The Duchess of Cornwall becomes Patron of domestic abuse charity, SafeLives

The Duchess of Cornwall today joined a WOW (Women of the World) 24-hour festival to discuss her longstanding work on domestic abuse and announce a new patronage with charity SafeLives.

The Duchess has been raising awareness of the issue of domestic abuse and sexual violence for more than ten years. She has visited many refuges and met with organisations and charities tackling the issue both in the UK and overseas.

Her Royal Highness first heard of the work of domestic abuse charity SafeLives in 2016 and has met with survivors, frontline staff and professionals that work in partnership with SafeLives on many occasions over the past four years.

“I want to say how proud I am to have become Patron of SafeLives. SafeLives will always stick in my memory from the first visit I paid there…that was the moment when I thought, goodness I’ve got to do something to help these people.”

At the WOW Global 24 event, The Duchess joined with WOW Founder Jude Kelly, Suzanne Jacob, the Chief Executive of SafeLives, and Gina Miller, campaigner and survivor of domestic abuse. They discussed how the pandemic has affected the victims and survivors of domestic abuse, as well as the new affirmed relationship with SafeLives to help end domestic abuse for everyone, for good.

Her Royal Highness, as President of WOW, spoke about how domestic abuse is #EveryonesProblem during their 10th annual festival in London back at the beginning of March. Read her speech in full here.

And since lockdown began, The Duchess has supported the SafeLives #ReachIn campaign, launched by concerns that COVID-19 restrictions have resulted in more limited opportunities for those living with domestic abuse to seek help. Read more about the campaign here.