Once with the shoe, Queen Camilla's response to sexual assault

BarcelonaQueen Camilla suffered an attempted sexual assault as a teenager, according to a new book about the British royal family. Camilla allegedly managed to repel the attacker by digging into him with the heel of her shoe. The episode is described in Power and the Palace, a new book about the royal family by Valentine Low, who had worked on The Times. According to the author, the queen explained her experience to Boris Johnson in 2008, when he was mayor of London.

The events allegedly occurred when Camilla was between 16 and 17 years old and was traveling on a train bound for Paddington station. A man tried to grope her. When Johnson asked her what happened next, she replied: "I did what my mother taught me. I took off my shoe and dug my heel into his testicles," according to the book. When she arrived at Paddington, the current Queen of England located a police officer and explained that a man had attacked her. The attacker was arrested.

Camilla's interest

The conversation between Camilla and Boris Johnson took place on the occasion of the opening of three rape crisis centers. There was already one in south London, and the then mayor of London wanted to open one in the east, west, and north of the city. According to the book, the current queen, then partner of Prince Charles, opened two. "No one asked where that interest, that commitment, came from. But that's why," the book states. Buckingham Palace has not denied the incident, but has also declined to comment, according to the magazine. People.

Camilla has long championed victims of rape, domestic violence, and sexual abuse as her priorities. A few months ago, she recognized Gisèle Pelicot for her "extraordinary dignity and courage." The Queen expressed her "deep concern" over the rape trial held last year in France. which concluded with the conviction of Dominique Pelicot for repeatedly drugging and raping his wife during fifty years of marriage. "As a longtime advocate for survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse, the Queen personally wrote in madam Pelicot – explained a royal aide to Newsweek–. He was very insistent on expressing his support.