“You Are Almost The Same Age As My Grandchildren”

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Queen Camilla has been a long-time supporter of charities that support victims of domestic violence, and earlier this month, groundbreaking new documentary, Her Majesty The Queen: Behind Closed Doorsshared some of the stories of these brave women. Now, in previously unseen footage from the programme, the Queen has revealed how she spoke to her own grandchildren about the issue.

During the documentary, Queen Camilla met four women, aged 15 to 20, who work for the charity SafeLives, for which Her Majesty serves as royal patron. The Changemakers group, which aims to work with schools and young people at risk of domestic violence, met with the Queen at Buckingham Palace to discuss how young women are particularly affected by abusive relationships.

In previously unshared clips from the movie MirrorThe Queen said: “I think it’s very interesting because you’re about the same age as my grandchildren and they were suggesting that putting a sort of pop-up shop in schools, so two or three Changemakers, would be a very good idea because young people respond to young people.”

Camilla has two young grandchildren; 17-year-old Lola Parker Bowles, daughter of son Tom Parker Bowles and his ex-wife Sarah, and 16-year-old Elisa Lopes, born to Camilla’s daughter Laura Lopes and her husband Harry Lopes.

Queen She added that the students “will probably say a lot more to all of you than they will to some of us here,” referring to someone older like herself versus the young women who work with the Changemakers group.

Per safe livesYoung women in the group, aged between 13 and 21, are working on projects such as “combatting harmful and toxic behavior in early relationships” and “investigating what causes young people to exhibit abusive behavior”. Changemakers are also working to shape the national curriculum in the UK to include better education on issues related to domestic violence.

Your Majesty He called the school program a “wonderful project.” But when it comes to the issue of domestic violence, Queen Camilla has been candid about what she and other campaigners are facing.

“It’s going to take a very long time because it’s going to take forever,” Queen Camilla said about domestic violence. “But if you look at the steps we’ve made since the bad old days, I think we’ve made a huge amount of progress, and I’ll keep trying until we can’t do any more.”

If you or someone you know is experiencing any form of relationship abuse, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline 24/7/365 for free, confidential support. Text START to 88788, call 1-800-799-SAFE(7233), or chat online at: TheHotline.org.