LEAD CALL TO CONDEMN SEX-BASED VIOLENCE
REPORT: TRACY SCHAVERIEN
JOINED BY CAMPAIGNING STARS
T he Queen Consort welcomed overseas royals, celebrities and politicians to Buckingham Palace in London last week in a powerful show of strength condemning violence against women.
Her Majesty was joined by Queen Rania of Jordan, Belgium’s Queen Mathilde, Denmark’s Crown Princess Mary, the Countess of Wessex and Sierra Leone’s First Lady Fatima Maada Bio for a drinks reception in the Picture Gallery, where Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska was guest of honour.
STANDING TOGETHER
Also among the 300 guests at the event – part of the UN’s “16 days of activism against gender-based violence” – were celebrity campaigners including Lorraine Kelly, Melanie Brown, Fiona Bruce, Emma Barnett, Love Island’s Zara McDermott and actress Hayley Atwell, as well as Home Secretary Suella Braverman, her Labour shadow Yvette Cooper, and ex-Prime Ministers’ wives Carrie Johnson, Cherie Blair and Sarah Brown, as well as author Lady Glenconner, who has spoken frankly about being abused by her husband.
In her first major speech in her new role, Her Majesty, a long-time supporter of victims of domestic violence and rape, spoke of “a global pandemic of violence against women” and called for an end to “these heinous crimes”.
“Over the years… I had the privilege of meeting many survivors of rape and domestic abuse; and of sharing in the sorrow of people who had lost family members to violence,” said the Queen Consort.
“I have learnt from my conversations with these brave survivors that what they want, above all, is to be listened to and believed, to prevent the same thing happening to others. They know there is power in their stories and that, in the telling, they move from being the victims of their histories to the authors of their own futures.
“I have heard countless examples of the ways in which victims have become victors, using their experiences to hold out a hand to help others escape abuse.”
In front of guests who also included the families of Sabina Nessa and sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman, who were murdered by strangers, Camilla added: “We refuse
