No one cuts a cake quite like Queen Camilla

 

There are several things that non royals never really need to master but that actual royals need to be really rather good at and cake cutting is one of them. Most of us slice into a sponge on birthdays or at Christmas and it doesn't actually matter if we smash the thing to pieces while carving it up and it ends up in jam covered crumbs on a plate. However, if you're royal, this simple task comes with added pressures. It must be done slowly enough for people to take photos but quickly enough not to bore them to tears and you have to make it look effortless. There is little doubt that Queen Camilla is the royal cake cutter to end them all.

She was at it again as she welcomed the Book Trust to Clarence House to celebrate its 100th birthday. The charity helps bring reading and books to families across the country with around 1.4 million reached every year at the moment. As it clocked up a century, it got another royal seal of approval and it was all done with a flourish of a cake knife.

The Queen was presented with a very large cake shaped as a book. It was a proper doorstopper of a cake but that didn't daunt Camilla. In she went with a very shiny and very sharp knife, posing just long enough for everyone to get the desired shot of her about to go to business, before plunging in. And Her Maj always does that with gusto. She has enough oomph in her cake cutting technique to make quick but elegant work of even the most impressive of sponges and she's worked on her moves to such an extent that she makes her way through every morsel placed before her without a wobble. Ever. I'm impressed. It's not a universally needed skill but if you're going to do something, do it well and Queen Camilla cuts cakes very well indeed.

This time round, she also did it with a giant bunny at her side. Fair play to whoever was inside the mammoth Peter Rabbit costume. They gave The Queen enough elbow room to get to grips with the cake while managing to make the rabbit head look straight at the camera with what can only be called a coquette-ish tilt. It was a masterclass in what makes a royal event work.

For royalty is all about image and this was a cracker of an image, well worth putting everywhere. And that's the point. Book Trust has been going for 100 years which is wonderful and it does a huge amount of good work every year. But a centenary celebration is just that, nothing really to write home about, until you add in a giant bunny and a queen who can seriously cut cake. And as a result, there's been plenty of talk about its Book Start Baby programme which provides every child in the UK with a new book before their first birthday. This year, it's Peter Rabbit in a brand new outing written just for them. So cake cutting has its place and its own value, especially when it's done with such a royal flourish.