QUEEN CAMILLA GETS BACK TO WORK AFTER EASTER BREAK
- Camilla, 76, has long worked to end domestic violence in the UK
- READ MORE: 'It's incredibly moving': Camilla hails bravery of domestic abuse survivors as she attends photo exhibition
Queen Camilla has returned to work today following the Easter break and began with an issue close to her heart - ending domestic violence.
The Queen, 76, patron of SafeLives, hosted four young pioneers from the charity at Buckingham Palace, in London, to discuss how violence and abuse in the home affects younger people.
Camilla has long been a prominent voice in calling for support for victims of domestic violence, a cause she has continued to champion since she became Queen.
Today, after a break for the Easter holidays and a trip to Scotland to celebrate her 19th wedding anniversary with King Charles who is having cancer treatment, Camilla ensured the issue remained top of her priority list.
The group of Changemakers from the SafeLives charity are aged between 14 and 20, and their role is to help inform and guide the charity's work with young people.
In particular, they help to inform SafeLives's work in promoting healthy relationships among young people.
The Queen hosted the four girls and young women in Buckingham Palace's music room and was told about their meeting with Education Secretary Gillian Keegan to encourage the Government to implement changes to the national curriculum.
'You're virtually the same age as my granddaughters and I was talking to one the other day and I was suggesting to take sort of pop-up shops into these schools,' the Queen told the Changemakers.
'You know, say two or three Changemakers, it would be such a good idea because then they could all come and ask questions. To get around (all these) schools would be a brilliant idea.'
SafeLives campaigns to end domestic abuse and in 2020 Camilla became the patron of the organisation which recognises children and young people as victims in their own right.
One Changemaker, Maya, told Camilla that they had recently taken the campaign to Parliament and met the Education Secretary to lobby for changes to national academic guidance.
The 20-year-old said: 'Children need to feel less alone and feel stronger. Part of our work is about reach and that's why we took our campaign to Parliament.
'We met Gillian Keegan and discussed ways they are trying to change the curriculum, it's absolutely vital we can make changes.'
The young advocates want to see children taught about healthy relationships and the issue of coercive control, and want relationships and sex education taught at a younger age.
Ellen Miller, the SafeLives chief executive who joined the meeting, said: 'Our research shows that children and young people are too often being let down.
'They want more from their relationships and sex education classes, and they are being continually missed by professionals and misunderstood by the adults around them. They rarely see themselves reflected in the domestic abuse services that exist.
'I know after meeting the Changemakers, Her Majesty felt energised and renewed in her commitment to stopping abuse before it starts, before it ruins lives.'
In 2022, Queen Camilla helped to host an art exhibition in collaboration with SafeLives which displayed portraits of people who had been subject to domestic violence.
The exhibition intended to show that people of all genders, ages, and backgrounds could fall victim to domestic abuse.
The exhibition featured heavily in a documentary broadcast on ITV that same year, Camilla's Country Life.
The programme followed the Queen as she guest edited an edition of Country Life magazine - and a report into domestic violence in rural areas took a double-page spread among the pages.
Speaking to the film crew Camilla said she wanted to draw attention to the problem of domestic violence in her issue of the magazine.
She said: 'It's incredibly moving. It's so brave of these women... to get up and talk about it when some of them have sat on it for years and years and years.' The royal added it was 'a very brave thing to do'.
Speaking with a male survivor of domestic violence who appeared in photographer Allie Crewe's exhibition, Camilla said she was 'glad' to meet him.
She told him: 'You were the brave man in the exhibition. I sometimes think men get a bit overlooked. I think people think "it's all women and it doesn't happen to men" but it jolly well does.'
The royal confirmed she wanted to make a mention of domestic violence in her edition of Country Life - particularly in rural areas.
'I wanted to point out that in the countryside, it's not all rosy. There are darker things happening, especially in rural areas where they don't get quite as much attention as they do in these big cities.'
As Camilla got back to work today, King Charles also made a brief appearance as he cheerfully waved to royal fans while leaving Clarence House.
Pulling out of his central London home in his maroon state Bentley limousine the monarch, who was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, appeared in high sprits.
Excited royal watchers took photos of Charles as he passed, with many appearing shocked that they had been so lucky to get a glimpse of the King in real life.
Charles and Queen Camilla had returned from their short stay on the Balmoral Estate in Aberdeenshire last night. It was his first visit to the country since he revealed his diagnosis and sent shockwaves around the world.
Whilst receiving treatment the King largely stepped back from his public facing duties, however, has continued to read his daily red boxes and have his weekly audience with the Prime Minister.
In the coming weeks, however, it is understood Charles plans to 'ramp up his schedule'.
It comes after the King made an appearance alongside other senior royals at the Easter Sunday service at Sandringham, providing a much needed boost to the British public coming to terms with both his and the Princess of Wales' cancer diagnosis.
The King was seen shaking hands and chatting to those royal fans who had lined the nearby road, with many wishing him well with one royal fan telling Charles 'never give in'.
On Thursday night the King and Queen arrived at Aberdeen Airport from RAF Northolt in north-west London on Thursday evening, Charles and Camilla travelled to Birkenhall.
They were seen heading to Sunday service at Crathie Kirk over the weekend, smiling as they drove past.
Birkenhall was the home of the late Queen Mother on the Balmoral Estate and later came into the King's possession.
It is seven miles away from the castle and is where the King and Queen spent their honeymoon after tying the knot on April 11, 2005.
The monarch, as with his daughter-in-law Kate, has not disclosed what type of cancer he is fighting.
Charles was previously advised by doctors to avoid any large-scale public events and visits to protect his health during a crucial stage in his treatment.
Despite this, he has remained within the public eye and it is understood that he will 'ramp up' his schedule in the coming weeks.
One insider previously told the Mail: 'The idea of a monarch cloistered away just wouldn't wash nowadays and will only create damaging speculation about His Majesty's health.'
A source added last month: 'While it is too early to confirm things – and, of course, it is relatively early in His Majesty's treatment cycle – the patient is positive, the doctors are optimistic and the treatments are incredibly sophisticated.'
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