Queen Camilla is getting quite comfortable at hostessing events at Buckingham Palace these days. On Tuesday, Camilla visited a cancer treatment center with her husband, in what was their first “public event” of the year and the first public event since King Charles began his treatment for cancer. On Wednesday, Camilla was riding solo at Buckingham Palace, hosting a reception for people who support survivors of sexual abuse. Former prime minister Theresa May, as was Boris Johnson’s wife Carrie Johnson and Tony Blair’s wife Cherie Blair. The reception also served as a relaunch for “The Queen’s Wash Bag Project,” which Camilla started years ago, when she was the Duchess of Cornwall. That’s where survivors of assault are basically given a care package full of toiletries, soaps, shampoo, etc. Camilla also spoke about her husband at the event:
The King was “really thrilled to be out” this week, the Queen revealed, as she told a Buckingham Palace guest: “I’ve been trying to hold him back.” The Queen, 76, made the remarks during a reception for those who support the survivors of sexual abuse. She issued a heartfelt “thank you” to her 300 guests, hailing them for offering hope and kindness to people “who have been dehumanised in the most brutal way”.
Speaking to Teresa Tideman, chairman of In Kind Direct, a charity founded by the then Prince of Wales in 1996, the Queen recalled her husband’s return to public duties following his cancer diagnosis. She said of Tuesday’s visit to University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre: “I think he was really thrilled to be out. I’ve been trying to hold him back.”
The Queen later delivered an impassioned speech to guests in the Picture Gallery, in which she reiterated her desire “to forge a world in which people, whoever and wherever they are, do not live in fear of being abused…As I have often heard victims say: speaking about the experience is one of the key ways to survive it. By sharing with one another, we can strengthen our alliance against sexual abuse in all its forms.”
The event also marked the relaunch of the Queen’s Wash Bag Project, a scheme that she initiated as the Duchess of Cornwall in 2013. The project provides toiletries, donated by Boots, to the victims of rape and sexual abuse after a forensic examination, designed as a small gesture of comfort during a difficult time.
As I’ve said before, I’m well aware that Camilla’s issue portfolio was carefully curated to soften her image, especially after she played a key role in the gaslighting and emotional abuse of Princess Diana. That being said, I’ve always acknowledged that Camilla is actually really good at this work. Like, she could have spent her time on dogs, horses and garden parties. She’s actually spent years doing some difficult advocacy work for survivors. It’s fine to give her credit for it. She’s doing a good job. And I’m sure she is “holding back” her husband.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- Queen Camilla makes a speech as she hosts a reception to mark the relaunch of the Wash Bags project, at Buckingham Palace, central London. The Wash Bags Project was initiated by The Queen as Duchess of Cornwall in 2013 after hearing the stories of rape and sexual abuse survivors during her visits to the Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs). The scheme provides a wash bag of toiletries, donated by Boots, to people who have been affected by rape and sexual abuse Featuring: Queen Camilla Where: London, United Kingdom When: 01 May 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Queen Camilla meets (left to right) Home Secretary James Cleverly, Shadow Minister for Victims and Sentencing Kevin Brennan, Carrie Johnson, Zara McDermott and Karen McDermott as she hosts a reception to mark the relaunch of the Wash Bags project, at Buckingham Palace, central London. The Wash Bags Project was initiated by The Queen as Duchess of Cornwall in 2013 after hearing the stories of rape and sexual abuse survivors during her visits to the Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs). The scheme provides a wash bag of toiletries, donated by Boots, to people who have been affected by rape and sexual abuse Featuring: Queen Camilla, Carrie Johnson, Zara McDermott Where: London, United Kingdom When: 01 May 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Queen Camilla makes a speech as she hosts a reception to mark the relaunch of the Wash Bags project, at Buckingham Palace, central London. The Wash Bags Project was initiated by The Queen as Duchess of Cornwall in 2013 after hearing the stories of rape and sexual abuse survivors during her visits to the Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs). The scheme provides a wash bag of toiletries, donated by Boots, to people who have been affected by rape and sexual abuse Featuring: Queen Camilla Where: London, United Kingdom When: 01 May 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Queen Camilla speaks with former prime minister Theresa May as she hosts a reception to mark the relaunch of the Wash Bags project, at Buckingham Palace, central London. The Wash Bags Project was initiated by The Queen as Duchess of Cornwall in 2013 after hearing the stories of rape and sexual abuse survivors during her visits to the Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs). The scheme provides a wash bag of toiletries, donated by Boots, to people who have been affected by rape and sexual abuse Featuring: Queen Camilla, Theresa May Where: London, United Kingdom When: 01 May 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Queen Camilla speaks with Cherie Blair as she hosts a reception to mark the relaunch of the Wash Bags project, at Buckingham Palace, central London. The Wash Bags Project was initiated by The Queen as Duchess of Cornwall in 2013 after hearing the stories of rape and sexual abuse survivors during her visits to the Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs). The scheme provides a wash bag of toiletries, donated by Boots, to people who have been affected by rape and sexual abuse Featuring: Queen Camilla, Cherie Blair Where: London, United Kingdom When: 01 May 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
I have no criticism on this – good for her.
