THE Duchess of Cornwall joined Mayor of London Boris Johnson to open a new centre for rape victims in west London.

The royal was the special guest at the launch of the West London Rape Crisis Centre in Ealing, also covering the boroughs of Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Brent, and Hammersmith and Fulham.

The centre's opening is part of the mayor's fulfilment of a pledge to open three such centre to support the work already done by a rape crisis centre in Croydon.

The officially opening took place on Thursday, July 8, and Her Royal Highness was shown around areas where counselling and therapy takes place for women who are victims of rape and sexual assault.

The centre has actually been open since April this year. Mr Johnson said at the launch: “The new services can literally be a life line to women dealing with the trauma of rape.

“It was an honour to be joined by The Duchess of Cornwall who is clearly committed to supporting organisations that help women recover from the trauma of these experiences.”

Two more centre will be opened later this year, quadrupling the service available for female rape victims in the capital.

The centre in Ealing is open to women and girls aged 14-years-old and older, and is backed by funding of £375,000 from the mayor and support from Ealing Council.

If you need to contact the rape crisis service, you can call 0808 802 9999 between 12pm and 2.30pm and between 7pm and 9.30pm every day of the year.