Queen Camilla's Chilling Assault Confession: Royal Recalls 'Fighting Off' Attacker on Train and Feeling 'Furious' After Harrowing Ordeal
Queen Camilla reveled she was attacked by a stranger on a train as a teen.
Dec. 31 2025, Published 2:00 p.m. ET
Queen Camilla proved how strong and scrappy she has always been when recalling a harrowing story about being assaulted as a teen, which left her "angry" and fighting off her attacker, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Camilla, 78, opened up about the bone-chilling encounter from her youth on BBC Radio 4's Today, where a stranger ambushed her on a train while she was minding her own business and reading a book.
'I Did Fight Back'
Queen Camilla revealed she fought off a stranger who attacked her as a teen.
"Somebody I didn't know … I was reading my book, and you know, this boy, man, attacked me, and I did fight back," her majesty confessed.
"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?' But I remember anger, and I was so furious about it, and it’s sort of lurked for many years."
Coming Together for a Cause
The queen took part in a candid discussion about domestic violence.
Camilla said the attack is one of the reasons she has turned so much of her attention to tackling domestic violence awareness as a royal.
She also praised BBC racing commentator John Hunt and his daughter, Amy, after an unspeakable tragedy hit their family, as they joined the queen for the discussion.
After John and his wife Carol's daughter Louise broke up with her boyfriend in June 2024, he subsequently committed a blood-curdling triple murder against the family. Kyle Clifford killed Carol, Louise, and her sister, Hannah, in revenge.
Queen Camila spoke at a 2022 event for the domestic abuse charity Safe Lives, of which she is a royal patron.
"And I think, you know, when all the subject about domestic abuse came up, and suddenly you hear a story like John and Amy’s, it’s something that I feel very strongly about," Camilla shared.
"I'd just like to say, wherever your family is now, they'd be so proud of you both. And they must be from above, smiling down on you and thinking, my goodness me, what a wonderful, wonderful father, husband, sister," she told John and Amy.
The Queen said she was compelled to tackle the "taboo subject" of domestic violence because the public vastly underestimates just how dire things have become.
"I thought, well, if I’ve got a tiny soapbox to stand on, I’d like to stand on it," Camilla said of her commitment to bringing light to domestic violence awareness. "And there’s not a lot I can do except talk to people and get people together."
Queen Camilla Fought Off Her Attacker With a Shoe
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Queen Camilla shared the details of her attack with then-London Mayor Boris Johnson in 2008.
While Camilla had been reticent to speak publicly about her attack, it was detailed in author and royal expert Valentine Low's book Power and the Palace, which explored the relationship between the monarchy and 10 Downing Street over the years.
Low wrote how the former Duchess of Cornwall confided to then-London Mayor Boris Johnson in 2008 about precisely what happened during the attack.
She was around 16 years old at the time, while on a train to London's Paddington Station. The creep allegedly touched Camilla, who took off her shoe and started hitting him with it in his nether regions. She reportedly told Johnson that her mother instructed her to fight off attackers in that way if she ever found herself a potential victim.
Low wrote that Camilla reported the touching incident to staff upon arrival at the station, which resulted in the man's arrest.
