Queen Camilla has said it is ‘terrible’ that after 50 years violence against women ‘has not been eradicated.’
Attending a charity event at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in Westminster, London, she met with survivors of domestic abuse at a reception marking the 50th anniversary of Women’s Aid.
The Queen spoke with guests and survivors of violence, including presenter and acid attack survivor Katie Piper,
Dozens of women gathered in the room to hear words of encouragement from Camilla at the reception to mark the journey of Women’s Aid and to commemorate the work of campaigners across hundreds of affiliated organisations and regional groups.
Women’s Aid survivor ambassadors, all who have overcome abuse, greeted her on arrival, with many sharing their own experiences while the Queen listened and talked about her work.
After cutting the cake presented to her by Women’s Aid’s director of services Nikki Bradley, the Queen said: ‘I cannot believe it was 50 years ago when you started. You would think what is happening now compared to what was happening 50 years ago. You should all be so incredibly proud of yourself. I think so many people hadn’t realised what domestic abuse was especially then.
This Is Not Right
On November 25, 2024 Metro launched This Is Not Right, a year-long campaign to address the relentless epidemic of violence against women.
Throughout the year we will be bringing you stories that shine a light on the sheer scale of the epidemic.
With the help of our partners at Women’s Aid, This Is Not Right aims to engage and empower our readers on the issue of violence against women.
You can find more articles here, and if you want to share your story with us, you can send us an email at vaw@metro.co.uk.
Read more:
- Introducing This Is Not Right: Metro’s year-long violence against women campaign
- Yvette Cooper’s message to abusers and rapists: The streets don’t belong to you
- Remembering the women killed by men in 2024
- Stories about violence against women don’t make an impact – this is why
- Men – we need your help to end violence against women
- What to do if your loved one is at risk from domestic abuse
‘It is terrible that after 50 years, it still has not been eradicated but we are making progress. I’ve talked to many many women, and men, all around the world and you hear the same devastating stories time and time again.’
The 77-year-old mentioned her film, the ITV documentary called ‘Her Majesty The Queen: Behind Closed Doors’ which follows her work to raise awareness of domestic and sexual violence.
‘As Katie was saying, it is behind closed doors but I have no intention now I started to stop now,’ the Queen consort said.
She said she is ‘determined’ to put an end to the ‘terrible’ violence.
‘We all need to pool together. Hearing the voices is so important because every time another survivor hears a voice it spurs them perhaps to get up.
‘We’re putting an end to it – probably not in my lifetime maybe during some of yours, but we will see an end to it.’
Ms Piper said domestic violence is ‘one of the most isolating and dangerous forms of abuse because it often occurs behind closed doors where silence can make suffering invisible.’
Nikki Bradley from Women’s Aid said the Queen’s work highlighting the issue was ‘hugely important.’
She added that awareness has improved during her time with Women’s Aid, but people’s ‘thinking and behaviour’ and social media is still a challenge.
She also said work needed to go into the family justice system and working with children.
‘Only very recently in the last Domestic Abuse Act have we had children recognised as victims in their own right, Ms Bradley told Metro. ‘We really need to buckle down and provide the right services for children and put a much bigger emphasis on prevention.’
Women’s Aid ambassadors and survivors
Along with Ms Piper, the ambassadors attending were Claire Throssell MBE whose two sons were killed by their father, columnist and author Alice Liveing, Olympian triple jumper Michelle Griffith-Robinson and activist Natalie Curtis.
TV and radio broadcaster Charlie Webster, who is a survivor of childhood abuse and has been campaigning for Women’s Aid for more than a decade, spoke with the Queen about ‘mental health and trauma’ and helping child survivors.
She told Metro: ‘We don’t talk enough about the long-term impact on women but also on the children and the repetition of cycles of abuse.’
Ms Webster also said she raised the issue of lack of local funding and services such as Vida in Sheffield, her hometown, having to close without ringfenced funding.
She continued: ‘I told her about this service in Sheffield and she said “I want to do something about that and make sure I visit Sheffield because that is not okay.” She really listened and it wasn’t just lip service.’
She also highlighted the ‘month to month’ struggle many charities face because of the way they have to get funding for services meaning long-term planning’ is ‘difficult and challenging.’
The Queen’s visit comes just days after she revealed the reason she had to pull out of engagements in early November was due to pneumonia she contracted after the royal trip to Australia and Samoa.
It forced her to pull out of engagements after being unwell, including the Remembrance Day service and the Royal Variety Performance.
Learn more about Women’s Aid
Women’s Aid have partnered with Metro for our This Is Not Right campaign.
They are a national charity continually working to end domestic abuse against women and children.
Women’s Aid is a federation of over 180 organisations, providing almost 300 local life-saving services to women and children. They are there to support survivors, helping them to be believed and to know that the abuse they’ve experienced is not their fault.
Women’s Aid also campaign for change, calling on the government to address the causes and consequences of domestic abuse.
To learn more about Women’s Aid, visit their website here.
Women’s Aid is one of the partners of Metro’s year-long This is Not Right campaign fighting violence against women.
Ms Bradley talked about This is Not Right, saying the campaign raising awareness ‘means people don’t feel so alone.’
‘It is really important to recognise that each individual finds support in their own way. Reading about it on their way to work in your paper could be the difference between them putting up with something or reaching out for help, and it’s hard to equate how powerful that is,’ she added.
It comes after shocking figures have revealed that between 2018 and 2023, crimes against women and girls increased by 37%. Every year, more than 100 women are thought to be killed by a man in the UK.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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