Queen Mary welcomed an admirable figure at her royal residence for a special meeting.
Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, June 10, the Royal Family of Denmark shared a heartfelt post, reporting about the Queen’s latest engagement.
In the update, the royals shared that Mary received French icon Gisèle Pelicot at the Chancellery House in Fredensborg Palace, where they talked about Pelicot’s brave fight in France’s largest rape case.
For those unfamiliar, Gisèle Pelicot is a French woman who became a feminist icon in 2024, when she waived her right to anonymity as the victim in the Pelicot rape case, in which she accused her husband and several other men of repeatedly raping and sexually assaulting her over a long period after drugging her.
In the post, Amalienborg Palace noted that Queen Mary was “greatly impressed” by the “stoic calm” Pelicot showed while courageously fighting against her abusers.
“In 2024, the French woman Gisèle Pelicot – with the conviction that “shame must change sides” – insisted on opening the doors to the trial in connection with France’s largest rape case,” read the caption.
It continued, ‘Gisèle Pelicot’s unbelievably violent story and her courage to tell it openly have made a great impression on Her Majesty the Queen. So has the stoic calm she has shown throughout the process, as has her dignified voice, which has created several public conversations about and a deeper understanding of sexual violence against women.”
The statement added, “Today, the Queen received Gisèle Pelicot at the Chancellery in Fredensborg, where they talked, among other things, about Gisèle Pelicot’s international bestseller, the autobiography “A Tribute to Life”, about how she lives her life today, and about how she has managed to use her platform for the benefit of others.”
Accompanying the statement was a four-slide gallery that showed glimpses from Queen Mary and Gisèle Pelicot’s powerful meeting.
