When Queen Camilla married Charles, she convened a group of mature, competent professionals to put together an issue profile which would soften her image (particularly with women) and be above reproach. For the better part of twenty years, Camilla has been the royal patron of various women’s shelters, anti-domestic violence charities, and charities and foundations which work with survivors of rape, assault and trafficking. Just before Christmas last year, Camilla did some rather flawless PR around an underground network of women’s shelters, then she topped it by hosting a Christmas party for sick kids, and she brought an actual reindeer to Clarence House. She’s wily and shrewd.
On Tuesday, Camilla was “back to work” after being off for more than two weeks after Easter. She hosted an event at Buckingham Palace for Changemakers, an offshoot of her patronage SafeLives. Changemakers and SafeLives took part in a discussion about domestic violence and how to best promote healthy relationships starting at a young age.
The Queen has suggested young domestic abuse campaigners host pop-up shops in schools nationwide. Camilla, 76, told four young women working with the SafeLives charity, of which she is patron, that she thought it would be brilliant if they could encourage children to speak about their experiences and promote healthy relationships.
The Queen welcomed the Changemakers, aged 15 to 20, to Buckingham Palace to discuss how to help young people experiencing or witnessing domestic abuse in their lives. The group enjoyed a one-hour round table discussion in the Music Room on Tuesday, where Changemaker Maya, 20, described how they had been to Parliament to ask Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, about the possibility of adapting the curriculum.
The Queen said: “You’re virtually the same age as my granddaughters and I was talking to one the other day and I was suggesting taking pop-up shops into these schools. Say two or three Changemakers, it would be such a good idea because then they could all come and ask questions. To get around schools would be a brilliant idea.”
I doubt Camilla was suggesting anything SafeLives hasn’t already considered, but I appreciate the fact that Camilla was at least part of the discussion and trying to problem-solve. Another royal woman probably would have just posed for photos, sat down for five minutes with a blank expression and said “gosh, how interesting” as she left the room.
As for Camilla’s big return to work – in the past three weeks, Charles and Camilla have moved around from Windsor Castle to Sandringham (in Norfolk) to Birkhall (in Scotland). They went to Birkhall for their 19th wedding anniversary. According to Hello, Charles and Camilla “can truly relax together, spending time walking Her Majesty’s rescue dogs Beth and Bluebell, enjoying the garden and catching up on their reading and painting.” Sure. I doubt all of this traveling and moving around is good for Charles though.
I’m completely obsessed with the young queen who wore jeans to Buckingham Palace!!
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.