Prince Ricardo De La Cerda
The Queen has spoken of the often invisible menace of domestic abuse and of how hard it can be for women to escape violent relationships.
In a new programme, to be shown on ITV, Her Majesty talks of how someone can become trapped in a dangerous situation. The Queen said ‘’ You can imagine how terrifying it is for a woman to be stuck with a very violent partner, feeling that fear every single day.’’
Queen Camilla has made raising awareness of the spread of domestic and sexual one of her main priorities. Over the past year, she has been filmed as she continues that work for an ITV documentary, Her Majesty The Queen: Behind Closed Doors.
The programme follows Her Majesty as she meets survivors of domestic abuse as well as campaigners working to help those affected and raise awareness of the issue.
The Queen said ‘’ One of the most difficult things about domestic abuse, to understand, it’s not the bruises and the black eyes, which, unfortunately you see, through violence, this is something that creeps up very slowly and, far too often, it ends up with women being killed.’’
Her Majesty also spoke of how anyone can find themselves in a relationship with a violent partner, adding ‘’ You meet somebody, you think they’re wonderful and attractive and love you…and then bit by bit, they start to undermine you. They take away your friends, they take away your family…and then when you start questioning it…these people become very violent.”
Queen Camilla also meets the mother of a young woman who was killed by an abusive partner. Joanna Simpson’s mother, Diana Parkes, speaks to The Queen in the programme. Her Majesty later said of Mrs Parkes that ‘’ “I think she’s so strong, because not many people would be able to survive the death of their daughter. I admire her more than I can say.”
The programme followed Queen Camilla’s work around domestic abuse for a year, filming her at public engagements. It also sees some of her non publicised work focused on supporting people living in violent relationships.
It also hears from those who have suffered domestic abuse. One survivor tells the programme of how hard it is to escape a dangerous relationship, explaining ”There are invisible chains that are created, especially when you have children. You’re not just thinking about yourself, you’re thinking about people, little human beings, that you’re responsible for.”
Her Majesty The Queen: Behind Closed Doors is a Love Monday production for ITV. It will be shown in the UK on November 11th 2024 at 9pm on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player.