Queen Camilla recalls getting brutal wake-up call: 'How naive I was'

Queen Camilla had a brutal wakeup call about the scale of violence against women which inspired her to begin her activism.

The Queen recently sat down with BBC racing commentator John Hunt and his daughter Amy during a December fundraising gala for The Hunt Family Fund. The charity was established by Hunt and his daughter in memory of Louise Hunt, 25, her sister Hannah, 28, and their mother Carol, 61, who were murdered at their home in Bushey in July 2024. Her comments were later broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Speaking directly to Hunt and his daughter, Camilla said: “I’d just like to say, wherever your family is now, they’d be so proud of you both. And they must be from above smiling down on you and thinking, my goodness me, what a wonderful, wonderful father, husband, sister.”

During the recorded conversation at Clarence House, the Queen — who is a devoted advocate for ending gender-based violence and domestic abuse — reflected on attending a SafeLives meeting and hearing firsthand accounts of women who had been attacked or killed.

“I remember being just so shocked and horrified by the whole thing, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the place, and it made me realise how naive I’d been about this sort of thing,” she said. “I mean, we read about it occasionally in the papers, but we don’t realise that it’s happening all the time.”

Camilla also shared her own experience of being attacked as a teenager, recalling how she fought back and later realised the seriousness of what had happened.