LONDON — Britain 's Queen Camilla on Wednesday spoke publicly for the first time about her personal experience of indecent assault, saying that speaking out was one way she could use her royal platform to shine a light on the epidemic of violence against women.
Camilla, who has made fighting domestic abuse one of her signature causes, recalled fending off a man who attacked her on a train in the 1960s when she was a teenager.
''I was reading my book, and you know, this boy, man, attacked me, and I did fight back,'' Camilla told the BBC. ''And I remember getting off the train and my mother looking at me and saying, ‘Why is your hair standing on end?' and ‘Why is a button missing from your coat?'''
While the attack made her ''furious,'' Camilla said, she kept it quiet for many years until she heard other women recount their own stories.
She said she decided to speak up because domestic violence has been a ''taboo subject'' for so long that most people don't realize how bad the situation is.
''I thought, well, if I've got a tiny soapbox to stand on, I'd like to stand on it,'' she said. ''And there's not a lot I can do except talk to people and get people together.''
The comments came in a group interview with the surviving family members of Louise Hunt, 25, her sister Hannah, 28, and their mother Carol, 61, who were murdered by Louise's ex-partner at their home outside London in July 2024.
The queen praised former racing commentator John Hunt and his daughter Amy for their work fighting domestic violence.
