Queen Camilla has described the moment she was forced to fight off a man who attacked her on a train as a teenager in the 60s.
The monarch spoke out about the indecent assault for the first time during an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
During a discussion broadcast on British radio on December 31, Queen Camilla described for the first time her experience of physical assault as a teenager, recounting how furious she was about the incident https://t.co/u2Vq2LrsxK pic.twitter.com/Yqr1ovvOUY
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 31, 2025
She was joined by the family of Louise Hunt, whose ex-partner killed the 25-year-old, her sister Hannah, and her mother Carol in July 2024.
Camilla said she had “sort of forgotten” the experience, in which a man attempted to assault her on a train to London’s Paddington Station.
“I was reading my book [and] this boy, man, attacked me, and I did fight back,” she said.
“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 the button missing from your coat?’
“But I remember anger, and I was so furious about it, and it’s sort of lurked for many years.”
The attack was previously recounted in a book by former royal correspondent Valentine Low, published earlier this year.
In the book, Mr Low noted Camilla fought her attacker off by removing her shoe and bashing him in the groin. The man was later arrested.
To Louise and Hannah’s father, racing commentator John Hunt, and their sister, Amy Hunt, Camilla said their loved ones would be “so proud of you”.
The conversation was part of a wider discussion on sexual and domestic violence, highlighting the power of speaking up.
“The more you talk about it, the more you can try and get rid of these terrible demons and terrible memory of what happened to you,” the queen said.
Stories like that of the Hunts, she said, had made her more passionate about campaigning against domestic violence.
“[The] majority of people don’t want to know,” she said.
“It’s been a taboo subject for so long … I thought if I’ve got a tiny soap box to stand on, I’d like to stand on it.”‘
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The queen has been an advocate for abuse victims in the past.
When Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his titles, she and her husband, King Charles, said their utmost sympathies remained with victims of all forms of abuse.
The group was also joined by former-prime minister Teresa May, who said it was a “sad fact” for young men online that it was “not many clicks away before you’re taken to some really dark and dangerous material”.
More than a year on from the deaths of his wife and daughters, John Hunt said it remained “very difficult on a minute-by-minute basis”.
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“You have to try and find the strength in our position to arm yourself with as many tools as possible to help you get through the next hour, get through that next day,” he said.
“I’m staggered that we are as well as we are at this particular moment in time. There’s still a lot more work to do.”
Part of them, said Amy Hunt, was still “in disbelief [and] shock”.
