Queen Camilla recalls fighting back against train attacker

Britain's Queen Camilla speaks with guests at a reception for The Diplomatic Corps at Windsor Castle, west of London on November 18, 2025. [AFP]

Queen Camilla has spoken for the first time publicly about fighting off an attacker on a train when she was a teenager, in an interview broadcast Wednesday.

Recalling the assault in the 1960s, the 78-year-old British royal said it had left her "furious" and been "lurking in the back of my brain for a very long time".

"When I was a teenager, I was attacked on a train, and I'd sort of forgotten about it, but I remember at the time being so angry," she told BBC radio.

"Somebody I didn’t know. I was reading my book, and you know, this boy, man, attacked me, and I did fight back.

"And I remember getting off the train and my mother looking at me and saying, 'why is your hair standing on end?', and 'why is the button missing from your coat?'," she added.

Details of the assault emerged this year in the book "Power and the Palace" by former Times newspaper royal editor Valentine Low.

According to Low, Camilla told former prime minister Boris Johnson about the incident in 2008 when he was mayor of London.

She recalled that she took off her shoe and used it to hit her assailant, something her mother had advised her to do when under attack.

The queen, who is patron of the domestic abuse charity SafeLives, spoke as part of a pre-recorded discussion about violence against women and girls with BBC sports commentator John Hunt, his daughter Amy, and former Conservative prime minister Theresa May.

Hunt's wife Carol and his two younger daughters, Hannah, 28, and Louise, 25, were murdered in a stabbing and crossbow attack at their home in 2024 by Louise's ex-boyfriend who was later jailed for life.

The Hunts have set up a fund in memory of Carol, Louise and Hannah to raise money for charities and causes that help and inspire young women.

Praising John and Amy, Camilla said hearing stories like theirs was "something that I feel very strongly about".

"Wherever your family is now, they’d be so proud of you both," she told them.

"They must be from above smiling down on you and thinking, my goodness me, what a wonderful, wonderful father, husband, sister," she added.