Queen Camilla Tells Abuse Summit Survivors Are ‘The Real Heroes’

Queen Camilla told survivors of domestic abuse that they are “the real heroes” as she attended the Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG) Summit at Marlborough College in Wiltshire on Friday, October 23, PA reported. Hello Magazine also covered the event. In a speech delivered without notes, the Queen said that talking about domestic abuse might “put an end to it forever.”

The day-long conference was organised by Lady Lansdowne, one of the Queen’s Companions, PA reported. Lady Lansdowne chairs Wiltshire’s Ending Violence Against Women and Girls coalition, a multi-agency partnership established in 2024 to tackle domestic abuse, stalking and violence against women and girls in the county.

“Talking is what we have to do,” Camilla told delegates, PA reported. “Domestic abuse was a taboo subject that nobody talked about, it was hush hush, but now everybody is getting up there and talking about it. And hopefully if we keep on talking and having gatherings like this we will, I don’t know how many years, but we might be able to put an end to it forever.” Hello reported that the speech lasted five minutes and was delivered without notes.

Hello reported that Camilla told the audience: “I want to say the real heroes are the survivors. Not the victims. The survivors who come forward and tell us all their stories. It’s terrifying to get up onto a platform and talk about something so horrific, the things that have happened to them, to stand in front of an audience and talk. I just want to applaud them.” PA reported that, on stage, she told invited representatives from police, local authorities and other agencies that “there are so many heroes here,” referencing survivors of domestic violence in the audience.

At the start of her speech, Camilla highlighted a previous address by Hetti Barkworth-Nanton CBE, the chair of the board at Refuge, who had recounted the death of her best friend, Jo Simpson, at the hands of her estranged husband, Hello reported. “It was one of the bravest things I’ve ever seen,” Camilla said. “As her best friend, she got up with such dignity and told this horrific story. She is one of the real heroes of this cause.”

PA reported that Camilla described Diana Parkes as “fantastic.” Parkes’s daughter, Joanna Simpson, was killed by her estranged husband, Robert Brown, in 2010; Brown was convicted of manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility. “She lost her beloved daughter and a lot of people would have hidden away, shut the door just, you know, buried themselves forever,” the Queen said, PA reported. “But she got up, she got out there, and she spoke to people.”

During the visit, Camilla also spoke with Zara McDermott, the former Love Island and Strictly Come Dancing star who campaigns against revenge porn after falling victim to it, Hello reported. Among the guest speakers were Dame Nicole Jacobs, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales, and Jess Phillips, the former minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, PA reported; Hello reported that Camilla listened to their speeches before delivering her own.

Camilla, a long-time campaigner on domestic abuse, said she “realised the depth of the horror” of the issue when talking to survivors from the domestic abuse charity SafeLives, which she now supports as patron, PA reported. Speaking as a Wiltshire resident, she added: “I’m very impressed that, as a resident of Wiltshire, that Wiltshire is leading the way in this quest to end domestic violence.”

After the Queen left, Lady Lansdowne said her organisation was talking to other counties about setting up similar groups, PA reported. “If we can get groups like we’ve got in all the counties, that can just start filtering this message out — that it’s not acceptable,” she said. “I think a groundswell from the bottom up is what we need to change attitudes.”

Sources: PA Media, October 23, 2026; Hello Magazine, October 23, 2026.