Queen Camilla was sexually assaulted on a train as a teenager, a bombshell new book writes. Valentine Low reveals the shocking account in her new book Power and the Palace: The Inside Story of the Monarchy and 10 Downing Street, serialised in The Times. The author says the future Queen beat off the attacker with a high heel shoe when she was around 16 or 17 years old. The royal is said to have been on a train to Paddington when the man attempted to touch her.
Camilla reportedly confided in Boris Johnson about her ordeal in 2008 during a meeting at Clarence House, shortly after he became mayor of London. She allegedly told him that “some guy was moving his hand further and further.”
Although she never wanted to make her experience public, the Queen is pragmatic it has now been reported publicly. She was also open about telling her family and friends, according to her friends.
A source close to her said: “If reading about her own experience helps other women, then in the circumstances she would consider that a positive outcome.”
A source told the Mail: “Her experience, alas, was as familiar to many women then as it is, sadly, today. And clearly, totally unacceptable.
“But she has never wanted to equate what she went through as a young woman with the stories that so many victims and survivors have had the courage to share with her over her past decade of campaigning on the issue.
“This is not because of any sense of shame. It simply happened a very long time ago and she dealt with it. She has always taken the view that other women’s stories are much more important than her own.”
Over the years, she has dedicated herself to championing organisations that assist rape survivors and provide sexual violence support, meeting with victims and drawing attention to the vital work these groups do.
She recently became patron of the Mirabel Centre in Nigeria, the nation’s first sexual assault referral centre. In the UK, the Queen is closely linked to several organisations – including Safe Lives and WOW! – both of which actively campaign in this field.
Queen Camilla has also personally contacted Gisèle Pelicot, the French woman whose shocking story of betrayal gained worldwide attention. Deeply moved by Pelicot’s ordeal, the 77-year-old Queen responded to revelations that Pelicot’s husband of 50 years drugged her and allowed strangers to assault her repeatedly over nearly a decade.
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