The Queen sent a personal letter of support to French rape survivor Gisèle Pelicot, Buckingham Palace has confirmed.
Ms Pelicot was drugged and raped by her ex-husband, who also recruited dozens of men to also abuse her, over nearly a decade.
Queen Camilla, a long-standing campaigner on domestic and sexual violence, was said to be “tremendously affected” by Ms Pelicot’s ordeal and wanted to recognise her “extraordinary dignity and courage”, Newsweek reports.
In December, judges in the French city of Avignon sentenced 72-year-old Dominique Pelicot to 20 years in prison.
The palace declined to comment on the contents of the letter, which is standard protocol for private correspondence sent from the Queen and other members of the royal family.
But a royal aide told Newsweek despite Ms Pelicot’s “personal suffering” she had helped “highlight a very significant societal problem”.
They added: “It was very much [the Queen’s] instigation and determination to write to express support from the highest level.”
Ms Pelicot’s case, and France’s largest rape trial, brought global attention as she waived her right to anonymity to throw the court’s doors open. In her words, she did it to make the “shame swap sides” from the victim to the rapist – something which turned the 72-year-old into a figurehead for feminism.
During the trial, groups of women lined up outside court to applaud her strength, sometimes offering flowers.
Her ex-husband’s crimes were only uncovered when he was caught taking photographs up women’s skirts in a supermarket.
Pelicot filmed the rapes of his wife, collecting hundreds of videos he stored on a hard disk. He stood trial alongside 50 other men.
Of his co-defendants, 46 were found guilty of rape, two were found guilty of attempted rape, and two guilty of sexual assault.
Pelicot was also convicted of taking indecent images of his daughter, Caroline, and his daughters-in-law, Aurore and Celine, after photos of them were also discovered on his hard drive.
Dominique and Gisèle’s daughter, Caroline Darian, is now pressing charges against her father, accusing him of drugging and raping her.
Ms Darian, 46, says she is clearly unconscious in the two photographs of her found on her father’s hard drive.
Pelicot has always denied sexually abusing his daughter.
The Queen has vowed to campaign for victims of domestic violence throughout her lifetime, and has called for a “culture change” to stop violence against women.
She has worked with a number of charities and refuges, and supported campaigns through royal visits over a number of years.
In November last year, an ITV documentary followed the Queen’s campaign work. In the film, she said domestic abuse should not be a taboo subject, and called for it to be talked about more openly.-B
