{"id":299328,"date":"2026-02-24T06:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T06:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/299328\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T06:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T06:35:08","slug":"queen-camilla-meets-french-rape-survivor-gisele-pelicot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/299328\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen Camilla meets French rape survivor Gisele Pelicot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"XwsInylahQtJnSbA\" style=\"display:none\">Camilla has long been a campaigner against sexual and domestic violence, speaking out about the issue on many occasions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"XwsInylahQtJnSbA\" style=\"display:none\">Last year, she wrote a private letter to Pelicot, 73, who was drugged and raped for a decade by her now ex-husband and strangers he enlisted online.<\/p>\n<p class=\"XwsInylahQtJnSbA\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cShe was tremendously affected by the Madame Pelicot case in France and that lady\u2019s extraordinary dignity and courage,\u201d a palace source told Newsweek magazine at the time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"XwsInylahQtJnSbA\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cBecause as she rightly put it, why should she be made to feel like a victim or hide away in shame?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Trying to rebuild\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"XwsInylahQtJnSbA\" style=\"display:none\">Pelicot, who waived her right to anonymity during the 2024 trial of her ex-husband and dozens of strangers who raped her while she was unconscious, said she had been \u201coverwhelmed\u201d to receive Camilla\u2019s letter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"XwsInylahQtJnSbA\" style=\"display:none\">Pelicot\u2019s husband, Dominique, was tried alongside 50 other men and sentenced to 20 years for aggravated rape in the southern French city of Avignon in December 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"XwsInylahQtJnSbA\" style=\"display:none\">Dozens of men who visited the family home to rape Gisele Pelicot, who was unconscious after being drugged by her husband, were handed terms of between three and 15 years.<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"Gisele Pelicot, 73, was drugged and raped over a decade by her husband and strangers. Photo \/ Getty Images\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Gisele Pelicot, 73, was drugged and raped over a decade by her husband and strangers. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"XwsInylahQtJnSbA\" style=\"display:none\">Pelicot has been in the UK to promote her book, titled A Hymn to Life, which covers the full arc of her 50-year marriage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"XwsInylahQtJnSbA\" style=\"display:none\">She told AFP earlier this month: \u201cI\u2019m doing better. After the trial, I took stock of my life and today I am trying to rebuild on this field of ruins.<\/p>\n<p class=\"XwsInylahQtJnSbA\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cDespite all these ordeals, even in the darkest periods, I have always sought flashes of joy; I am looking towards the future, towards joy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"XwsInylahQtJnSbA\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI know this may surprise some who expect to see me in tatters, but I am determined to remain standing and dignified.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"XwsInylahQtJnSbA\" style=\"display:none\">&#8211; Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Camilla has long been a campaigner against sexual and domestic violence, speaking out about the issue on many&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1558,28361,26523,156,11775,120450,101,14445,9462,111,139,69,28362,164558,3366,34458,3048,164559,9343,14484,6859],"class_list":{"0":"post-299328","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-been","9":"tag-buckingham","10":"tag-camilla","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-french","13":"tag-gisele","14":"tag-left","15":"tag-meets","16":"tag-memoir","17":"tag-new-zealand","18":"tag-newzealand","19":"tag-nz","20":"tag-palace","21":"tag-pelicot","22":"tag-queen","23":"tag-rape","24":"tag-said","25":"tag-speechless","26":"tag-statement","27":"tag-survivor","28":"tag-told"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}