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Queen Camilla visits Storm Family Centre© Getty

Queen Camilla to star in powerful first documentary since coronation

Her Majesty has worked to raise awareness

Danielle Stacey
Online Royal CorrespondentLondon
August 21, 2024
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The Queen will appear in her first documentary since the coronation, speaking about an issue she is aiming to break the taboo around.

Camilla, 76, was followed over the course of a year for the programme, looking at her work raising awareness of domestic violence.

And now ITV has announced it has commissioned Her Majesty The Queen: Behind Closed Doors, which will air later in 2024.

Film crews were given exclusive access to Camilla, who has worked for many years to highlight the problem of domestic abuse, and she will be shown in never-before-seen private meetings with survivors.

Sue Murphy, ITV's director of factual entertainment, said: "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."

Queen Mathilde, Queen Camilla and Duchess of Gloucester walk through Buckingham Palace© Getty
Queen Camilla was accompanied by Queen Mathilde (L) and the Duchess of Gloucester on International Women's Day in March

The 90-minute programme will feature interviews with survivors, relatives who have lost loved ones and those working to end the violence. The Queen will also be shown hosting round-tables with teenagers, celebrating International Women's Day at Buckingham Palace, and meeting survivors who, if they had not made it to a refuge, could have lost their lives.

Among those who will appear in the documentary is Diana Parkes, whose daughter Joanna Simpson was brutally killed by her estranged husband in 2010.

Queen Camilla meeting Diana Parkes© Getty
The Queen with Diana Parkes in Northern Ireland in March

Camilla has previously cited Ms Parkes as the inspiration behind her work with domestic abuse victims and in February 2022, just months before she became Queen Consort, she said of her future role: "I'm going to keep up with these causes. You know if I start something like this, I'm not going to give up mid-channel, I'm just going to keep going to try and help the likes of people like Diana [Parkes]… I hope I should be doing it for a lifetime."

Ms Parkes co-founded the Joanna Simpson Foundation in memory of her daughter and was made a CBE for services to vulnerable children suffering from domestic abuse and domestic homicide.

The Queen first met Ms Parkes in 2016 during an engagement with the charity, SafeLives, and she was visibly moved by her story. She became patron of the organisation in 2020.

Queen Camilla at SafeLives© Getty
The then Duchess of Cornwall was moved by her visit to SafeLives in 2016

In 2021, the then Duchess praised the "brilliance" of the charity's Ask for Ani (Action Needed Immediately) – a codeword scheme that enables victims of domestic abuse to discreetly ask for immediate help in participating pharmacies and Jobcentres.

And in 2022, she viewed the moving I AM project in Manchester, which featured a series of portraits of domestic abuse survivors.

Queen Camilla sitting at the table with SafeLives changemakers© Getty
Camilla hosted young SafeLives changemakers at the palace in April

The film will also explore why perpetrators abuse, and how to stop the cycle of abuse.

One in five adults experiences domestic abuse in their lifetime, and it is estimated that around three women die by suicide as a result of domestic abuse every week.

News of the documentary, made by production company Love Monday, first emerged in January.

Her Majesty The Queen: Behind Closed Doors will be shown on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player later this year.

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