Queen Camilla fights back: How (and where) she hit a would-be attacker with her shoe and got him arrested

Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom staved off the unwanted advances of an attacker by removing her shoe and striking him in the groin, a new book on the British royal family has revealed.

The incident took place in the mid-1960s when Camilla, born in July 1947, was still a teenager. The wife of King Charles III was traveling on a train to Paddington Station in London when a man sitting next to her moved his hand toward her in an attempt to fondle her.

Attack details emerge in new royal book

The story is presented in an excerpt from “Power and the Palace," written by Valentine Low, the Times of London’s former royal correspondent. The book, which will be published later this month, explores the relationship between the British monarchy and political leaders in the United Kingdom.

Low explained that the details of the incident were relayed to her by an aide of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, to whom Camilla had recounted the encounter.

“Camilla said, ‘I did what my mother told me, I took my shoe off and whacked him in the nuts with the heel,’” Low told the BBC. “When she got to Paddington, this in a way is the crucial bit of the story, she found a man in uniform and told him what had happened and the man was arrested. … She did the responsible thing.”

Camilla’s advocacy work

Buckingham Palace has not commented on the report.

Camilla, the president of the Women of the World Festival, has become known as a fervent supporter of charities that work with victims of domestic violence, which Low believes may stem from the incident 60 years ago. The former royal correspondent also noted that the Queen has refrained from speaking publicly about her experience, aware that it was less serious than what other women have suffered.

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