Queen Camilla lovingly teases King Charles’ ‘toiling’ at night after she’s gone to bed
The Queen joked about the King “toiling” long into the night as she addressed Samoan women to tell them they can “turn their hands successfully to any task that must be done”.
Speaking at a CHOGM Women’s Forum, the Queen delivered a speech from the stage in which she quoted from a local proverb. “I was delighted recently to come across the wonderful Samoan proverb: E au le Inailau a Tama’ita’i,” she told an audience, which included the Secretary General of the Commonwealth Baroness Scotland and the Prime Minister of Samoa.
Camilla also used the event to highlight the work being done in Samoa and other Commonwealth nations to end domestic violence for women around the world. She told the women gathered in the room that they had the power to shape their own destinies and improve their communities.
Camilla added: “With apologies to the men in the room, I thought that we might make this our motto today. “According to a legend, a competition was once held between men and women in a village to thatch the roof of the house of Chief Tautunu.
“Although they started at the same time, the women finished their side first, as they had laboured through the night, while the men slept. As one whose husband is often toiling into the small hours, long after my head is on the pillow, I should stress there are plenty of exceptions!
“But the moral of the proverb is: Women will turn their hands successfully to any task that must be done; and will work hard until it is completed.” The Queen, who had been welcomed to the forum by a Samoan band and a young man blowing a conch shell, was introduced to the stage by Jude Kelly, founder of the Women of the World Foundation.
