Queen Camilla reveals she does ‘Silver Swans’ dance for seniors

Queen Camilla revealed that she takes part in ‘Silver Swans’ dance lessons for seniors during a visit to The English National Ballet in east London today. 

The Queen, 77, who is patron of the organisation, shared that she is not only a fan of dance ‘in any form’ but also dabbles in ballet herself while making a short speech on the occasion of the company’s 75th birthday. 

However, having been dazzled by rehearsing ballerinas she joked: ‘The ladies today would rather show me up.’

Organised by the Royal Academy of Dance, Silver Swans are specially designed dance classes for older people.   

The royal had braved the wet weather to join rehearsals at the Mulryan Centre For Dance on Leamouth Peninsula, near Canning Town station, in what was her first visit since becoming patron.  

Once relieved of her umbrella, she was welcomed by Sir Rupert Gavin, chairman of The English National Ballet, and introduced to artistic director Aaron S. Watkin. 

Dressed in a powder blue silk shirtdress by London-based designer Anna Valentine, Queen Camilla accessorised her outfit with a gold and red brooch. 

She wore a number of  gold and silver bracelets on her right wrist as well as what appeared to be a royal blue, woven friendship bracelet on her left wrist,

The Queen, who emphasised how ‘proud’ she was to be the patron of The English National Ballet, completed her look with a pair of round-toe, cream and black pumps. 

In an informal address made in front of an enormous birthday cake to celebrate the 75th year of the company, she said: ‘I love ballet, In any form, I love dance.’

Explaining that she was also patron of ballet schools, she added: ‘I do a bit of Silver Swans myself. The ladies today would rather show me up. I do love it. 

‘It’s very exciting to be able to say that I am patron.’

Queen Camilla then wished the ballet company, ‘a very happy 75th birthday’ and said: ‘I hope I shall be seeing a lot more of you in the future. Enjoy the cake.’

During her visit, the Queen looked on admiringly as a ballerina rehearsed in a studio and also met with members of staff.

She was equally treated to what appeared to be a dress rehearsal, with a pair of dancers performing impressive lifts. 

The English National Ballet performs across the UK and internationally, bringing world class ballet to the widest possible audience.

Earlier this week, Queen Camilla spoke of the ‘joy’ reading can give to children as she hosted an event celebrating the 70th anniversary of a leading UK book charity.

The reception marking Book Aid International’s anniversary at St James’s Palace in London was attended by some 100 guests, including the charity’s president Nigel Newton and Lady Caroline Simmonds, the daughter of its founder.

Camilla has been patron of the charity since 2022 and set up her own online book club during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021.

Book Aid International has sent more than 37 million books to schools, libraries, prisons and refugee camps around the world since its founding in 1954.

In an impromptu speech made after she had spoken individually to guests, Camilla told of the ‘very, very big difference’ being made to people’s lives by the accessibility of books.

She said: ‘I wasn’t actually expecting to speak this evening. There’s not a lot more I can say, except to say a huge thank you to all of you who support Book Aid.

‘I have visited quite a lot of countries on my travels and I have been to libraries which have been recipients of Book Aid, and I have just seen the joy on the children’s faces when they receive these books.

‘And if we can keep on doing this all over the world, we’re going to make a very, very big difference to people reading books, children getting access to books – and it’s really thanks to Book Aid and all of you here who have made this possible. So thank you very much indeed.’

The Queen looked elegant in an eye-catching green dress with a peacock feather pattern for the reception.

The charity was founded in 1954 by the Countess of Ranfurly as a library for local children in the Bahamas after she visited the island nation with her husband, who was its governor, and was ‘shocked’ at the lack of reading material available.

This book scheme was extended to the Commonwealth from 1956 as the Ranfurly Library Service and was renamed Book Aid International in 1994.

Lord Boateng, vice patron of Book Aid International, said access to Lady Ranfurly’s library had ‘changed my life’.

‘Book Aid International, then the Countess Ranfurly’s Library Trust, changed my life,’ he told attendees.

‘I was a little boy growing up in the Gold Coast, which became Ghana, and Book Aid International furnished the books and trained the librarians for the first dedicated children’s library in sub-Saharan Africa. I went to that library as a six, seven year-old. And it did change my life.’

The Labour peer said the books ‘underpinned aspiration’ and gave children a ‘sense of the possibilities’ available to them.

Prince Philip, as Duke of Edinburgh, had been Book Aid International’s royal patron from 1966 until his death in 2021.

Poet and novelist Sir Ben Okri, who was invited to the reception as a key supporter of the charity, said books helped ‘feed people’s minds, feed their spirits, encourage them, open up possibilities, deepen their thinking and release them from stress and fear’.

He said: ‘The Queen is one of the great evangelists of the power of books and power of reading. And it’s a very special thing because it’s not normally a very glamorous area – books are very private things, you read them all by yourself.

‘And to have the Queen champion what reading can do is absolutely astonishing and invaluable for our age.’

Other guests invited to the hour-long event included broadcaster David Dimbleby, actor Neil Pearson, author Ken Follet and publisher Sigrid Rausing.