Queen Camilla to star in television documentary highlighting decade-long crusade

Queen Camilla will be the subject of a major documentary to air later this year in what will be the first television project to offer exclusive royal access since the coronation.

A camera crew had been following the queen for a year, covering Her Majesty's engagements and meetings, after being given the all-clear by Buckingham Palace.

The film will focus on Queen Camilla's long-running campaign to end domestic abuse.

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Her Majesty The Queen: Behind Closed Doors will feature conversations between the Queen, 76, and the victims of domestic abuse.

It will also include relatives of those who have lost loved ones and others working to end violence against women.

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The issue has been Camilla's major focus for close to a decade since joining the royal family.

She has previously described domestic violence as "heinous crimes".

Film crews were given exclusive access to Queen Camilla and the documentary will show Her Majesty hosting round tables with teenagers, celebrating International Women's Day at Buckingham Palace and meeting survivors.

Over the years the queen has made countless, private and public, visits to women's refuges and is the patron of the charity SafeLives.

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Recently, she backed calls for a domestic abuse campaign to be introduced in schools nationwide, and has said that young people should be taught "respect" as part of the drive to "obliterate" such violence.

In 2023, just before the coronation, Camilla's biographer Angela Levin told 9honey Camilla, when she was Duchess of Cornwall, used to go to great lengths to keep her visits to women's refuges secret.

If Camilla's presence resulted in their location being leaked, the women could have been in danger.

"She climbed up a metal ladder at the back and came in through the window," Angela Levin told 9honey.

"I thought it was the most astonishing thing."

Levin shadowed Camilla for several months to write her biography, Camilla: From Outcast to Queen Consort.

Camilla's time with the women had a major impact on their lives, Levin said.

Levin added: "[Afterwards] two or three said to me 'She's helped me more in two minutes than I've had in six months therapy' so I thought to myself, well this is an extraordinary woman."

Sue Murphy, ITV's director of factual entertainment, said of the 90-minute documentary which will air later this year: "ITV is proud to be making this documentary with Her Majesty the Queen about this hugely important subject.

"We hope the film will raise awareness and inspire change in our society."

Kerene Barefield, of the production company Love Monday, said: "The Queen is not alone in trying to 'obliterate' this curse, and we have been honoured to work with charities and services who work on the front line to support survivors, rehabilitate victims and campaign for change".

One of those taking part in the documentary is Diana Parkes, the mother of Joanna Brown, who was killed by her estranged husband in 2010.

She has worked with the queen on the issue of domestic violence since first meeting in 2016.

Queen Camilla previously said Parkes' story had "always resonated very deeply with me, partly, I think, because she and I are the same generation and are both grandmothers".

In November 2022, the Queen called for an end to what she said had "rightly been called a global pandemic of violence against women".

"Let us not lose this precious opportunity to speak up and to galvanise action that will see the end of these heinous crimes forever," she said.

"With determination and courage, we will succeed."

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

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