Queen Camilla’s Personal Trauma Fuels Lifelong Advocacy Against Gender-Based Violence
A newly published book sheds light on a deeply personal experience from Queen Camilla’s youth, revealing a teenage sexual assault that has profoundly shaped her unwavering commitment to supporting survivors of gender-based violence.
A groundbreaking account in Valentine Low’s new book, Power and the Palace, published in September 2023, has brought to light a previously undisclosed incident from Queen Camilla’s past. The book details a candid conversation in 2008 between Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall at 61 years old, and the newly elected London Mayor, Boris Johnson, then 44. This deeply personal revelation provides crucial context to her long-standing and fervent advocacy for victims of sexual and domestic abuse.
According to Guto Harri, Johnson’s communications director at the time, the conversation took place during an initial meeting at Clarence House. Johnson had invited Camilla to discuss his ambitious plan to open three new rape crisis centers across London, expanding upon the single existing center in South London to cover the east, west, and north. It was during this discussion that Camilla shared her own traumatic experience.
Low’s book recounts Camilla’s story: “She was on a train going to Paddington — she was about 16, 17 — and some guy was moving his hand further and further…” When Johnson inquired what happened next, Camilla, with remarkable candor, replied: “I did what my mother taught me to. I took off my shoe and whacked him in the nuts with the heel.” Harri further detailed her self-possession: “She was self-possessed enough when they arrived at Paddington to jump off the train, find a guy in uniform and say, ‘That man just attacked me’, and he was arrested.”
This harrowing teenage ordeal undeniably laid the foundation for Camilla’s profound dedication to the cause. As Harri noted, “Nobody asked why the interest, why the commitment. But that’s what it went back to.” Her personal understanding of victimhood fueled her enthusiasm for Johnson’s initiative, leading her to formally open two of the three planned rape crisis centers, providing vital support infrastructure for countless survivors in the capital.
Queen Camilla’s Continued Advocacy in Her Royal Role
In her elevated role as Queen, Camilla has continued to champion the fight against sexual and domestic violence as a key priority of her public work. Earlier this year, in March 2024, she personally reached out to Gisèle Pelicot, a French woman whose husband, Dominique, was convicted in January 2024 of repeatedly drugging and raping her over 50 years. The Queen was reportedly “tremendously affected” by the landmark trial and Pelicot’s “extraordinary dignity and courage.” A royal aide confirmed to Newsweek that Camilla’s letter was a private gesture, driven by her “instigation and determination to express support from the highest level.” The Queen was particularly moved by Pelicot’s powerful statement: “As she rightly put it, why should she be made to feel like a victim or hide away in shame?”
Beyond personal letters of support, Queen Camilla has actively hosted and participated in numerous initiatives. In recent years, she hosted a poignant reception at Buckingham Palace to honor supporters and survivors of sexual assault, marking the relaunch of the “Wash Bags project,” which supplies essential toiletries to those affected by rape and abuse. Addressing center staff, police officers, service users, and other guests at the event, she emphasized, “Each one of you has a powerful story to tell: whether you work in this country or overseas; whether you are based in a refuge, a Sexual Assault Referral Centre, a charity, Parliament, or, most important of all, you are a survivor.”
Her advocacy extends to her patronage of SafeLives, a leading charity dedicated to ending domestic violence, and her appearance in the 2024 TV documentary “Her Majesty The Queen: Behind Closed Doors,” which highlighted her ongoing efforts to raise awareness. In a powerful speech at a 2021 Women of the World event, Camilla condemned the “culture of silence” that enables abusers and prevents victims from coming forward. She asserted: “After all, rapists are not born, they are constructed. And it takes an entire community — male and female — to dismantle the lies, words and actions that foster a culture in which sexual assault is seen as normal and in which it shames the victim.”
Queen Camilla’s impactful dedication to this critical societal issue is now understood to be deeply rooted in her own lived experience, transforming a personal trauma into a powerful force for change on a global stage.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