Same, this is great.
Same here. I can’t stand her and I acknowledge and appreciate her work on important issues like this.
But I do smell an extended vacation coming. Two appearances so close together means lots of time off for her soon.
She’s not exactly a spring chicken.
idk. I think that if I were working with this group or a victim myself, I would feel sick to have her there and speaking. she herself is an abuser in my opinion for her past actions with Diana and current actions with Meghan. and she supports abusers like her buddy who has sick, racist, sexually-perverse fantasies about Meghan. how do you work with these women while gleefully remaining silent when your friend and confidant airs his sick sexual fantasties to the entire country?
Agreed. They’re highlighting the worst women: Camilla, Teresa May, BoJo’s wife.
I am no fan of Camilla but she puts university educated Kate to shame. I remember Camilla saying when she first met Kate that she didn’t think that Kate was very bright. The truth is that Meghan and Camilla are both more of a match, although Camilla would feel threatened whereas she knows dopey Kate is no threat.
Remember that Harry said in Spare that while he was speaking with Camilla he noticed she wasn’t listening to him but had one eye on Meghan who was deep in conversation with an animated Charles.
Camilla is a mean girl while Meghan is warm and kind to everyone. I don’t see them as a match at all.
Camz is totally working to rehab her image as she has been for years. It’s good to support these causes but if she really cared about women she wouldn’t have behaved as she has.
Terrible name, good initiative
Makes me shake my head and wonder why Wiggington was never able to come up with something like the “Wash Bag Project”???
She prefers doing pie charts.
If she wants to “to forge a world in which people, whoever and wherever they are, do not live in fear of being abused” maybe she should start work on herself and her friends like Jeremy Clarkson. I guess, she only counts physical abuse.
I came here to say this. Her abuse of Diana and the family’s abuse of Meghan and Harry is real abuse. She only sees what she wants to see, knowing that the media will never call her on it.
Agree, she’s probably one of those people who think only physical abuse is abuse. But this is a good cause, so good for whoever put this event together.
Every time she opens her mouth on these topics, the moths of hypocrisy fly out.
Her work has no value unless she walks her talk. We’ve all seen what she’s done to Diana, C&D’s boys, Meghan, and H&M’s kids. She’s participated in decades of abuse in a bid to get where she is now.
Even emotional abuse leaves physical damage. Higher cortisol levels, hypertension, chemical changes in the brain from anxiety and depression.
🎯
I hope there’s a voucher for therapy in the bag. As it stands the name is a bit off-putting. Like “wash up ladies, you’ve been sullied”. But it is a good initiative. I would call it The Queen’s Care Bag.
Much better!
That really is so much better.
How are we all better at PR than royal PR people? I admit I’m not British, so perhaps Brits have a different first association, but mine was “dirty laundry”, and I honestly had to read the story to understand why the Queen’s dirty laundry is a project. It makes more sense now, but it’s a poor choice of name if people have to read an article to understand the purpose of the project, I think? Care Bag would have sent me on the right path much sooner.
