UK’s Queen Camilla and Princess Kate entertain US first lady with miniature books, leaf printing

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WINDSOR, England (Reuters) -Britain’s Queen Camilla and Princess Kate entertained U.S. first lady Melania Trump in Windsor with a library tour, miniature books, leaf printing and bug hotels on the second day of U.S. President Donald Trump’s state visit.

While the President headed to meet the Prime Minister Keir Starmer to discuss global affairs, Melania was shown the treasures of Windsor Castle and met children, as the ceremony of the previous day, with its carriage ride and state banquet, gave way to more relaxed activities.

Melania joined Kate and a group of four- to six-year-old children on the lawn of Frogmore House, a 17th century country house near to the castle which was favoured by Queen Victoria.

The children were part of the Scouts, a youth organisation focused on outdoor activities, and Melania helped them make images of leaves and build cardboard homes for insects.

“This is beautiful,” Melania said, as they pasted leaves and illustrated pictures, before she awarded them a badge for their efforts.

MELANIA SHOWN A DOLL’S HOUSE

Earlier, Camilla had taken her to Windsor Castle’s Royal Library, where about 200,000 leather-bound volumes line the walls, including a copy of William Shakespeare’s Second Folio from 1632, annotated by Charles I.

Melania was also shown Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House, a one hundred year-old replica mansion, which contains a miniature version of the crown jewels with real diamonds and sapphires, and a tiny and fully functioning piano.

In the 1920s, famous authors such as Winnie-the-Pooh creator A.A. Milne, J.M. Barrie, who wrote Peter Pan, and Arthur Conan Doyle, famous for the Sherlock Holmes books, contributed special handwritten miniature volumes for the house.

Melania, in a tan jacket, smiled at the tiny writing as she flicked through the pages of a thumb-size book, one of nearly 600, before she met school children working on their own very small creations.

(Reporting by Gerhard Mey, writing by Sarah Young; Editing by Ros Russell)