Queen Camilla has told how terrible it is that domestic violence is still taking place during a reception to mark the 50th anniversary of the charity Women’s Aid.
The 77-year-old, who is recovering from a bout of pneumonia, used the event to reiterate her vow never to stop campaigning on behalf of domestic abuse victims. The Queen is suffering from post-viral fatigue and has scaled back her work schedule in recent weeks as she takes time to recover.
She told charity representatives and domestic abuse survivors who asked after her health: “I am still a bit tired. It catches up a bit”. Many attendees congratulated the Queen on the success of her recent ITV documentary, Her Majesty the Queen: Behind Closed Doors, which explored her many years of work in the field.
Camilla with acid attack survivor and TV presenter Katie Piper ( Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
One of the survivors who took part was Alice Liveing, who was abused by her partner at the age of 16. Miss Liveing, who is now a Women’s Aid ambassador, gave an update on the Queen’s health after speaking with her. She said: “I asked how she was feeling. She said she was feeling pretty tired but was trying to juggle some bits.”
Despite her ongoing fatigue, the Queen made time to attend the reception at the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, just a stone’s throw from Clarence House, where she hailed the strides made by the charity over the last five decades. Making some impromptu remarks before cutting a cake, she said: “If you think what’s happening now compared to what was happening 50 years ago, you must all be incredibly proud of yourselves. I think so many people hadn’t realised what domestic abuse was, especially then. It’s terrible that after 50 years, it still hasn’t been eradicated, but we are making progress.”
The Queen added: “I have no intention, now that I’ve started, to stop and I am determined to put an end to this. We have all got to pull together. You are all doing a wonderful job, and we will put an end to it, probably not in my lifetime, but in some of yours.” The Queen also told one guest: “I can’t support a charity just for the sake of it, I have to feel it.”
Camilla celebrates the 50th anniversary of Women’s Aid ( Image: Getty Images)
She told another that she did not think her ITV documentary would have been made as recently as ten years ago. She said she had been inundated with letters since the broadcast, which had strengthened her resolve that the scourge of abuse would one day come to an end.
“Having done the documentary, I’ve had so many letters so we’ll get there at some point,” she said. “It will just take time.” Katie Piper, who survived an acid attack and is also a Women’s Aid ambassador, said domestic violence was “one of the most isolating and dangerous forms of abuse” because it so often occurred behind closed doors, where silence could make it invisible.
“But silence is exactly what organisations like Women’s Aid have worked so hard to shatter over the past 50 years,” she said. “They’ve been the ones to say, ‘you are not alone, you are not to blame’, and by doing that, they’ve created a sisterhood. It’s not just about offering a place of refuge, but it’s also about empowering women to reclaim their lives.”
Nikki Bradley, head of services at Women’s Aid, said domestic violence was a “public emergency” worthy of an emergency response. “As a woman, you are over three times more likely to be killed by a partner than not wearing a seatbelt, but where are the public safety campaigns for abuse?” she said.
“Despite the urgency and severity of the threat facing our women and children, it is not being treated as a priority.” Among the guests was broadcaster Kelle Bryan, who appears on Loose Women and is also a survivor of domestic abuse.
“The documentary meant the world to us,” she said. “To see somebody of her ilk shine a light on something so dreadful..” Miss Liveing revealed that she had met the Queen before the state visit to Australia and Samoa and that she had been worried about the heat. “I asked how it was and she laughed and said ‘It was very hot and humid,” she said.
