Camilla unveils Roald Dahl-inspired windows at Birmingham hospital

The Duchess of Cornwall visited Birmingham Children's Hospital to unveil 10 stained glass windows featuring Roald Dahl's famous characters.

The project was a collaboration between the author's widow Felicity Dahl and illustrator Sir Quentin Blake.

Characters from The BFG, The Enormous Crocodile and The Giraffe and The Pelly and Me have been brought to life.

It is hoped they will help put sick children more at ease.

Looking at one of the windows, showing Matilda sitting on top of a pile of books, the duchess said: "Aren't these brilliant?"

Sarah-Jane Marsh, chief executive of Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust, said the idea for the windows came from Mrs Dahl over a lunch with Sir Quentin.

She said: "She was sitting having a meal in a restaurant with Quentin Blake, looked at a stained glass window and said, 'Do you think we could make some of these?'

"She then contacted me and said, 'I've got this idea, could we make it happen at Birmingham Children's Hospital?'"

Mrs Dahl has a strong family link to the hospital as her father, Prof Alphonsus d'Abreu, a thoracic and cardiac surgeon, worked at the site and would take his daughter, then a child, to visit patients on Sundays.

She described the windows as "stunning".

Outpatient Callum Read, 17, from Kings Heath, Birmingham, is living with the condition kyphoscoliosis, which affects his spine, and has undergone 30 operations in his life.

He said: "It's going to really help new patients coming in get over that initial fear as they enter the hospital, not being scared about what's going to happen, what lies ahead.

"They're just going to have something to distract them and put them at ease and let them know they're in a caring and safe environment."