Queen tells nursing charity ‘people wouldn’t know what to do without you’

The Queen has told members of a nursing charity “people wouldn’t know what to do without you” at a reception at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.

Camilla was speaking at a reception for current and former nurses, volunteers and supporters of the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland (QNIS), which she hosted at the palace on Wednesday.

She is the charity’s sixth patron, having taken on the role in 2024, and the event was her first official engagement with the QNIS.

I really want to say a huge thank you to all of you, all the Queen's Nurses, past and present, for all you do for this country

Queen Camilla

The reception was held in the sumptuous surroundings of the palace’s Great Gallery, and during it the Queen circulated among the attendees, some of whom were in their 90s, speaking to them about their work.

Throughout, the attendees were served wine and nibbles by immaculately-dressed members of staff.

At the end of the reception QNIS chair Erica Reid gave a speech thanking the Queen for her “continued patronage”, before calling on Emma Legge, QNIS programme lead, to present Camilla with a Queen’s Nurse badge.

After receiving the badge the Queen said: “I feel very undeserving of this award, especially having spoken to so many of you, I’ve seen how much you do for so many things.

“I was learning as I went round exactly what you do, but you seem to cover everything as far as I can see.

“I’m sure so many people are so indebted to your care, they probably wouldn’t know what to do without you.

Queen Camilla spoke with Queen’s Nurse Barbara Panton (right), at a reception for former and current QNIS nurses at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh (Jane Barlow/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Jane Barlow

“I really want to say a huge thank you to all of you, all the Queen’s Nurses, past and present, for all you do for this country.

“I’ll wear this badge with pride, but I feel I really don’t deserve it, so thank you very much indeed.”

QNIS, which was founded in 1899 with a donation from Queen Victoria, originally organised the training of district nurses across Scotland until the late 1960s, so they could care for people in their own homes and communities.

Nurses who qualified from the Institute were known as Queen’s Nurses, and went on to serve communities across Scotland, with a specific focus on those who could not afford a private nurse or hospital.

Today QNIS provides professional development opportunities for Scotland’s community nurses and midwives, and supports them in working collaboratively with patients to tackle health inequalities.

Today there are more than 170 Queen’s Nurses working in Scotland, with the title being awarded by the charity’s Queen’s Nurse development programme.

Queen Camilla hosts a reception for the QNIS at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh (Jane Barlow/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Jane Barlow

One of the attendees the Queen spoke to was retired nurse Barbara Panton, 84, who had flown from the US with her granddaughter to attend the reception.

Ms Panton, who was born in Jamaica and travelled to Edinburgh to train with the QNIS in 1965, quipped: “It’s not every day if you’re 84 you get invitations from the Queen.”

Asked about what she and the Queen had talked about she said: “I said thank you so much for taking the time to come and talk to us, and she said (she’s) particularly happy to do so because we are part of her generation.”

She added: “I did tell her she had a beautiful dress and I loved it”.

She added that when she first became a nurse she could never have imagined being invited to a reception with the Queen.

“I was just a nurse trying to do my best,” she said.