On December 31, 2025, Queen Camilla broke her silence about a harrowing incident from her teenage years, publicly recounting for the first time how she was assaulted on a train as a young woman. The revelation came during a deeply personal conversation on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, a special edition guest-edited by former Prime Minister Theresa May. But the Queen’s story was just the beginning of a broader, urgent discussion about violence against women, the devastating impact of domestic abuse, and the growing threat of online radicalisation among young men.
The setting was intimate: the Garden Room at Clarence House, where Queen Camilla sat down with BBC racing commentator John Hunt and his daughter Amy. Their family had been thrust into the national spotlight after a tragedy that shocked the country. On July 9, 2024, Hunt’s wife Carol, 61, and daughters Louise, 25, and Hannah, 28, were murdered in their home in Bushey, Hertfordshire, by Louise’s ex-partner, Kyle Clifford. The attack, carried out with a crossbow, left the surviving father and daughter grappling with unimaginable loss, but also determined to spark change.
The Queen, whose advocacy for survivors of domestic violence is well documented, acknowledged the extraordinary strength of the Hunts. "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. They’d just be so proud of you both," Camilla told them, her voice full of empathy and admiration, as reported by BBC.
It was in this supportive environment that Camilla decided to share her own story. "I remember something that had been lurking in the back of my brain for a very long time," she said. "When I was a teenager, I was attacked on a train. I was reading my book, and this boy—man—attacked me, and I did fight back." She recounted how she instinctively used the heel of her shoe to fend off her attacker, and upon arriving at Paddington Station, reported him to authorities, who arrested him on the spot. "I was physically attacked but I remember anger, and I was so furious about it," she said, according to The Independent. The Queen admitted she had "sort of forgotten" the incident, but hearing the Hunt family’s ordeal encouraged her to speak out.
Her candor resonated with Amy Hunt, who responded, "Thank you for sharing that, Your Majesty. It takes a lot to share these things because every woman has a story." Amy’s words underscored a painful truth: stories of abuse, whether in public or private, are all too common among women. The Queen agreed, reflecting on her work with SafeLives and her visits to women’s shelters, noting, "We read about it occasionally in the papers, but we don’t realise that it’s happening all the time."
John Hunt, meanwhile, described the ongoing struggle of living with loss. "It remains really difficult on a minute-by-minute basis," he said, as quoted in The Guardian. "You have to try and find the strength in our position to arm yourself with as many tools as possible that are going to help you get through that next hour, get through that next day." He credited Amy for being his "best counsel from the word go," noting their constant communication and mutual support. "I used to say ‘I couldn’t do it without you’, but now I say ‘I can do it with you’." Amy, for her part, admitted, "There’s a huge part of us that’s still in disbelief, in shock. Perhaps we’ll be in that state for the rest of our lives, given the magnitude of our loss. We miss them every single minute of the day."
The tragedy led John and Amy to establish The Hunt Family Fund, launched at a fundraising gala in December 2025. The fund aims to support charities and causes that inspire and help young women, keeping the memory of Carol, Louise, and Hannah alive through positive action.
Yet, the conversation at Clarence House did not shy away from the broader societal context. Both Queen Camilla and Amy Hunt highlighted the urgent need to address the root causes of violence against women. The Queen emphasized the importance of early education for boys, stating, "We’ve got to get to the root of the matter, the perpetrators, especially when they’re young. They may have come from a circle, they may have had parents or relatives who’ve been abusive or done terrible things to them, and so they’re almost brought up to believe that it’s a natural thing to do. If you can get them early enough and teach them respect for women, I think that’s so important to get into schools."
Amy Hunt took the discussion into the digital realm, warning of the dangers of online radicalisation. "Unfortunately, it’s something that largely goes unchecked in these tech companies and social media companies, it’s somewhat allowed to run rampant," she said. She pointed specifically to online influencers like Andrew Tate, whose messages can serve as a gateway for young men seeking guidance. "If men have not had the best examples in life, when they reach out to an online space looking for guidance and for some sort of mentor, these men in the online spaces provide that, and they provide easy answers."
Theresa May, who joined the conversation, pointed to legislative efforts such as the UK’s Online Safety Act as steps toward protecting people from harmful content. "We’ve introduced the Online Safety Act here in the UK. It’s an attempt to do something to protect people from what goes online," the former prime minister explained. However, she acknowledged the limitations of legislation alone, noting, "You can legislate as much as you like, but at the end of the day it’s about attitudes and it’s about mindsets." May emphasized the role of algorithms in creating echo chambers that can quickly expose young people to dangerous material.
Queen Camilla echoed this sentiment, arguing that changing attitudes must start early and be reinforced through education. She lamented that domestic violence remains a taboo topic for many, stating, "The majority of people actually don’t want to know. 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." The Queen’s willingness to share her own experience, coupled with the Hunt family’s bravery, provided a powerful example of how breaking silence can help drive change.
The conversation at Clarence House was not just a moment of shared grief, but a call to action—an insistence that society must do more to protect women, challenge harmful attitudes, and hold both individuals and institutions accountable. As the Hunt Family Fund begins its work and the UK’s Online Safety Act comes into force, the hope is that such tragedies might, in time, become far less common. For now, the voices of Queen Camilla, John, and Amy Hunt serve as a poignant reminder of the human cost of violence—and the collective responsibility to confront it.
