LONDON, December 27, 2023 — Queen Camilla revealed Wednesday that she was attacked by an unknown assailant on a train as a teenager, an experience that profoundly shaped her decades-long commitment to combating domestic abuse. The queen, 78, publicly discussed the incident for the first time during a special episode of BBC Radio 4’s Today program, set to air on New Year’s Eve.
A Royal Advocate Forged in Personal Experience
The queen’s advocacy for domestic abuse victims stems from a harrowing personal experience she kept private for years.
- Queen Camilla disclosed a teenage assault on a train during a BBC Radio 4 interview.
- The incident, occurring in the 1960s, fueled her dedication to opposing domestic abuse.
- She recounted the attack to former London Mayor Boris Johnson in 2008, three years after marrying then-Prince Charles.
- The queen described fighting back against her attacker, employing a self-defense tactic taught by her mother.
“When I was a teenager, I was attacked on a train. I’d sort of forgotten about it, but I remember at the time, being so angry,” the queen said. She described the attacker as “somebody I didn’t know,” explaining that she was reading when the assault occurred. “I was reading my book and, you know, this boy—man—attacked me, and I did fight back.”
What did Queen Camilla do to defend herself during the attack? According to author Valentine Low, the queen told Boris Johnson in 2008 that she responded by taking off her shoe and striking the attacker with the heel. Buckingham Palace has not confirmed the details of this conversation, and neither King Charles III nor the queen had previously addressed the incident publicly.
The queen shared the story with Johnson during a discussion about plans to establish three sexual assault crisis centers in London, with the queen intending to visit some of those centers. Low writes that “Nobody asked why the interest, why the commitment. But that’s what it went back to.”
The incident first came to light in the book Power and the Palace, published in September, which details the relationship between the UK monarchy and its elected officials. The queen’s decision to speak publicly about the attack underscores her commitment to raising awareness about violence against women and supporting survivors.