Queen Camilla voiced her support for a parole board decision that kept a BA pilot who bludgeoned his wife to death behind bars as she and the King hosted a Buckingham Palace garden party today.
Camilla, 78, met with domestic abuse campaigner Hetti Barkworth-Nanton, a close friend of Joanna Simpson, 46, who was murdered by her estranged husband Robert Brown at their family home in 2010.
Her Majesty was inspired to use her platform to campaign against domestic abuse after meeting Joanna’s mother, Diana Parkes, who met privately with the Queen today.
Ms Barkworth-Nanton, who works closely with Mrs Parkes and is on the board of Refuge, said she had discussed the decision to deny Brown parole – which was announced on Monday – with the Queen.
‘I was talking to her about the decision by the parole board,’ she said.
‘She thinks it is absolutely the right decision, she’s delighted, particularly having read the decision summary. She’s very supportive and always has been.’
She added of the campaign to ensure Brown was not automatically released in 2023 after serving half his sentence: ‘I’ve met the Queen on a number of occasions but I met her at an event at the palace in 2022. That was where I met Carrie Johnson and Carrie said, “Oh you must go and speak to the Queen.”
‘So we were talking to Her Majesty about how terrible it was that he was going to be automatically released the following year.
Queen Camilla and King Charles hosted a Buckingham Palace garden party today
Queen Camilla, speaking to Hetti Barkworth-Nanton, chair of the board at Refuge (left), watched by Diana Parkes, who founded the Joanna Simpson Foundation in 2025
Robert Brown, now 61, killed 46-year-old Joanna Simpson within earshot of their young children in their family home in Ascot, Berkshire, in 2010
The former airline captain killed the mother of his two young children Joanna Simpson (pictured) with a claw hammer before burying her body in Windsor Great Park
‘Everyone was very shocked and we knew we couldn’t do anything about it.
‘After that, I started talking to Carrie, of course, because she was a Worboys victim [Mrs Johnson has spoke openly of being a victim of the taxi cab rapist], and we started to build a plan. And so it’s sort of gone full circle.’
The Queen – wearing a striking monochrome outfit – was also reunited at the garden party with John Hunt, the BBC racing commentator, and his surviving daughter, Amy, whose family were brutally murdered in a crossbow and knife attack in July 2024.
‘Lovely to get you here,’ she told Mr Hunt.
‘They let you escape from the races!’
Mr Hunt joked afterwards that he had given the Queen some ‘top secret horse racing tips for Ascot’, adding: ‘I’m sworn to secrecy.’
He said she had some potential runners at this weekend’s York and Newbury races which they had discussed.
‘I just reassured her, even if she couldn’t be there, I’d be there for her,’ he laughed.
Asked whether the Queen has any good prospects, he replied: ‘Potentially – they look nice, very nice.’
The King and Queen, supported by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, spent an hour greeting many of the 8,000 garden party guests who lined up to greet them.
Multiple guests congratulated the King on his speeches during last month’s successful US state visit.
The King chatted cider farming with representatives from the Royal Countryside Fund and urged environmental activists to ‘keep going’.
Nick Henry, founder and CEO of Climate Action, said the monarch had expressed concern that the movement was ‘losing momentum’.
He added: ‘He said it was an uphill battle and told me to stick with it. He asked whether businesses were on board but I had to tell him that they were less and less so, which he seemed to recognise.’
Tom Holland, the historian, who hosts The Rest is History podcast, congratulated the King on his speech to Congress in Washington DC.
‘Don’t worry, we checked all the facts beforehand,’ the monarch joked.
Mr Holland said afterwards: ‘I also congratulated him on some of his jokes, which I thought were excellent. He smiled in a modest yet regal way.’
