Queen Camilla today hosted an afternoon tea reception for an economic abuse charity and survivors at Clarence House.
The royal, 78, met officials from the Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA) charity and heard women tell their stories in a room, before a wider reception which also involved banking industry representatives at the London residence.
King Charles’s wife has campaigned about violence against women and girls for many years, for example, in her role as patron of the charity SafeLives and by visiting Refuge and Women’s Aid.
Today, she joined a discussion of three survivors, who shared their lived experience of economic abuse and the importance of speaking about what they have gone through, to draw attention and help shape action in addressing it.
The Queen was wearing a teal dress alongside an enamel and diamond set brooch by Wartski, thought to be worth £8,000, and which was once a gift from King Charles.
Thanking the charity at the reception afterwards, Camilla said: ‘I thought I knew most things about domestic abuse but I’ve learned a lot today that I didn’t know about.
‘And talking to all these very brave women and getting them to tell their stories and talk to each other and put to all the banks and the financial institutions under one umbrella, swapping ideas and stories I think is the way forward.
‘So, I just hope that today has been a step in that direction.’
Queen Camilla today hosted an afternoon tea reception for an economic abuse charity and survivors at Clarence House
The Queen joined a reception with the CEO of Surviving Economic Abuse Sam Smethers, staff, trustees, survivors and members of the banking sector who are working within their companies to develop measures for tackling economic abuse.
Camilla also met with SEA ambassadors Dr Bijna Kotak Dasani and Rebecca Beattie, trustee Janqui Mehta and MP Matthew Patrick.
The charity highlights that one in six women in the UK has experienced economic abuse by a current or former partner in the past 12 months.
Economic abuse involves a current or ex-partner controlling someone else’s money and what that money can buy, such as housing, food, transport, employment, child maintenance, clothing and phones.
It is often perpetrated alongside other abusive behaviours, such as physical, sexual and psychological abuse, to build fear and isolation.
95 per cent of domestic abuse cases also involve economic abuse.
Even when people leave their abuser, they can continue to exert control through financial ties, such as stopping paying their share of a joint mortgage or running up debts on a joint account.
SEA is working to change behaviours that drive economic abuse and develop a support model that can help build stronger responses in each community.
Queen Camilla with CEO of Surviving Economic Abuse Sam Smethers during a reception at Clarence House, London
Britain’s Queen Camilla attends a private discussion with Bijna Kotak Dasani, Rebecca Beattie and CEO of Surviving Economic Abuse Sam Smethers
Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA) is the only charity in the UK dedicated to raising awareness of economic abuse and transforming responses to it
The charity works with the financial services sector to help ensure consistent good practice when supporting victim-survivors.
It aims to encourage legal, regulatory and policy reforms to drive systemic change to support survivors and children, disrupt abusers and prevent economic abuse.
Natalie Curtis, an SEA ambassador, said: ‘Domestic abuse is such a complex subject, when we talk about economic abuse, that’s another barrier for many women leaving.
‘And for her (the Queen) to be so empathetic, caring and show her support for victims and survivors means the world to the likes of myself and others.
‘I think it’s such a privilege to be able to come to Clarence House and for her to hear first-hand what incredible work SEA do. It’s life-changing and life-saving.’
SEA chief executive officer Sam Smethers said financial abuse has ‘a really devastating impact on women’s lives, it can prevent them from leaving an abuser in a dangerous situation but it also often continues post-separation, it can go on for many, many years’.
She said it had been ‘really powerful’ hearing the women’s stories ‘and quite an emotional day, they’ve all been talking about their own personal experiences of economic abuse, which is a dangerous form of coercive control and really how connected it is with their own safety and their own experiences of other forms of abuse as well.
‘What really hit home today is how it carries on for many, many years, post-separation.’
Queen Camilla talks with Jane Rodrick during a reception at Clarence House, London
The Queen was wearing a teal dress alongside an enamel and diamond set brooch by Wartski
King Charles’s wife has campaigned about violence against women and girls for many years
Asked how important it is that the Queen shines a spotlight on the issue, she said: ‘It’s so important, because it’s raising awareness, we know that raising awareness on its own will save lives because victim-survivors are more likely to seek help if they know they have been experiencing economic abuse and they can recognise the signs of that.
‘But also because she’s such a powerful advocate herself. We know just how committed she is on the issues of violence against women and girls. So, to be here today talking about economic abuse with someone who is such a powerful champion … that’s really amazing for us.’
Elsewhere today, King Charles awarded Claudia Winkleman with her MBE at Windsor Castle.
The Strictly Come Dancing host, 53, was honoured for her services to broadcasting, weeks after her Strictly Come Dancing co-host Tess Daly received her own MBE.
Claudia, who was wearing a stylish white suit and headband, was pictured shaking hands with the Monarch as he bestowed the honour during an investiture ceremony.
Earlier this week, Camilla visited the set of raunchy television drama ‘Rivals’ – and met the actor who plays Rupert Campbell-Black, a character based on Her Majesty’s first husband.
The King’s wife enjoyed a behind-the-scenes tour of the set in Bristol and met stars including heartthrob Alex Hassell, arch villain David Tennant, as well as Victoria Smurfit, Bella Maclean and Nafessa Williams as she highlighted the UK’s thriving film and television industry.
She also took the opportunity to pay tribute to the book’s creator, Dame Jilly Cooper, who tragically died in October at the age of 88 after a sudden fall.
The pair had been good friends for years after moving in the same Cotswolds circles – and the Queen’s ex-husband, Andrew Parker Bowles, was even said to be the inspiration for Dame Jilly’s iconic lothario, Campbell-Black.
They were together just two weeks before her death at an event to celebrate Camilla’s charity The Queen’s Reading Room.