Queen Camilla.Photo: Kirsty O’Connor - WPA Pool/Getty Images
Even with a new royal role,Queen Camillais continuing to support longstanding causes.
The royal, 75, stepped out at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London Thursday, marking her first solo engagement since becoming Queen Consort following the death ofQueen Elizabethon Sept. 8. Camilla visited to meet independent domestic violence advisors (IDVAs) and other frontline staff who respond to domestic violence cases.
Queen Camilla also privately spent time with people who have used the service at the London hospital.
Kirsty O’Connor/AP/Shutterstock
From there, Queen Camilla connected with Suzanne Jacob, CEO of SafeLives, a U.K. charity that supports victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence. Theorganizationdefines IDVAs as specialists trained to work with domestic abuse victims, responding to their immediate needs and guiding them toward a safer future. IDVAs are versed in coordinating health, housing and legal support for victims and their families, typically working closely with clients for at least two months.
Camilla has long made supporting victims of rape, domestic violence and sexual abuse a key priority of her public work. In May, Queen Camilla visited apowerful and movingexhibition in Manchester that illuminates the issue of domestic abuse.
During the outing, Camilla met with survivors of abuse, including some of those who were featured in the exhibit, and representatives of the localSafeLives, of which she has been patron since 2020. SafeLives is dedicated to ending domestic abuse.
Queen Camilla.Kirsty O’Connor - WPA Pool/Getty Images
“Part of the power of these photographs lies in the fact that the images are not of victims, as we might have supposed: but, in the words of one of them, ‘strong, feisty, brave survivor, changing the journey from victim to victor…making it smoother, shorter and never lonely.’
She concluded, “In the same way, these photographs make us reframe the questions that we ask of those living with domestic abuse: rather than ‘why didn’t they leave,’ we should ask, ‘why didn’t the perpetrator stop?’ As one survivor wrote, ‘He tried to kill me. He nearly killed me. That’s his failure. My survival, my thriving again, is my success.’ "
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.Phil Noble - WPA Pool/Getty Images
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go tothehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
source: people.com
