Britain’s Queen Camilla shared publicly for the first time that she had to “fight back” when a stranger physically assaulted her as a teenager.
Camilla described the incident during a radio interview discussing violence against women with BBC racing commentator John Hunt, whose wife and two daughters were murdered in July 2024. His surviving daughter, Amy, also joined the conversation.
Camilla said she was riding the train when a man she did not know attacked her. She described the attacker as “probably not a great deal older than me,” though at the time she thought he was an “old man.” She says she fought back.
The experience left her feeling “so angry,” she recalled.
“I remember getting off the train and my mother looking at me and saying: ‘Why is your hair standing on end?’ and ‘Why is the button missing from your coat?’” Camilla said.
“But I remember anger, and I was so furious about it, and it’s sort of lurked for many years.”
Details about the train attack were previously shared in the book “Power and the Palace,” released earlier this year by Valentine Low, a former royal correspondent from The Times of London. Additional details about the attack are included in the book, but have not been confirmed by Buckingham Palace. This is the first time Camilla has spoken publicly about the incident.
According to an excerpt from the book published in The Times, Camilla was on a train to Paddington when the assault happened. In self-defense, Camilla removed her shoe and used it to hit the attacker in the groin.
Once off the train, she found a man in uniform and directed him to her attacker, who was then arrested.
Camilla, who was crowned queen in 2022, has made raising awareness about violence against women, and providing female victims with support, one of her primary missions as a monarch.
“When all the subject about domestic abuse came up, and suddenly you hear a story like John and Amy’s, it’s something that I feel very strongly about,” Camilla said.
While highlighting her work on violence against women — which includes a vow to continue working to eradicate domestic violence — Camilla said she decided to speak up because violence against women is a “taboo subject” and people are not aware of how severe it 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.”
After sharing her personal experience, Camilla took a moment to praise John and Amy Hunt.
“I’d just like to say, wherever your family is now, they’d be so proud of you both. And they must be from above smiling down on you and thinking, ‘My goodness me, what a wonderful, wonderful father, husband, sister.’”
She also praised their bravery in sharing their experience publicly, which Camilla said is “cathartic,” adding, “The more you can talk about it, the more you can try and get rid of these terrible demons and terrible memory of what happened to you.”