarence House staff and packed with luxury toiletries, were distributed to victims at the centres. Camilla thought of the gesture after she visited a centre in
Derbyshire and asked victims what they would like to help them feel at ease after the trauma and forensic examinations. According to Clarence House, the event was the first meeting of high-profile figures to focus exclusively on rape and sexual abuse subjects. In the same year, Camilla travelled to Northern Ireland and opened The Rowan, a sexual assault and referral centre at
Antrim Area Hospital which was the first centre to provide help and comfort to rape and sexual abuse victims in Northern Ireland. In March 2016, during a tour to the
Western Balkans with her husband, Camilla visited
UNICEF programmes in Montenegro and while there, she discussed child sexual abuse and was shown an exclusive preview of a new app designed to protect children from online sexual abuse. The following year, she partnered with retail and pharmacy chain
Boots to create a line of wash-bags which will be given to sexual assault referral centres around the United Kingdom. As of 2024, it has donated more than 50,000 wash-bags filled with toiletries, which are offered at SARCs after a forensic examination. In May 2020, Camilla supported SafeLives's 'Reach In' campaign, which encourages people to look out for people around them that might be suffering from domestic violence. In July 2020, she guest-edited
The Emma Barnett Show on
BBC Radio 5 Live, which featured conversations on domestic violence. In September 2021, Camilla was named as patron of the Mirabel Centre, Nigeria's first sexual assault referral centre. In October 2021, she gave a speech at the launch of
Shameless, a project endorsed by the Women of the World Foundation and
Birkbeck, University of London looking to educate people on sexual violence. She expressed her shock at the
murder of Sarah Everard and urged both men and women to break down the "
culture of silence" surrounding sexual assault. In February 2022, the Duchess and Theresa May supported a campaign initiated by the NHS England to encourage survivors of sexual and domestic abuse to come forward for help. The campaign was released on the first day of Sexual Abuse and Sexual Violence Awareness Week. In November 2022, Camilla hosted her first reception at Buckingham Palace after becoming queen to raise awareness of violence against women and girls during the UN's annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign. She was joined by
Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Queen Rania of Jordan,
Queen Mathilde of Belgium,
Crown Princess Mary of Denmark and the first lady of Ukraine,
Olena Zelenska. Her work with survivors of domestic abuse and campaigners working to raise awareness on the issues was covered in the
ITV documentary
Her Majesty The Queen: Behind Closed Doors in November 2024. In 2025, Queen Camilla sent French rape survivor
Gisèle Pelicot a letter praising her "extraordinary dignity and courage". The following year, Camilla invited Pelicot to meet at Clarence House.
Literacy , then headmaster of
The Doon School which she visited in November 2013 on her India tour Being an avid reader, Camilla is an advocate for
literacy. She is the patron of the
National Literacy Trust and other literacy charities. She often visits schools, libraries and children's organisations to read to young children. Additionally, she partakes in literacy celebrations, including
International Literacy Day and
World Book Day. In 2011, she donated money to support the
Evening Standards literacy campaign, and replaced the Duke of Edinburgh as patron of
BookTrust. Camilla has also launched and continues to launch campaigns and programmes to promote literacy. On spreading literacy, she stated in 2013 during a speech at an event for the National Literacy Trust that "I firmly believe in the importance of igniting a passion for reading in the next generation. I was lucky enough to have a father who was a fervent bibliophile and a brilliant storyteller too. In a world where the written word competes with so many other calls on our attention, we need more Literacy Heroes to keep inspiring young people to find the pleasure and power of reading for themselves." Camilla has been patron of the Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition since 2014. The initiative, which is run by the Royal Commonwealth Society, asks young writers from across the Commonwealth to write essays on a specified theme, with Camilla launching the competition annually. Since 2015, she has been involved with 500 Words, a competition launched by
BBC Radio 2 for children to write and share their stories and was announced as the competition's honorary judge in 2018. Since 2019, she has supported
Gyles Brandreth's initiative Poetry Together, which aims to bring younger and older generations together through poetry recitation. In January 2021, Camilla launched the Duchess of Cornwall's Reading Room online club for readers, writers and literary communities to connect and share their interests and projects. In January 2022, she joined members of the Reading Room initiative to promote planting books in
phonebox libraries around the United Kingdom. In February 2023, the Reading Room initiative was relaunched as a charity under the name
the Queen's Reading Room. The inaugural Queen's Reading Room Festival was held at
Hampton Court Palace on 11 June, with
Judi Dench,
Richard E. Grant,
Robert Harris,
Kate Mosse and other celebrities as guests. The festival has become an annual event. In March 2025, Camilla launched the Queen's Reading Room Medal to recognise the work of people that contribute to the practice of reading among their communities. In October 2021, Camilla was announced as patron of Silver Stories, a charity that links young people to the elderly by encouraging them to read stories over telephone. In May 2022, she became patron of
Book Aid International, a role previously held by Prince Philip from 1966 until his death in 2021. In July 2022 and ahead of her 75th birthday, she launched her Birthday Books Project, with the aim of providing wellbeing and happiness-themed mini libraries at 75 primary schools from disadvantaged areas in the United Kingdom. She received a Gold
Blue Peter badge in 2023 for her work highlighting the importance of literacy and reading. In May 2023, as patron of the National Literacy Trust, Camilla opened the first Coronation library at Shirehampton Primary School in Bristol, and 50 Coronation libraries will be created for children in communities with low levels of literacy across the United Kingdom in 2023 and 2024. In September 2023, she launched a new UK-France literary prize with
Brigitte Macron, the Entente Littéraire Prize at the
Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) in Paris. The Entente Littéraire Prize will recognise Young Adult (YA) Fiction and allow UK and French citizens to share joint literary experiences, reinforcing cultural ties whilst celebrating the joys of reading. In January 2024, twenty new manuscripts by different authors were added to the miniature library of
Queen Mary's Dolls' House as part of the Modern-Day Miniature Library project headed by Camilla to reflect Britain's modern literature.
Other areas Camilla is a supporter of
animal welfare and patron of many animal welfare charities, including
Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and president of
Brooke. She often visits other animal shelters to show her support and to see how the animals are cared for. Camilla, who had owned two
Jack Russell Terriers named Rosie and Tosca, adopted two rescue puppies of the same breed named Beth and Bluebell from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home in 2011 and 2012, respectively, followed by another rescue named Moley in 2025. Also in 2012, she opened two
veterinary facilities at the
University of Bristol's School of Veterinary Sciences at Langford in
Somerset, which provide treatment for sick animals. In 2015, she worked with department store
Fortnum & Mason to sell 250 jars of honey produced by bees in her private garden in Wiltshire; the jars, priced at £20, sold out in two weeks and the proceeds were donated to the Medical Detection Dogs charity, of which she is a patron. Since then, she sends a limited edition of honey every year to Fortnum & Mason, with proceeds donated to her other charities. Camilla supports organisations around the world working to combat poverty and
homelessness. She is the patron of
Emmaus UK, and in 2013, during her solo trip to Paris, she went to see the work done by the charity in that city. Every year around Christmas, she visits
Emmaus communities across the United Kingdom. which she states are a "real force for change in the financial landscape, serve the people, not profit" and "provide a friendly financial community where members mutually benefit from advice, as well as savings accounts and loans." She annually hosts disabled and terminally ill children from her patronages
Helen & Douglas House and Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity for lunch at Clarence House, where they also decorate the
Christmas tree. She also supports
healthy-eating, anti-
FGM, arts and
heritage related organisations and programmes. In February 2023, she and Charles donated to the
Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) which was helping victims of the
2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes. == Fashion and style ==