Queen Camilla makes emotional vow to fight domestic violence – ‘I will keep trying’

An up close and personal new documentary follows Queen Camilla and her efforts to end the scourge of domestic violence in the UK which still effects a quarter of all women

The Queen has vowed she will “keep trying” to end domestic violence, until she is “able to no more”, in a new landmark documentary.

Camilla labels domestic abuse as a “heinous crime” and tells how she is determined to continue raising awareness of the issue. The Queen was followed over the course of a year for the ITV1 and ITVX documentary looking at her work in the field, including private meetings with survivors, some of who feature in the film and a secret visit to a refuge centre.

More than one in four women will experience domestic abuse at some form in their life with around 3 women in Britain a week taking their life because of domestic violence. Shocking statistics reveal a devastating picture, with every 30 seconds in the UK, someone calls 999 about domestic abuse – although desperately authorities suggest less than 24% of the crime is reported to police. On top of that, more than 105,000 children live in homes where there is high-risk domestic abuse.

On her crusade to end domestic violence, Camilla told the documentary, Her Majesty The Queen: Behind Closed Doors: “It is going to take a long, long time because it has been going on forever. It’s been going since time began. But I think if you look at the steps that we’ve taken since the bad old days, we have made a huge amount of progress, and I shall keep on trying until I am able to no more.”

The 90-minute programme which airs on ITV1 on Monday, November 11 at 9pm, also includes interviews with brave survivors, relatives who have lost loved ones and those working to end domestic violence, including former prime minister Theresa May, safeguarding minister Jess Phillips and Cherie Blair.

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Heartfelt moment Queen Camilla meets survivor at women’s refuge

In highly emotional scenes, Camilla talks of the moment she committed to using her profile to tackle the issue when she first met Diana Parkes, whose daughter Joanna Simpson was bludgeoned to death by her estranged husband in 2010. Camilla, 76, credited hearing Ms Parkes’ story as the turning point which inspired her work with domestic abuse survivors and told the documentary filmed by Love Monday productions how she admires her “more than I can say”.

Of their first meeting in 2016, the Queen said it was something she would “never ever forget” and that their encounter was “engraved on my heart”. Ms Parkes co-founded the Joanna Simpson Foundation in her memory, with her daughter’s closest friend Hetti Barkworth-Nanton. Both women were handed a CBE for services to vulnerable children suffering from domestic abuse and domestic homicide, as well as last month being surprised with a Pride of Britain Award personally by the Queen.

The latest shocking statistics show 2.1 million people aged 16 and over in England and Wales experienced some form of domestic abuse between March 2022 and March 2023. There were 1.4 million female victims and 751,000 male victims. Around one in six men will also become victims to abuse, whether it is violence or coercive control.

“It ends up with women being killed,” says Camilla ( 
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Getty Images)
Independent MP Rosie Duffield, who in 2019 stood up in parliament to reveal a harrowing account of her own personal experience of domestic abuse which left colleagues in tears, also features in the film. Another survivor Emma Armstrong details how at seven months pregnant her ex-partner throttled her while threatening to douse her in petrol and set her alight.

Emma, who now runs Choose Freedom, a domestic abuse charity that provides refuge for survivors, said: “The threat to women up and down the country is happening right now and is a matter of life and death for many. If we, along with the help of the Queen as a powerful advocate, can spread the message that there is help out there, then we can save lives.”

As she meets survivors of domestic abuse and campaigners working to help victims and raise understanding of the issue, The Queen speaks candidly about what drove her to spend the last decade working in the field.

Queen Camilla (C) with (L-R) Hetti Barkworth Nanton, Diana Parkes, Emma Armstrong, Alice Liveing, Sharon Baker and Rehema Muthamia ( 
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Getty Images)
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. 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.”

Hetti, who is also chairwoman of the refuge charity, praised the Queen for her “tireless” work on this issue. She said: “Domestic abuse is something that, even now, is steeped in shame that is felt overwhelmingly very sadly by victims or survivors. Her Majesty vowed in 2016, when I and a number of others had the privilege of meeting her, that she wanted to do something to remove that shroud of shame and be a catalyst for change.”

The film also features the story of Chief Inspector Sharon Baker of Avon and Somerset Police, a domestic violence survivor who has set up a network to support colleagues also experiencing abuse. After sharing a video about her experiences, the police officer was shocked to receive responses from more than 130 colleagues who said they had also survived domestic abuse.

Ms Baker said: “I had kept quiet for so long, for several reasons – one of them was that when I looked around, nobody was talking about being a victim in policing. I didn’t, so no-one looked like me. No-one sounded like me. And that made the isolation worse.”

Speaking to The Mirror, she added: “The Queen’s involvement in this film will undoubtedly help raise awareness. When I was going through my experience, I thought I was the one to blame, I was at fault. This film and the conversations around it will ensure there is greater understanding and awareness of the actual issue, which I am confident will save lives.”

Since Ms Baker set up the support network at Avon and Somerset Police, she said more colleagues come forward every week to say they are survivors.