Queen Camilla marks Pooh centenary

Queen Camilla helped mark Winnie the Pooh’s centenary in Ashdown Forest, East Sussex.

To mark 100 years since the Winnie the Pooh books were published, the Queen spent time in Ashdown Forest, which inspired the Hundred Acre Wood in AA Milne’s books.

Milne grew up not far from Ashdown Forest, and time spent in the forest with her son, Christopher Robin, helped inspire the series that was later adapted for the screen by Disney.

Queen Camilla is an avid book reader and called Winnie the Pooh “a universal hero.”

“Winnie-the-Pooh is a universal hero; people love him and his friends all over the world,” she said.

She also opened a new trail called the Queen’s Walk. The Queen said of the trail, “They’ll come pouring in to see this new trail. A lovely experience for all, and especially children.”

The day included playing poohsticks on “Poohsticks Bridge” with children’s authors, Dame Julia Donaldson and Jane Riordan, the latter of whom wrote the Pooh sequels. Poohsticks is played with two or more people dropping sticks into the water from the bridge, and then they race to see whose stick gets to the downstream side of the bridge first.

Unfortunately, the Queen did not win the game.

The Pooh-based visit was the first for the Queen since she became the patron of the Royal Literary Fund.