I hope “wash bag” in British English just means what we would call a “toiletry bag”? I read it as dirty laundry too, but the audience for this is not North Americans, so maybe it’s perfectly clear to abuse survivors in the UK?
It probably sounds less off-putting to people accustomed to UK-English.
Good that she supports speaking out about abuse to survive it. Spare, the Oprah interview, and Diana’s book with Andrew Morton are all very-close-to-home examples of doing this.
It’s a very good cause.
I find her advocacy work hard to swallow, particularly in light of the horrid, disgusting things her good buddy Jeremy Clarkson said about Meghan. I won’t repeat it, but it was a vicious Game of Thrones reference and showcased his heinous lust and vitriol at a person who never did anything to him.
Queen JumpOff never denounced her lunch buddy for making that violent suggestion. She – the royal champion of abused women everywhere – remained smugly silent.
So she can miss me with her domestic violence stagecraft.
Yeah, I’m not giving this hypocritical piece of trash one smidgen of credit. Her words are hollow until she gets her tabloid friends to 1. stop abusing Meghan and 2. apologize to Meghan.
Otherwise, Camilla is just another white woman who talks a big game but doesn’t actually care about the issue.
Good for Camilla for advocating for victims of domestic abuse. Someone should tell Camilla that physical abuse is not the only abuse. She is good at overseeing all sorts of abuse close to home, so to speak.
I wouldn’t be surprised if someone else came up with thus and gave it to her. Chuck may have thought of it when rehabilitating her image. She is just such a spoiled woman I can’t imagine this was her idea. It is a good cause.
Let’s not give a husband credit for what a wife does. Chaz isn’t exactly Mr. Sensitivity.
I’m glad Camilla actually brings something to the table, like the wash bag. The other royals just show up empty-handed.
The bags are given out at sexual abuse referral centres and are donated by Boots UK and assembled by In Kind Direct. I wonder if this was something already ongoing or someone else’s idea that Cam attached her name to. All she has to do is show up a few times a year.
This is nice but also a bit superficial. These women are going to need counseling, legal help, sometimes temp housing, these are things that are much harder to access for a lot than a wash kit.
The wash bag is meant to be a small gesture of kindness not the answer to all the trauma that victims of sexual assault have to face.
@Cerys
which is why small gestures of kindness are best left to regular citizens, because most people can (and do, I see it all the time in local groups) put together a bag like that even on a modest budget. Me thinks THE FREAKING QUEEN would do better to tackle housing and counseling because that requires influence and resources that 99,9% of people do not have.
meaning ful if she had spoken out against clarksons hideous article about meghan
Sophie should have been chosen or Anne. Camilla did not advocate for women regarding some of those she has encountered In her life. Like mocking Meghan holding her stomach when she was pregnant . Kate also would not be a role model as advocating for women
I think this is ALL A PERVERSE FARCE based on “The Queen’s” CURRENT close relationships with MEN & WOMEN who PUBLICLY attack & violate her DAUGHTER-IN-LAW 😡 These people are just….morally bankrupt
Good cause, and I applaud her advocacy work. However, she and her husband fell short of being responsible advocates/leaders when they did not condemn Jeremy Clarkson’s vile statements about Meghan, thus implying to an entire country that it’s okay for men to harshly and physically mete out justice on women on any pretext.
I agree with the article. I know Camilla is not everyone’s favourite royal but she does take on some challenging causes and attends events for them regularly unlike the royal CEO.
Cerys, I think her credibility would be greater if she had denounced her friend Jeremy Clarkston’s disgusting article. Unfortunately, I have a hard time separating that and then giving her credit for this because it shows how shallow her sentiments are.
This just further proves the narrative that Camilla wasn’t interested in being Queen was a lie. This is an excellent project but there’s no need to rename (it’s not a relaunch) the project as the Queen’s Washbag Project.
Sorry, I just got something something something, “The Queen’s Feed Bag Project”
What did I miss?
There’s an old photo of Camilla, which would have been perfect for this article… She’s holding a canvas bag that has emblazoned on it “I’m an old bag from Deptford”.