On Monday, February 23, Queen Camilla welcomed Gisèle Pelicot, the French woman who testified against her husband in a high-profile rape trial last year, to her home in the royal residence of Clarence House. Over tea, the two women discussed Pelicot’s book, A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides, which chronicles how Pelicot escaped marital sexual violence. The wife of King Charles said she read the 320-page story in two days. “I couldn’t put it down,” said Queen Camilla, according to The Times. “I’ve met so many survivors of rape and sexual assault that I thought I couldn’t be shocked by anything anymore, but your story overwhelmed me—it left me speechless.” Pelicot was joined by her partner, Jean-Loup Agopian, and her editorial and legal team for the visit, the BBC reports.
After saying a few words in broken French (the queen joked that she had “forgotten” the language after studying it “60 years ago”), Camilla spoke with the help of an interpreter. In particular, she assured Pelicot of the public’s “incredible support” following the trial held at the end of 2024. In December of that year, Pelicot’s former husband, Dominique, was found guilty of aggravated rape and other charges, and following a monthslong trial, the court found 46 accomplices guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape, and two guilty of sexual assault.
Pelicot, who was a frequent presence in the courtroom, has been in London for several days as part of the promotional tour for her book. She took part in the launch party for the UK edition, held at the Royal Festival Hall. On this occasion, in front of a full house, excerpts were read by actors Kate Winslet, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Juliet Stevenson.
The fight against sexual and domestic violence has been one of Queen Camilla’s commitments for almost 20 years. She regularly addresses institutions on this subject, and supports associations working in the field to help victims and carry out prevention operations. Recently, Camilla confided that she herself had been the victim of an assault committed by a man when she was a teenager. A year ago she wrote a letter to Pelicot “expressing her utmost support” and paying tribute to her “extraordinary dignity and courage.”
This information was previously revealed by Newsweek based on the account of a source close to Buckingham Palace. According to that insider, Queen Camilla “was extremely touched by Madame Pelicot’s case in France and by the extraordinary dignity and courage of this lady in exposing herself, because, as she rightly said, why should she feel like a victim or hide in shame? She helped bring to light a major societal problem despite all the suffering she had endured.”
