Princess Beatrice of York

I am greatly honoured to become Patron of The Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre. I have benefited hugely from their work, and I am looking forward to supporting them in giving a chance to others to benefit from their experience and teaching.

When I was younger, I was diagnosed with dyslexia, which meant, for me, sitting in front of a book was really hard - until I discovered Harry Potter, and this character, this 11-year-old boy, who suddenly gets off to school for the first time, captured my imagination, and suddenly reading was fun. Reading was inspiring, and I was motivated.

If I'm serious, yes, I'd like to have done what Shakespeare did... to act and write. You learn so much from acting. One of our great writers, Alan Bennett, does both supremely well. When I write a story, I tend to speak it aloud as I'm writing it.