Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-serving monarch, died on September 8, at the age of 96 at her estate in Balmoral, Scotland. She was an impressive combination of grace, talent, power, intelligence and fun. The monarch was also widely known and appreciated for her sartorial choices, which were always colour coordinated and on point. But do you know the brain behind the Queen’s iconic looks? It is fashion designer Angela Kelly, who remained the Queen’s confidante and BFF for over three decades. Kelly was so dear and close to the monarch that she was invited by Queen Elizabeth II to stay near her in Windsor Castle, the family home to Britain’s kings and queens for over a thousand years.
Kelly was the Queen’s right-hand woman for three decades – she reportedly first met Queen Elizabeth II in 1992 and began working for her in 1994. Just in a few years, in 2001, she earned the title of the monarch’s Personal Assistant, Adviser. Given the time the duo shared in each other’s company, Kelly became one of the Queen’s most trusted companions.
In an old interview with The Sunday Telegraph newspaper, Kelly had said: “I love the Queen and everything about her. I adore her, but then, so does everyone else. She is not ‘my’ queen, she is everyone’s and so I have to share her. I do worry about her and care about her. But we also have a lot of fun together… I just want everything to be right for the queen — to make life easier for her because she is so busy. My job is to ensure that when the queen meets people she looks right.” In the same interview, 69-year-old Kelly had recalled that the Queen called them a “good team.”
Over the course of more than 30 years, Kelly presented the best side of the Queen through numerous statement-making outfits. For the wedding of Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William and Kate Middleton, in 2011, Kelly made a buttermilk yellow outfit for the Queen and next year, designed the ivory boucle dress with silk ribbon accents for the monarch to wear on her 2012 Diamond Jubilee river pageant.
Some of Kelly’s work for Queen Elizabeth II over the past 30 years were also displayed during the monarch’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, where she dressed elegantly for several events.
Kelly, in her recent book titled The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe, had revealed many fascinating and hidden pages from the life of Queen Elizabeth II., including how the Queen lived through the COVID-19 lockdown and how she dealt with the loss of her husband – Prince Philip.
