Queen Camilla was reportedly assaulted as a teenager and fought off her attacker with a high heel, according to a forthcoming book, Power and the Palace: The Inside Story of the Monarchy, by former royal correspondent Valentine Low.
The book recounts how Camilla shared the experience with former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a tea at Clarence House in June 2008, when he was Mayor of London.
Guto Harri, Johnson’s former communications director, recalled that Camilla described being groped by a man while traveling by train to Paddington at around age 16 or 17. When Johnson asked how she responded, Camilla allegedly replied, “I did what my mother taught me to. I took off my shoe and whacked him in the nuts with the heel.”
Harri said Camilla then left the train, reported the incident to an officer, and the attacker was arrested.
The book claims this story inspired Johnson to open three rape crisis centers in London during his time as mayor.