| Re: Camilla fought off attacker with shoe as teenager, book says - Paddington train Posted by Marlburian at 10:15, 2nd September 2025 |     |
Many years ago, I boarded a crowded 125 train at Paddington (a strike had been called at very short notice and everyone was rushing to get home) and was using my raised hand to support myself against the frame of the doorway into the next carriage. More people pushed onto the train and, to my horror, a young lady's breast pressed against the back of my hand. I didn't dare move my hand, lest that be misconstrued.
And on crowded Tube trains I was very careful about how I held my briefcase.
In my latter days of commuting, in the early 1990s, a harassed-looking middle-aged man scampered down the aisle pursued by an irate young lady, who returned a couple of minutes later looking satisfied, only for her to u-turn and exclaim "I haven't finished with him yet".
| Re: Camilla fought off attacker with shoe as teenager, book says - Paddington train Posted by grahame at 17:31, 1st September 2025 | |
Sadly, not unusual story, though the assailant been hit with a shoe is not something I have come across before. Male members on the Coffee Shop might be surprised is they chatted with the ladies close enough to them to open up just how common experiences of being assaulted when travelling are (and in that I include "in a car"). Very few are actually reported, and I am not about to betray confidences here.
| Camilla fought off attacker with shoe as teenager, book says - Paddington train Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 17:08, 1st September 2025 | |
From the BBC:
Queen Camilla was the victim of an attempted indecent assault as a teenager, according to a new book about the Royal Family. The Queen is said to have fought off her attacker using the heel of her shoe.
The attempted assault is recounted in Power and the Palace by the former Royal editor of the Times newspaper, Valentine Low.
He says the Queen told Boris Johnson the story of her experience in 2008 when he was mayor of London.
It is reported that the Queen was 16 or 17 years old when the incident happened on a train to Paddington Station.
The man is said to have been touching the teenage Camilla Shand when she took off her shoe and hit him with it.
It was, she told Johnson, something her mother had told her to do if she ever found herself in that situation.
When she arrived in London, she reported the incident to station staff and the man was arrested.
Buckingham Palace has made no official statement on the story but is not disputing the details of the account.
(BBC News article continues)
The attempted assault is recounted in Power and the Palace by the former Royal editor of the Times newspaper, Valentine Low.
He says the Queen told Boris Johnson the story of her experience in 2008 when he was mayor of London.
It is reported that the Queen was 16 or 17 years old when the incident happened on a train to Paddington Station.
The man is said to have been touching the teenage Camilla Shand when she took off her shoe and hit him with it.
It was, she told Johnson, something her mother had told her to do if she ever found herself in that situation.
When she arrived in London, she reported the incident to station staff and the man was arrested.
Buckingham Palace has made no official statement on the story but is not disputing the details of the account.
(BBC News article continues)
