Duchess of Edinburgh: I bang the drum for exploited women
The Duchess of Edinburgh has described her determination to “keep banging the drum” for vulnerable women.
Speaking in Nepal towards the end of a six-day Royal tour, the mother of two acknowledged that the people and causes she had long championed, such as the victims of human trafficking and sexual violence, were not easy subjects.
But she said: “If people in my position don’t champion people like that, they have very little voice.
“And to change behaviours you have to keep banging the drum. So I keep on banging the drum.”
The Duke, her husband, added that if an official royal visit could “shine a bit of a light” on the good work of unsung organisations, that was all he could “really hope for”.
The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh have been in Nepal since Tuesday to celebrate the country’s close ties with the UK. In a packed schedule, they have taken in a hospital and orphanage, a botanical gardens, and a military parade.
Prince Edward, who told new Gurkha recruits on Friday that they should be proud to be a “soldier in the British army but a son of Nepal”, said it had been fascinating to see the depth of the relationship between the two nations.
The couple, both 60, have conducted themselves throughout with good humour and mutual affection. Often adorned with floral garlands, they each attributed their happy marriage to the fact they are “best friends”.
They were pictured holding hands at the Godawari National Botanic Garden and gently ribbed each other over their respective talents for planting trees.
“There’s always got to be humour,” the Duchess said. “Especially when you’re travelling and you’ve got no idea what’s about to happen. You’ve got to laugh.”
The Duchess, who has made a name for herself as a seasoned campaigner against sexual violence, used the trip to highlight maternal care, support victims of sexual violence and champion women’s rights.
She visited a refuge that supports survivors of human trafficking, joined a lunch with Nepali women’s rights activists and toured the maternity wing at the Bhaktapur Hospital, one of the oldest public hospitals in Nepal.
Reflecting on such work during a rare interview with travelling media, the Duchess said she considered it important to use her platform to speak up for those whose plight might otherwise be ignored.
“So often… women often are excluded or at the bad end of the deal,” she said. “Unfortunately women are affected the most when there are difficult issues to deal with.”
The Duchess said that when populations were forced to migrate due to conflict or other issues such as climate change, they often became “incredibly vulnerable” to sexual exploitation.
She added of the women: “They are so very vulnerable and in many countries there isn’t a lot of help for them. So it’s not an easy subject but it’s important that people are aware of it.
“I think they have become more aware of it. Unfortunately because in some of the more recent conflicts that have happened, people have really woken up to the fact that these are really very real issues. Historically, they’ve always been there. But it’s been hard for them to have a voice.”
The Duchess described Maiti Nepal, the refuge she visited in Kathmandu, as “the most fantastic organisation” that supported women “in desperate need of help”.
She praised the King for selling 500 copies of one of his watercolours to raise money for the refuge after his own visit in 1998, which allowed them to purchase the land they are now on.
“Without that, I don’t know how far forward they would have been able to get,” the Duchess said. “It really was a game-changer for them. It’s amazing what a Royal visit will do.”
The Duke added: “There are some brilliant organisations and there are some brilliant people, who for the most of the time, their work is unsung.
“And if we can just shine a bit of a light on the work that they’re doing… and it helps them to be able to tell the story better and to give them a better profile... then that’s what you really hope for.”
