Britain's Queen Camilla has spoken publicly for the first time about being sexually harassed as a teenager while travelling on a train. She made the announcement in a special New Year's Eve edition of BBC Radio 4's Today programme, which was dedicated to the subject of domestic and gender-based violence.
The incident happened when she was still a schoolgirl and went by the girl's name Camilla Shand. According to her, she was physically attacked by an unknown man on a train, fought back and fended off her attacker with the heel of her shoe.
After getting off the train, her mother noticed that her hair was dishevelled and the button on her coat was missing. The Queen stated that she remembers the incident primarily as a physical assault, which provoked a strong reaction in her.
Camilla said she has not spoken publicly about the incident so as not to distract from the victims she works with as part of her long-standing commitment to tackling domestic and sexual violence. The memory of the incident, she said, has stayed with her for many years.
Information that the Queen had been a victim of sexual harassment in her youth first emerged in August in the book Power and the Palace by journalist Valentine Lowe. In it, the story was relayed by Guto Harri, Boris Johnson's former communications director during his time as London mayor.
The interview was recorded at Clarence House as part of the UN's 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence initiative, which the Queen supports. It was broadcast on New Year's Eve in a special edition of the Today programme, guest-edited by Baroness Theresa May, former British Prime Minister and long-time supporter of action against domestic violence.
Queen Camilla has been working on the issue of domestic and sexual violence for more than a decade. One of the impetuses for her engagement was her meeting with activist Diana Parkes, whose daughter Joanna Simpson was killed by her own husband in 2010.
The recording also included an interview with horse racing commentator John Hunt and his daughter Amy, who survived an attack on her family last July.
John Hunt's family was the victim of an attack by the former partner of one of his daughters. Hunt's wife Carol (61) and daughters Louise (25) and Hannah (28) died in the attack. The perpetrator, Kyle Clifford, a former soldier, was sentenced to life imprisonment earlier this year.
(pir)