camilla's fight
Inside Queen Camilla’s reception with Mel B & Zara McDermott to raise awareness of violence against women
QUEEN Consort Camilla has hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace featuring a star-studded guest list including celebrities and other royals.
Among those attending the event in London to raise awareness of violence against women were Spice Girl Mel B, Zara McDermott and Sophie Wessex.
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Royals from overseas included Queen Rania of Jordan and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark.
The reception was held as part of the United Nations’ 16 days of activism against gender-based violence.
Around 300 people attended in total, including survivors and their families as well as Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska.
Also turning up were Boris Johnson’s wife Carrie and Queen Mathilde of Belgium.
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Camilla, 75, also spoke to Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Health Secretary Stephen Barclay in the white drawing room of the palace.
Former Spice Girl Melanie Brown, who was made an MBE for her work with domestic violence charity Women's Aid, was seen chatting with Camilla.
TV personality Zara McDermott, who has spoken previously about her efforts to bring an end to “revenge porn,” was also seen speaking to the royal.
In a powerful speech, Camilla said that “we are uniting today to confront, rightly, what has rightly been called a global pandemic of violence against women.”
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She added: “Over the years, in my previous role, I had the privilege of meeting many survivors of rape and domestic abuse; and of sharing in the sorrow of people who had lost family members to violence.
“And again and again, I heard that two of the most powerful ways in which to help were to remember and to listen.”
Camilla continued: “We remember those women who have lost their lives at the hands of a stranger, or of the person who should have loved them best.
“In so doing, we refuse to be desensitised by cold facts and figures and we resolve to keep the names and the memories of these women alive.
“We remember Brenda Blainey, Mariam Kamara, Lucy Powell, Samantha Drummonds, Yasmin Begum, Sally Turner, Hina Bashir, Jillu Nash and her 12-year-old daughter Louise, to name but a very few of those who have been killed this year alone.
“And we remember - because we cannot forget - all the other women and girls who died in similarly horrific circumstances.
“These women, tragically, can no longer speak for themselves. But we listen to those who can.
“I have learnt from my conversations with these brave survivors that what they want, above all, is to be listened to and believed, to prevent the same thing happening to others.
“They know there is power in their stories and that, in the telling, they move from being the victims of their histories to the authors of their own futures.”
Ms Zelenska, speaking through a translator, said it “means a lot” to have been invited to attend the event.
“It means a lot to be here,” Ms Zelenska said. “We now face a huge amount of rapes of Ukrainian women and children by Russian soldiers. This afternoon I will have the honour to speak in front of the Parliament of the UK. The youngest victim of rape (in Ukraine) is four and eldest is 85.
“When the efforts of the democratic world unite to combat challenges like this, it always gives hope that we will win.”
Speaking to the after the event, Mel B praised Camilla for her work.
Mel B said: “She said to me ‘thank you for all the work you are doing to highlight the issue’ and I said ‘no thank you for all the awareness you've been bringing’. She is brilliant.
“It may be an epidemic but it is such a taboo topic. People don't know how to talk about it. She is helping us to piece together how to share awareness. There's such an amazing buzz here, so many incredible women. The fact that she is willing to take such a big step forward and get everyone here together is amazing.”
One of the first women Camilla approached at the event was women’s safety campaigner Mina Smallman, whose daughters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman were murdered in a London park and pictures of their bodies shared by the officers who were meant to be guarding them.
“What was so lovely is that she immediately knew my story and wanted to talk to me about it. Her response was very genuine. She was so engaged and told me to never stop fighting and never to give up,” she said.
“It meant a lot to me as I know my girls would say the same thing to me too if they could. If I wasn't, they would say ‘mum, this is broken’. The Queen Consort is such a champion for us.”
Camilla also spoke to the sister of primary school teacher Sabina Nassa, who was murdered by a sex attacker, as well as politicians and representatives of the charities SafeLives, Women’s Aid and Refuge.
The Queen Consort has praised the work of campaigner Rachel Williams who was shot and left for dead by her abusive ex-husband and yesterday Ms Williams repaid the compliment.
“I had been worried that when she became Queen that she wouldn't be able to continue with this work. But the fact that she has got us all here today shows us how committed she is,” she said.
“I absolutely love her, she is amazing and what she has done for us as an advocate has already been incredible. I am sure she can achieve even more as Queen Consort.”
For more than ten years Camilla has worked to highlight organisations who support victims of rape, sexual assault and domestic violence.
She has undertaken numerous visits to learn more about the issues, meet survivors and highlight the efforts being made in this area.
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Camilla has also created her Washbags Project, where a washbag of toiletries is given free of charge to those who have undergone a forensic examination at Sexual Assault Referral Centres.
She used her first solo engagement in her new royal title to meet domestic abuse workers at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
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