UK's Queen Camilla once fought off attacker on train with her shoe, book says

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's Queen Camilla fought off a would-be attacker on a train when she was a teenager by hitting him with her shoe, according to a new book about the royal family.

Camilla, 78, was travelling on a train to Paddington station in London when she was about 16 or 17-years-old when a man started to assault her, said the account in the book "Power and the Palace" which is being serialised in the Times newspaper.

She responded by taking off her shoe and hitting him in the genitals with her heel. When she arrived at Paddington she pointed the attacker out to an official and he was arrested, the book said.

The author, former Times royal correspondent Valentine Low, said Camilla, who married King Charles 20 years ago, had recounted the story during a meeting with former prime minister Boris Johnson in 2008 when he was the mayor of London.

Low said the account was relayed to him by Johnson's former communications director.

Camilla, who has for many years championed charities and causes which seek to end sexual and domestic violence and support victims, has never publicly spoken about the incident. Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the account.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Kate Holton)