Queen Camilla has become a very popular member of the Royal Family. Although people initially had a hard time accepting her, things are different today. The former Parker Bowles is putting duty above everything, and is supporting up to 100 charities, among them those working with victims of domestic violence.
However, it appears that Camilla is also a victim. In a new book, a bombshell claim is made about her having to fight off a groper on a train. And the story is horrifying.
Queen Camilla was not born a royal, but it’s safe to say she wasn’t an “ordinary” person. Born on July 17, 1947, her family tree includes many notable figures, including Alice Keppel, the mistress of Edward VII, and Thomas Cubitt, a famous builder.
Camilla’s family was wealthy, owning houses in both East Essex and South Kensington. Being a part of the elite in that era meant that the children had to, at least to some extent, make it on their own.
But Camilla’s parents, Bruce and Rosalind Shand, were supportive and loving. According to The Guardian, this was “unusual for their class and era.” Speaking with Women’s Day, the now-queen reminisced about her “idyllic” childhood.
“I was one of the very lucky ones, I had the idyllic childhood right in the country, sitting on the South Downs with my brother and my sister and our pets and our ponies. I think it was a very simple childhood,” she said.
“Sometimes in the summer, we used to ride to school on our ponies, probably something that’s more Australian than English, but we used to ride and then tie them up and ride back again. It just shows how things have changed because, in those days, there was nothing on the roads. Can you imagine now letting a child ride to school with its satchel on its back? I mean, it wouldn’t happen.”
Queen Camilla ‘fought off’ groper in London train as a teenager, book claims
Camilla grew up alongside her two younger siblings, Annabel and Mark. Sadly, Mark passed away in 2014.
The future Queen Consort grew up in the English countryside, where she developed an immense passion for horses. As mentioned, her family was very wealthy and, according to Town & Country, had “well-used” accounts at the luxurious and famous department store Harrods.
Camilla’s mother hailed from a wealthy aristocratic family. The young girl was very close to her mother, and one important lesson she taught her was the art of small talk. That, if anything, certainly prepared Camilla for royal life.
However, now, new details about a truly horrifying moment of her childhood have come to light. It happened when she was about 16 or 17 years of age, and it forced her to defend herself from a groper.
In the new book Power and the Palace, royal author and expert Valentine Low, former royal correspondent for The Times of London, writes that in the mid-1960s, Camilla was on a train heading to Paddington Station. Next to her sat a man, who suddenly tried to touch her.
“I took my shoe off and whacked him”
When meeting former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Camilla recalled the attack.
“Camilla said, ‘I did what my mother told me, I took my shoe off and whacked him in the nuts with the heel,’” Low told the BBC, per the Associated Press. “When she got to Paddington, this, in a way, is the crucial bit of the story: she found a man in uniform, told him what had happened, and the man was arrested. She did the responsible thing,” Low added.
The Associated Press declined to comment on the matter. Guto Harri, Johnson’s former communications director, was the one sharing the story with Low. According to Harri, the terrifying incident is why Camilla has decided to support charities working with victims of domestic violence.
“She was self-possessed enough when they arrived at Paddington to jump off the train, find a guy in uniform and say, ‘That man just attacked me,’ and he was arrested,” Harri said, as quoted by The Guardian.
Big supporter of victims of domestic violence,
Low concluded that Camilla hasn’t wanted to speak about the experience because it is less serious than the attacks other women and girls have suffered.
“She didn’t want to draw attention to herself at the expense of their experiences,” the author explained.
In 2024, Camilla hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace to recognize supporters of survivors of sexual assault. During the event, Camilla said, “Each one of you has a powerful story to tell: whether you work in this country or overseas; whether you are based in a refuge, a Sexual Assault Referral Centre, a charity, Parliament, or — most important of all — you are a survivor.”
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