Royals

Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall tears up after meeting with domestic abuse victims

The usually stoic royal was overcome with emotion after listening to devastating stories of domestic abuse.
Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall

The 68-year-old met with survivors through the SaveLives charity in London on Wednesday.

At the event, Diana Parkes recalled how her daughter Joanna was murdered by her husband and the Duchess of Cornwall was moved to tears.

The harrowing tale struck a chord with the Duchess, who has two children Tom, 41, and Laura, 38, from her first marriage to Andrew Parker Bowles.

“All of you going around and talking about it does create awareness,” she explained at the event.

“It’s so important that people like yourselves speak up, otherwise we gloss over it. And this is too important an issue to ignore,” Prince Charles’ other half added.

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Meanwhile Rachel William, 43, spoke candidly about trying to leave her violent husband after years of abuse. She finally managed to break free but he shot her at the hairdressing salon where she worked.

She luckily survived the attack but her 16-year-old son struggled to come to terms with the fact his father had committed such a terrible crime and he later took his own life.

The Duchess was moved to tears after listening to the survivors’ stories.

“He could not cope with what his father had done to me,” Rachel said.

“Stories like this just have to be aired, otherwise domestic abuse becomes a taboo subject,” an emotional Camilla explained.

The event was held by charity group SaveLives.

Last year the Duchess penned a passionate letter for the Daily Mail newspaper, vouching to help victims of domestic and sexual abuse.

“For those who have been the victims of rape and sexual violence, the traumatic effects can be long-lasting, not to say life-long.”

“I’ll continue my work in the hope that it will help to shine a light on the violence hiding in the dark corners of our society. I have said it before and will say it again: We must try to build a future where we will simply not tolerate rape and sexual abuse any longer.”

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