PARIS (AP) — Britain's Queen Camilla told French rape survivor Gisèle Pelicot on Monday that she was left “speechless” by Pelicot’s memoir, as the two met over tea at Clarence House in a private meeting rich with symbolism.
Pelicot, 73, is in Britain at the end of a U.K. tour for her memoir, “A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides,” which was launched Friday at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
The event drew a sellout crowd of more than 2,000, with readings by actors Kate Winslet, Kristin Scott Thomas and Juliet Stevenson.
Camilla welcomed Pelicot and her partner, Jean-Loup Agopian, and the two women spoke for about 30 minutes through an interpreter.
The queen opened in French and joked she had studied the language 60 years ago but had forgotten it.
Camilla, who has long campaigned against domestic violence and sexual abuse, told Pelicot she had read the memoir in just two days.
“I couldn’t put it down," Camilla said.
“I’ve met so many survivors of rape and sexual abuse I never thought I could be shocked by anything any more, but I was shocked at your case. It left me speechless," she added.
The meeting came at a fraught moment for the monarchy, as the royal family confronts renewed scrutiny over the fallout from the Andrew-Epstein scandal — a crisis that has again raised questions about accountability, privilege and how institutions respond to sexual abuse.
Against that backdrop, observers said that Camilla’s embrace of Pelicot carried added resonance for a royal household trying to show moral clarity on violence against women.
Pelicot became an international symbol of resilience after waiving her anonymity and declaring that shame belonged with her abusers, not with her.
Her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, was jailed for 20 years for drugging and raping her and allowing other men to rape her while she was unconscious over nearly a decade.
Fifty men were found guilty of rape or sexual offenses after a trial in Avignon that ended in December 2024.
During Monday’s meeting, Pelicot spoke of receiving “incredible strength” from supporters.
Camilla replied: “you have so much support.”
Camilla had written to Pelicot last year praising her “extraordinary dignity and courage” — a letter Pelicot has said she now keeps framed in her office.
Britain's Queen Camilla, left, with Gisele Pelicot during an audience at Clarence House in London, Monday Feb. 23, 2026. (Aaron Chown/Pool Photo via AP)
Britain's Queen Camilla, left, with Gisele Pelicot, third left, and Jean-Loup Agopian, right, during an audience at Clarence House in London, Monday Feb. 23, 2026. (Aaron Chown/Pool Photo via AP)
Britain's Queen Camilla, left, with Gisele Pelicot, right, during an audience at Clarence House in London, Monday Feb. 23, 2026. (Aaron Chown/Pool Photo via AP)
Neighbors, government workers and a powerful railroad snow-clearing machine nicknamed “Darth Vader” have been digging out from a brutal storm that forecasters are calling the strongest in a decade. It dumped more than two feet of snow across much of the northeastern United States, and a record three feet in Warwick, Rhode Island.
Thousands of flights were cancelled and hundreds of thousands of people lost power. As roads begin to reopen and mass transportation comes back online, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani insisted on schools reopening Tuesday. Meanwhile forecasters warn that another big winter storm could be on its way.
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The travel disruptions threatened further delays at the trial of Alon, Oren and Tal Alexander in Manhattan federal court.
A juror was “trapped in Miami” and wasn’t scheduled for a return flight until Friday, Judge Valerie Caproni said Tuesday. And it was unlikely the juror could make it back sooner: “She’s flying Spirit. That tells you everything,” Caproni said.
The judge eventually dismissed the stranded juror, leaving just one alternate. The trial already wasn’t held last week to accommodate jurors whose children were on a school break.
“I am loath to lose another juror, but I am also loath to lose another week of trial,” Caproni said.
A storm descending from Canada is forecast to bring snow to the Great Lakes starting Tuesday and could drop up to 2 inches in places of the Northeast still digging out from blizzard-like conditions.
The National Weather Service said a quick moving storm is set to hit the upper Great Lakes on Tuesday, bringing up to several inches of snow before moving southeast overnight. Buffalo, New York, could see up to 5 inches of accumulation. The weather service said New York could get less than half an inch, but other places, including Hartford, Connecticut, could see up to 2 inches.
Choosing the protest slogan with a double meaning proved a potent way for voters to jab at President Donald Trump after he sent Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers into the city and its suburbs in a major immigration crackdown. “Operation Midway Blitz” resulted in more than 4,000 arrests, a fatal shooting and a sour taste among many Chicago residents.
Chicago maintains 300 trucks, and is naming just six this year. After 39,000 final votes were cast, the other top winners were:
In a statement, Mayor Brandon Johnson thanked Chicago voters “for their unmatched creativity, sense of humor, and civic pride.”
