Queen Camilla welcomed one of the bravest women in Europe, Madame Gisèle Pelicot, to Clarence House on Monday.
Pelicot, the 73-year-old French survivor whose bravery during France’s biggest rape case has resonated around the world.
Awarded France’s highest honor, the Legion of Honor, in 2025, she has become a global symbol of strength after renouncing her legal right.
During their conversation, the Queen did not hide her reaction.
“I never thought I could be shocked by anything before,” Camilla admitted. “But I was speechless.”
Her ex-husband is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after drugging and raping her along with other men in a case that shocked France and reverberated far beyond the country’s borders.
Speaking to the BBC, Pelicot described the moment she learned the full truth as catastrophic.
“Something exploded in me,” she said. “It was like a tsunami.”
One of the most painful moments, she revealed in her memoirs A hymn to life, told his three children what their father had done.
She recalled hearing her daughter scream “almost inhumanly” while her eldest son sat stunned.
Her youngest immediately focused on her well-being, worried that she might harm herself in the wake of the revelation.
The Queen has spent decades championing victims and survivors of domestic sexual abuse, using her platform to shine a spotlight on often-hidden suffering.
She previously wrote to Pelicot after the trial in 2024 to express solidarity and support.
Today’s meeting marked the first time the two women had met in person.
Photographs released by the palace show the couple in heated discussion and smiling.
