‘Furious’: Queen speaks about being groped on train as a teenager
Speaking publicly for the first time about the indecent assault, Camilla recalled fending off the man who attacked her.
By Danica Kirka
January 1, 2026 — 7.27am
London: Queen Camilla spoke publicly for the first time about her personal experience of indecent assault, saying that speaking out was one way she could use her royal platform to shine a light on the epidemic of violence against women.
Camilla, who has made fighting domestic abuse one of her signature causes, recalled fending off a man who attacked her on a train in the 1960s when she was a teenager.
“I was reading my book, and you know, this boy, man, attacked me, and I did fight back,” Camilla told the BBC on Wednesday, London time.
“And I remember getting off the train and my mother looking at me and saying, ‘Why is your hair standing on end?’ and ‘Why is a button missing from your coat?’”
While the attack made her “furious,” Camilla said, she kept it quiet for many years until she heard other women recount their own stories.
She said she had “sort of forgotten” what had happened but the memory had been “lurking in the back of my brain for a very long time”.
Queen Camilla recalled fending off a man who attacked her on a train in the 1960s when she was a teenager.Credit: AP
The Queen said she decided to speak up because domestic violence has been a “taboo subject” for so long that most people don’t realise how bad the situation 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.”
The comments came in a group interview with the surviving family members of Louise Hunt, 25, her sister Hannah, 28, and their mother Carol, 61, who were murdered by Louise’s ex-partner at their home outside London in July 2024.
The queen praised former racing commentator John Hunt and his daughter Amy for their work fighting domestic violence.
King Charles with Camilla on Christmas Day.Credit: Getty Images
“Wherever your family is now, they’d be so proud of you both,” Camilla said.
“And they must be, from above, smiling down on you and thinking, ‘My goodness me, what a wonderful, wonderful father, husband, sister.’ They’d just be so proud of you both.”