Queen joins survivors at domestic violence summit

Queen Camilla has attended a summit working to end violence against women and girls.

The summit was arranged by Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG) Wiltshire and also included judges, MPs, police officers and survivors at a day of talks at Marlborough College.

Speakers spoke of the need for a joined-up approach between agencies involved in tackling the issue and the important role that education can play.

"Teenagers are now the biggest age group where domestic abuse is happening, so education has to be part of that, not just health and policing," Julie Devey, who has campaigned for law changes and awareness after her daughter, Poppy, was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, said.

"They [education professionals] have to be the third leg in the stool that is propping up the policy and anything moving forward in domestic abuse."

"It's incredibly important for frontline services to come together and communicate," said Carole Gould, who also lost her daughter, Ellie, to domestic abuse.

"We don't want anybody to go through the tragedies that we've both gone through, and prevention is what will stop that."

The pair are currently campaigning for relationship and sex education to be introduced in schools and colleges up to the age of 18 to teach young people to spot coercive, controlling or unhealthy relationships and how to exit them safely.

"It has been easy in the past to think of domestic abuse as somebody else's problem, 'that won't happen to me, my daughter or my friend' and it's very clear that that isn't the case," Devey said.

Queen Camilla is a long-term campaigner on domestic abuse, and the event was organised by her Queen's Companion, Fiona, the Marchioness of Lansdowne.

She took part in a panel discussion alongside the MP Jess Phillips and the Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales, Dame Nicole Jacobs.

Last year, a book revealed that The Queen fought off an attempted indecent assault when she was a teenager.

The Queen told the audience that when she was younger, the issue was "a taboo subject that nobody talked about; it was hush-hush".

"Hopefully if we keep on talking and having gatherings like this we will, I don't know in how many years, but we might be able to put an end to it forever," she added

She went on to describe the survivors, police officers and other invited guests as "heroes", and said that she was "very impressed, as a resident of Wiltshire, that Wiltshire is leading the way in this quest".

"To make societal change, we need to start small; we need to start locally," Lady Lansdowne said.

"By creating a group that is beginning to have conversations that were not happening before, I think we can make change"

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