ITV viewers were moved to tears tonight as Queen Camilla’s powerful opening words set the tone for the stirring documentary, Her Majesty The Queen: Behind Closed Doors.

The Monday evening special gave a 90-minute glimpse into The Queen’s annual engagements, shining a spotlight on her intimate conversations with survivors of domestic abuse.

Known for her heartfelt contributions to the cause, Queen Camilla has been championing the fight against domestic violence since 2010 and stepped up as Patron of SafeLives in 2020. In a candid opening commentary, she expressed her deep shock at the pervasiveness of this “terrible, very sad, heinous crime.”

Camilla urged greater public discourse, reflecting her own reaction upon first facing these truths: “By scratching the surface, you get a terrible shock. It’s such a terrible, very sad, heinous crime. If we could just get more people discussing it, talking about it.”

Queen Camilla got candid ( 
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ITV)

She added her hope for actionable change, saying: “People are so shocked by what they hear, rather like me, that they want to say, ‘Hang on a minute. Perhaps there’s something that we can help with to hopefully, in the end, put an end to it.”

Social media was instantly set alight as the programme began, with viewers quick to express their emotions. One said, “What a powerful documentary sharing the shocking realities for far too many people,” and added a crying emoji for emphasis.

Another viewer shared their reaction: “Watching this and very moved. Thank you,” according to the Express. One person remarked on Twitter: ” The #QueenCamilla documentary on @ITV is very moving already. I suspect the scale of domestic violence and abuse would shock most of us, and Her Majesty’s compassion is clear to see. We must do more to support victims, from first contact with police to help re-starting lives.”

The Queen had an emotional exchange with Diana Parkes whose daughter Joanna Simpson was brutally killed by her estranged husband ( 
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ITV)
Another chimed in: “Watching Her Majesty The Queen, Behind Closed Doors and I am pleased that there has been acknowledgment that there are male victims of domestic violence too. #QueenCamilla is doing wonderful work for the subject.”

In a poignant moment, The Queen had an emotional exchange with Diana Parkes, whose daughter, Joanna Simpson, was brutally killed by her estranged husband.

Diana recalled it had been eight years since they last met, prompting Camilla to say: “I am honestly never going to forget that meeting. It is engraved in my heart.”

Reflecting on their first meeting at a SafeLives event, Camilla recounted: “I remember seeing you and I thought, ‘Goodness. That’s somebody of my generation.’ I tried to put myself in your shoes. I thought to myself, ‘What if it had been my daughter?’.”

The Queen had viewers in floods of tears ( 
Image:
ITV)“I don’t think I would have been able to sit and be this dignified as you were that day,” she confessed. The Queen also remembered the moment Hetti Barkworth-Nanton, a dear friend of Joanna’s, bravely spoke out publicly about her death for the first time.

“My reaction I’m afraid was to cry,” Camilla admitted. “I looked around and there was a lot of police and hard-nosed journalists sitting around – there wasn’t a dry eye in the place.”