‘I spent a day with Queen Camilla and she left a deep impression on me’

A journalist who spent some quality time with Queen Camilla in 2021 has admitted she ‘didn’t know what to expect’ before meeting the Royal initially

A journalist who spent the day with Queen Camilla has spoken about how the senior royal left a deep and lasting impression on her.

In May 2021, as the UK was coming out of the last of the Covid lockdowns, members of the Royal Family were carrying out more and more duties.

This included the now-King Charles and wife Queen Camilla, who made a flurry of visits around the UK in the spring of 2021. At the time, the then-Duchess of Cornwall made an appearance at a women’s refuge in the city of Reading.

It was here that she left an indelible impression on journalist Claire Cohen, who has now spoken about what it was like to be the sole journalist accompanying her.

Writing in The Times over four years after the event, Claire has spoken about her interaction with Camilla and what she learnt from it.

She said: “As she told me on a wet Wednesday in May 2021, as we sat in the communal living room of a women’s refuge in Reading, ‘Once you’ve seen what can happen, you just want to go out and say, look, hang on a minute, everybody, do you realise what’s going on all around us? So close to us? And we’ve all just buried our heads in the sand.’

“I hadn’t known what to expect from the Duchess of Cornwall (as she was at the time), as the sole journalist invited to accompany her visit (sorry, humblebrag). Afterwards I was left with the impression of someone who felt deeply the stories of the women she met.”

This isn’t the first time Camilla has stood up for and spoken about the plight of survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault. It has long been a cause that the Queen has championed. Last year, Camilla spoke to survivors as part of an ITV programme titled ‘Her Majesty The Queen: Behind Closed Doors’.

In the film, she is seen visiting another women’s refuge before speaking to a survivor. It is interactions like this which have helped victims to feel like they are being heard.

Speaking about Camilla’s impact Emma Armstrong, an abuse survivor who runs the charity I Choose Freedom, told ITV just how substantial the Royal’s involvement was.

Emma told the broadcaster: “She really feels it. She is saying, ‘We can’t silence it anymore, we won’t live in a world where domestic abuse is not spoken about.’

“When you’ve got someone as high profile as the Queen saying ‘this is not ok, we need to do something to tackle this’, the message is so powerful.”

Ms Armstrong added that the Queen had “given a voice to survivors like me”.

If you have been affected by issues of domestic violence or coercive control you can call Refuge’s 24-Hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline for free. The number is 0808 2000 247