Queen Camilla Wrote a Personal Letter Thanking Gisèle Pelicot for Her “Extraordinary Dignity and Courage”
For more than a decade, Queen Camilla has made support for survivors of domestic violence one of the key issues in her work as a senior royal. The queen has hosted public receptions and given speeches to raise awareness about abuse, but her support for survivors extends beyond her public profile. On Wednesday, Buckingham Palace confirmed that the queen privately corresponded with Gisèle Pelicot, the French woman who testified against her husband in a high-profile rape trial last year.
“As a long-term supporter of survivors of domestic and sexual abuse, the queen wrote to Madame Pelicot privately,” a palace aide told Newsweek. “It was very much her instigation and determination to write to express support from the highest level.”
In December, Pelicot’s former husband, Dominique, was convicted of aggravated rape and other charges, and following a monthslong trial, the court found 46 accomplices guilty of rape, two of attempted rape, and two of sexual assault. Pelicot was present in the courtroom throughout the duration of the trial, becoming an international symbol of bravery in the process.
The queen was “tremendously affected” by Pelicot’s “extraordinary dignity and courage as she put herself in the public eye,” the palace aide added. “She helped highlight a very significant societal problem despite all the personal suffering she’d been through.”
Last year, the queen’s work to support survivors and combat stigma around domestic violence was the subject of an ITV documentary called Her Majesty the Queen: Behind Closed Doors. During an interview for the program, the queen explained why she decided to get involved with domestic violence organizations in the UK. “One of the most difficult things about domestic abuse to understand—it’s not the bruises and the black eyes, which unfortunately you see through violence,” she said. “This is something that creeps up very slowly and, far too often, it ends up with women being killed.”
