Top News
Next Story
NewsPoint

Queen Camilla's 15 powerful words to mother of tragic woman killed by her estranged husband

Send Push

had an emotional exchange with a mum whose daughter was brutally killed by her estranged husband.

The encounter was part of a stirring documentary, . The programme left viewers in tears as Camilla, 77, was seen championing the fight against domestic violence.

She met Diana Parkes, whose daughter Joanna Simpson was killed by her ex-husband Robert Brown on October 31, 2010. Brown bludgeoned her to death before burying her body in a pre-dug grave in Windsor Great Park.

Diana recalled it had been eight years since they last met, prompting Camilla to say 15 emotive words: "I am honestly never going to forget that meeting. It is engraved in my heart."

READ MORE:

Reflecting on their first meeting at a SafeLives event, Camilla recounted: "I remember seeing you and I thought, 'Goodness. That's somebody of my generation.' I tried to put myself in your shoes. I thought to myself, 'What if it had been my daughter?'."

"I don't think I would have been able to sit and be this dignified as you were that day," she confessed. The Queen also remembered the moment Hetti Barkworth-Nanton, a dear friend of Joanna’s, bravely spoke out publicly about her death for the first time.

"My reaction I'm afraid was to cry," Camilla admitted. "I looked around and there was a lot of police and hard-nosed journalists sitting around - there wasn't a dry eye in the place."

The Monday evening special gave a 90-minute glimpse into The Queen's annual engagements, shining a spotlight on her intimate conversations with survivors of .

Known for her heartfelt contributions to the cause, has been championing the fight against domestic violence since 2010 and stepped up as Patron of SafeLives in 2020. In a candid opening commentary, she expressed her deep shock at the pervasiveness of this "terrible, very sad, heinous crime."

Camilla urged greater public discourse, reflecting her own reaction upon first facing these truths: "By scratching the surface, you get a terrible shock. It's such a terrible, very sad, heinous crime. If we could just get more people discussing it, talking about it."

Explore more on Newspoint
Loving Newspoint? Download the app now