The Queen hears about St Mungo's work with The Queen's Reading Room

Published 10 June 2026

During a visit to St Mungo's in South London, The Queen met residents and staff who are connected to a shared reading programme enabled by The Queen’s Reading Room, of which Her Majesty is Founding Patron.

During a visit to St Mungo's homelessness accommodation, The Queen has heard about the work that the charity, together with The Queen’s Reading Room, has done to create a space for residents to explore reading and storytelling as a wellbeing tool.

Founded in 1969, St. Mungo’s is one of the leading homelessness charities in England, working directly with people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness, providing them with services to find paths away from homelessness for good.

In 2021, Her Majesty launched The Queen’s Reading Room (originally The Duchess of Cornwall’s Reading Room), a charity championing the transformative power of literature in the UK and beyond. The Queen’s Reading Room promotes the accessibility and joy of stories and storytelling, reaching audiences in more than 180 countries through its world-class festivals, exclusive online content, and thriving community of 205,000+ book lovers.

During today's visit, Her Majesty spent time with St. Mungo’s staff, who showed some of the services offered by the charity to support people experiencing homelessness. The charity supports residents and clients in helping them to gain skills, training, education and employment, enabling them to pursue their passions and goals.

In the centre’s ‘Activities Room’, Her Majesty met people supported by St Mungo’s who have taken part in the organisation’s shared reading programme.

The programme has been established in nine St. Mungo’s services through The Queen’s Reading Room by the provision of staff training toolkits, donated books and Queen's Reading Room Shelves. This has been part of the two charities’ collaboration over the past eighteen months to demonstrate that individual and shared reading can uplift the wellbeing of those supported by the charity as they recover from homelessness.

To celebrate the visit, The Queen unveiled bookshelves featuring books selected by Her Majesty and St. Mungo’s for people supported by the charity. The donated books are based on a ‘Book Menu’ that each service fills in, reflecting residents’ interests and offering a range of books accessible to everyone.