Queen Camilla sent a personal letter of support to French rape survivor Gisèle Pelicot, multiple sources have revealed.
A lawyer for Gisèle Pelicot confirmed to news agency AFP she had received a letter from Buckingham Palace, but the private contents were not revealed. Multiple other news organisations, including the BBC have cited palace sources when reporting Camilla wrote the letter.
A long-standing campaigner on domestic and sexual violence, the Queen, 77, wrote the letter at her own “instigation”, according to a palace source cited in Newsweek magazine.
“It was very much [the Queen’s] instigation and determination to write to express support from the highest level,” the palace source said.
“She was tremendously affected by the Madame Pelicot case in France and that lady’s extraordinary dignity and courage.”
“Because as she rightly put it, why should she be made to feel like a victim or hide away in shame?”
For around a decade Gisèle was drugged and raped by her ex-husband Dominique, who also recruited dozens of men to abuse her. Last year, Dominique, 72, was tried in France, alongside 50 other men and sentenced to 20 years for aggravated rape.
The trial was France’s largest rape trial, and brought global attention when Gisèle waived her right to anonymity in order to make the “shame swap sides” from the victim to the rapist.
Following the Queen’s letter of support, Gisèle’s lawyer told Le Monde daily that she was “flabbergasted, touched and very proud to see that she succeeded in bringing her fight to the attention of the royal family in England”.
Over the years, the Queen has worked with a number of charities and campaigns supporting survivors of sexual abuse and violence. In 2013, she launched the Wash Bag Project, providing essential toiletries to sexual assault survivors following forensic examinations.
In 2022, the Queen marked the annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence by delivering a speech where she condemned “a global pandemic of violence against women.”
Earlier this year, a petition was started, calling for Gisèle to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her strength and courage in the face of horrific sexual violence. More than 174,000 people have already signed the petition.