It’s good to talk, say duchesses on separate mental health crusades
Kate and Camilla speak frankly about childhood and domestic trauma in addresses to charities
THE Duchess of Cornwall has told how harrowing stories of domestic violence reduced her to tears and helped her support a friend, as she urged sufferers to speak out to break the taboo.
The Duchess spoke of her shock and horror at the number of people who suffered domestic abuse and still lived with the consequences. Hosting an event to mark the 15th anniversary of the charity Safelives, she said she had been able to support a friend whose daughter was in an abusive relationship after learning about their work.
Describing her first visit in 2016, she said: “I had the privilege of hearing incredibly brave women (some of whom are here today) standing up to tell their stories, harrowing stories, that reduced many of us listeners to tears. But with each story that is told, the taboo around domestic abuse weakens and the silence that surrounds it is broken, so other sufferers can know that there is hope for them and they are not alone.”
She told the charity: “You give us all hope that those survivors can live their lives in peace and be victors, not victims, of these horrendous crimes, hopefully ensuring that domestic abuse can be made a crime of the past forever.”
At the Clarence House reception, she told Celia Peachey, whose mother Maria Stubbings was murdered by her partner in 2008, how the charity had “opened her eyes”. Ms Peachy said: “She said that someone opened up to her about their daughter being in that position and she was able to say to them, ‘it’s OK, you can talk about it. It’s safe and it’s important that you do’.”
Meanwhile, the Duchess of Cambridge, on a visit to Northern Ireland and Scotland yesterday, met parents in a group dedicated to the health and happiness of children. Teaching young children how to talk about things that bother them was key to lifelong happiness, she said, as she warned teenagers may articulate their worries too late.
The Duchess said that many teenagers today could express themselves about mental health, but “sometimes it’s too late. It’s three and four-yearolds we need to help, to understand how this can shape them in later life,” she said, during a visit to a homelessness charity café to hear about childhood trauma.
The Duchess went to Social Bite in Aberdeen – visited in 2018 by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex – and Ark Open Farm in Northern Ireland, as she completed her UK tour to promote her “Five Questions” about parenting, which now has 200,000 submissions, making it the biggest open survey of its kind.