Camilla praises Bolton boy who read 50 books in lockdown

A boy has been given the royal seal of approval after completing a year-long reading challenge in just three months.

The Duchess of Cornwall wrote to congratulate eight-year-old Milan Kumar after he raced through a 50-book challenge during lockdown.

The challenge saw him read works by William Shakespeare, David Walliams and JK Rowling, as well as biographies of Nelson Mandela and Albert Einstein.

Camilla's signed letter said his achievement was "absolutely wonderful".

The duchess added that she hoped Milan was proud of himself.

The challenge was set by Milan's school to "encourage boys to read what they want with an open-ended set of criteria", his mum Daxa said.

She said completing it was "not as easy as it sounds as Milan was only seven at the time".

The eight-year-old said he set himself "a target in March to complete the challenge before my birthday in June".

He said he started with David Walliams' books and moved on from there, adding: "I loved the illustrations by Tony Ross and was in stitches of laughter throughout".

"I went on to read more than 50 books including a biography of Nelson Mandela, which was uplifting and reminded me of my family holiday last year to South Africa."

The duchess also congratulated the schoolboy on being nominated for a local newspaper award.

Mrs Kumar said she and her husband wanted to thank Camilla Duchess of Cornwall for inspiring their son, "who is now looking forward to the next reading challenge".