The agency said early Tuesday that Rhode Island gets top honors for 37.9 inches, a preliminary state record, at the airport in Providence. And as of 3 a.m., snow totals weren’t complete for Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, where the storm’s remnants were passing through. Other top state accumulations so far:
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says the Federal Emergency Management Agency is “on the ground” working with state and local authorities to restore power, even though the agency is operating without a budget.
More than 350,000 customers in the Northeast were without electricity Tuesday morning, according to Poweroutage.com, which tracks outages nationwide.
“The Trump administration is on it,” Leavitt said, when asked for the administration’s message to those getting by without electricity.
A fight in Congress over federal immigration officers has led to a lapse in funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which houses FEMA.
Roughly 2,200 flights in and out of the United States were canceled Tuesday, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
Most of the cancellations involved Boston and the New York City area’s three major airports, affecting about half of all departing flights. About 14 percent of departing flights were canceled at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
Rhode Island’s T.F. Green International Airport’s operational pause remained in effect Tuesday as authorities assessed conditions. The airport paused all flights Monday as it dealt with nearly 38 inches (97 centimeters) of snow, according to the Weather Service, breaking a record of 28.6 inches (72.6 centimeters) set in 1978. The airport is in Warwick, six miles south of Providence, the state capital.
The nor’easter may have moved on, but there are still a lot of power outages.
More than 350,000 customers in the Northeast were without electricity Tuesday morning, according to Poweroutage.com, which tracks outages across the country. Outages reached over 600,000 during the peak of the storm Monday. Most are in Massachusetts.
Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and other coastal communities experienced the worst of the storm and suffered the most severe damage, Eversource said. Power restoration was expected to take multiple days, the utility said.
About 20% of Massachusetts households depend on electricity for heating. Most heat their homes with natural gas, and another 20% use fuel oil or kerosene, according to Census estimates.
This is just a regular school day in New York City for more than a million students in the nation’s largest public school system — the mayor said so, and invited kids to pelt him with snowballs over his decision.
Many students and their caregivers seemed open to taking Mamdani up on that snowball idea as they scrambled over mountainous snow banks and dodged salt spreaders during the Tuesday morning drop-off.
“We’re walking on thin ice here. One more day would’ve been fine,” said Danielle Obloj, the parent of a Brooklyn 5th grader. “They should never have let these kids come back to school.”
Others, meanwhile, hailed the city’s efforts at snow-clearing.
“It was much better than last time — an easy commute, no problems whatsoever,” said Raul Garcia, as he exited a cab with his three school-age children. “We thought it was going to be really bad walking, but looking at the streets, they’re so clean.”
A massive snowball fight erupted Monday in New York City’s Washington Square Park as the blizzard wound down, but it wasn’t all fun and games.
A viral video showed two very outnumbered police officers being pelted by snowballs — and shoving some of the people throwing them — in frustration as they tried to get away.
City police commissioner Jessica Tisch posted that the NYPD is aware of the video, calling the behavior “disgraceful” and “criminal.”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that schools would be back in person on Tuesday, drawing questions about how feasible that is with snow still piled along sidewalks.
Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella said schools should remain closed, while Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, described the situation as “a big mess.”
“There’s going to be low attendance of students, you’re going to have low attendance of staff because people don’t know if they can travel, if they can get to schools,” he said.
Mamdani's schools chief, Chancellor Kamar Samuels, said in a post on X, “We are confident in our decision to reopen.”
A worker uses a snow blower to clear snow from a sidewalk in front of retail shops, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A woman navigates around piles of shoveled snow as she makes her way down a sidewalk, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Weekhawken, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A truck removes snow for them street a day after a winter storm on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
Key Lim, 55, of Quincy, removes snow from a sidewalk lined with trash bags in front of the laundromat that he manages on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Boston. (AP Photo/Sophie Park)
A woman carries a child over piles of plowed snow as she walks a girl to school, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
A man carries an inflatable inner-tube for snow sledding in Prospect Park in the borough of Brooklyn, New York, on Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Drew Callister)
People walk with a dog alongside snow laden parked cars in a snowstorm, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Hassell)
Neighbors team up to clear a driveway, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, in North Attleborough, Mass. Over two feet of snow fell on the area after a blizzard passed through. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)
Christa Prince shovels snow during a blizzard in the borough of Brooklyn, New York, on Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Drew Callister)
Cameron Betz helps push a taxi stuck in the snow during a snow storm, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
