Queen Camilla opens up about teenage sexual attack, fighting off sex attacker on London train
Queen Camilla has described for the first time fighting off an attack by a man on a train when she was a teenager,
In a candid interview with the BBC, the royal recounted how furious the assault had left her.
“When I was a teenager, I was attacked on a train … I remember at the time being so angry,” she said during a discussion about violence against women broadcast by BBC’s Radio 4’s Today program on Wednesday.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“I was reading my book and you know this boy — man — attacked me, and I did fight back.”
She said she did not know the man who attacked her.
Camilla, 78, has for many years championed charities and causes that seek to end sexual and domestic violence and to support victims.
The assault was first reported in September when a book about the royal family was serialised in The Times newspaper, but had not previously been confirmed by Buckingham Palace.
Queen Camilla spoke up about the incident after hearing about the courage of BBC racing commentator John Hunt and his eldest daughter Amy after his wife and two younger daughters were brutally murdered.
“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?’” she told the BBC.
“I was so furious about it and it’s sort of lurked for many years.”
Carol Hunt and her daughters Louise and Hannah were murdered by Louise’s ex-partner Kyle Clifford at their home in Hertfordshire in July last year.
Camilla praised John and Amy Hunt saying: “I’d just like to say, wherever your family is now, they’d be so proud of you both.
“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.”
The book said the incident happened on a train to Paddington Station in London when Camilla was about 16 or 17 years old, and she responded by taking off her shoe and using it to hit him in the genitals.
When she arrived at Paddington, she pointed the attacker out to an official and he was arrested, the book said, although Camilla did not confirm those details in the interview.
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