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Queen Consort Camilla made a little new friend at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital this afternoon during her first solo engagement since taking on her new title.
The Queen Consort, 75, assured royal fans that domestic violence was still at the top of her agenda when she visited the hospital’s maternity ward, a major hub for women who have experienced domestic violence.
While visiting the hub, Camilla, who is the patroness of the Safelives charity, met domestic violence frontline workers who specialize in dealing with all forms of abuse within families and relationships.
She also had a cup of tea with a charity pioneer, Shana Begum, and seemed delighted to see Shana’s three-week-old son, Jeremy, on the ward.
Queen Consort Camilla, 75, appeared to smile from under her Covid mask as she visited specialist domestic violence staff at Chelsea maternity center and Westminster Hospital
The Queen Consort met Safelives charity pioneer Shana Begum and her three-week-old son, Jeremy, at the hospital
Pictured meeting with staff at the hospital, the Queen Consort disguised herself in accordance with Covid regulations and shook hands with people standing in the hallways to meet her.
Since stepping into her role as Queen Consort, MPs and other public figures championing helping victims of domestic violence have praised Camilla’s track record.
Labor MP Jess Phillips tweeted: “If I hadn’t had a time limit in the House of Commons today, I was going to say this.
“Queen Consort Camilla is a true champion in the fight against male violence against women.”
The Queen Consort, who is passionate about ending domestic violence and helping victims of abuse within relationships, shook hands with staff at the ward
The Queen Consort (center) spoke to some frontline workers in the maternity ward at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital this afternoon
Queen Consort Camilla (center) has been praised by MPs including Jess Phillips for her past work for the charity Safelives
Former Chief Prosecutor Nazfil Afzal added: ‘We know a lot about King Charles’s interest in green issues, less so about Queen Consort Camilla’s passion for tackling violence against women and girls.
“With little fanfare, she has self-educated and worked with NGOs to ensure awareness and action is taken. A real champion.’
Earlier this year, Camilla spoke about her work on domestic violence alongside Diana Parkes, whose daughter Joanna Simpson was beaten to death by her husband in 2010.
In 2016, Camilla burst into tears after meeting Ms. Parkes and vowing to “do everything I can” to raise the issue of domestic violence. She told Ms. Parkes, then 76, that she was an “incredibly brave lady.”
Camilla recently said: ‘Of course it’s a great honour [to one day become Queen Consort], it couldn’t be otherwise. But… I’ll keep following these cases.
“You know, when I start something like this, I’m not going to give up the middle of the channel, I’ll just keep going to help people like Diana… I hope I should do it for a lifetime.”
She has said of domestic violence, ‘We have to go back to the beginning and… build the idea that you have to respect people.
“It treats women as goods and people who think they can get away with it. I’m sure a lot of people do it and think there’s nothing wrong with it.’
Earlier this year, Camilla was invited as guest editor of Country Life magazine to mark her 75th birthday in July. To follow her time working on the magazine’s release, a film crew followed her for a special programme, Camilla’s Country Life, which was broadcast on ITV.
During the programme, Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall, attended a photography exhibition featuring photographs of domestic violence survivors, and she noted that she wanted to include an article about it in her issue of the magazine.
‘I wanted to point out that things are not rosy in the countryside. Dark things happen, especially in rural areas where they don’t get as much attention as they do in these big cities,” Camilla said.
She added to the exhibition: ‘It is incredibly moving. It’s so brave of these women… to stand up and talk about it when some of them have sat on it for years and years and years.”