Gisele Pelicot ‘overwhelmed’ after private letter of assist from Queen | EUROtoday

French rape survivor Gisele Pelicot has expressed being “overwhelmed” after receiving a private letter of assist from Queen Camilla, following her ex-husband’s conviction.

The Queen, a long-time campaigner in opposition to home violence and sexual abuse, recommended Ms Pelicot’s “extraordinary dignity and courage” within the correspondence.

Ms Pelicot’s former husband, Dominique Pelicot, was sentenced to twenty years in jail for drugging and raping her, and for permitting different males to assault her whereas she was unconscious. This horrific abuse spanned almost a decade.

He had recruited different males in a web-based chatroom to rape her whereas she was unconscious; 47 of them had been discovered responsible of rape, two discovered responsible of tried rape and two responsible of sexual assault. They had been jailed for a complete of 428 years.

Extracts of her e book, A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sideswritten with journalist Judith Perrignon, and printed by French newspaper The Worldclarify how her then-husband had been summoned by police after a grocery store safety guard caught him secretly taking video up ladies’s skirts.

The 73-year-old bravely waived her proper to anonymity, asserting that disgrace ought to fall upon her abusers, not herself. A trial in Avignon, concluding in December 2024, noticed 50 males convicted of rape or sexual offences.

In her letter, Queen Camilla advised Ms Pelicot: “I very much wanted to write to express my heartfelt admiration for the courage, grace and dignity with which you have faced the horrific crimes committed against you.”

Speaking to BBC NewsnightMs Pelicot described the letter as an “honour”, including: “I was overwhelmed that the Queen could send me this letter. Although my words touched the whole world, I wasn’t expecting a letter from the Court of England. I felt moved and very honoured that she had become aware of what had happened to me. I am grateful to her.”

Queen Camilla has devoted her royal charity work to supporting victims of sexual assault. Last yr, she praised the “brilliant” efforts of well being employees and workers at a specialist centre in Exeter, which she formally opened.

She beforehand championed the thought of washbags for these attacked, an initiative just lately revived. In an ITV documentary, she vowed to “keep trying” to finish home violence “until I am able to no more”.