A recently published book, Power and the Palace by Valentine Low, has revealed a harrowing episode from Queen Camilla’s teenage years involving a train groper. At about 16 or 17 years old, Camilla was traveling to London’s Paddington Station when a man seated next to her began to grope her. True to advice from her mother, Camilla took off her high-heeled shoe and struck the attacker in a sensitive area, effectively fending him off.
The story was shared directly by Camilla during a private meeting with former London Mayor Boris Johnson and his communications director Guto Harri in 2008. After the attack, Camilla reported the incident to a uniformed officer at Paddington, leading to the man’s arrest.
This episode has since been cited as a driving force behind Camilla’s passionate support of victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, causes she has championed extensively in her role as Queen Consort.
