Angela Kelly, the Queen’s dressmaker and confidante for more than 20 years, fears having to leave her home of grace and favour, The Mail on Sunday understands.
Friends of Mrs Kelly, the daughter of a Liverpool docker who became the Queen’s right-hand woman, fear she is yet another victim of the King’s ‘property carousel’.
It had been understood that Kelly, 65, would be given lodgings for life after her decades of loyalty to the late Queen.
But sources said last week they believed he had to vacate his modest townhouse on the Windsor Estate “within a few weeks.”
Ms Kelly has just been recognized by King Charles in special honors awards marking the Queen’s death. However, she only became a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, rather than a Dame Commander as might have been expected.
It had been understood that 65-year-old Kelly (pictured) would be given lodgings for life after her decades of loyalty to the late Queen.
Angela Kelly, right, the Queen’s visitor and confidant (in light blue) for over 20 years, fears she will have to leave her home of grace and favour.
Friends of Mrs Kelly, the daughter of a Liverpool docker who became the Queen’s right-hand woman, fear she is yet another victim of the King’s ‘property carousel’ (pictured)
They have told him that soon he will have to move. It’s a nice little place on the Windsor Estate and it was convenient for seeing her grandson who was at the nearby university,” a source said. In the picture: the inner courtyard of Windsor Castle
Many in the Royal House were suspicious of her, with one informant wondering if “they were settling scores”. A source said: “She has been told that she will have to move soon.” It’s a nice little place on the Windsor Estate and was convenient for seeing her grandson who was at the nearby university.
‘But the king has made it clear that under the new reign people will have to cut their clothes. It is clear that the King is not in the habit of providing housing for those who no longer work for the Monarchy.
A Palace source said “the writing was on the wall” for Ms Kelly after the Queen died in September. In a matter of days, the locks on all the cabinets to which she had keys were changed.
She was nicknamed AK47, a play on her initials and the Russian Assault Rifle, due to her quick temper. Mrs Kelly, married three times, is said to have thrown a bag of rubbish at a member of the catering staff after being served a late lunch before an inauguration.
But his biggest mistake appears to have been falling out with the senior Royals. When Prince Harry said he visited her grandmother last year to make sure she was “protected” and “had the right people around her”, he was seen as a jab at Ms Kelly .
This followed reports of ‘Tiaragate’, in which Harry and Mrs Kelly quarreled over a tiara that the prince’s then-fiancée, Meghan Markle, was to wear at their 2018 wedding.
Meghan wanted it beforehand so she and her hairstylist could figure out the best way to use it, but Mrs Kelly is believed to have gotten in the way. Harry is reported to have told her: ‘What Meghan wants, Meghan gets.’
She denied saying this in her memoir, Spare, but wrote: “She (Mrs Kelly) was obstructing. Angela was a troublemaker and she didn’t need her as an enemy.
When the King’s reign began, there was no obvious new role for Mrs Kelly. The queen consort already had a chest of drawers. The Queen was thought to have made provision for Mrs. Kelly. Now, however, she could be ousted from the royal fold.
Angela Kelly leaves Westminster Abbey during Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral on September 19 last year.
In ‘Tiaragate’ reports, Prince Harry (left at their wedding) and Ms Kelly quarreled over a tiara that the prince’s then-fiancée Meghan Markle (right) was to wear at their 2018 wedding .
Ms Kelly started working at the Palace after meeting the Queen and Prince Philip when they visited Berlin, where she was housekeeper to the British Ambassador. She told them that she wanted to return to Britain and then they offered her a job at the Palace. She became the Queen’s wardrobe assistant in 2002 and then principal wardrobe.
She was praised for revamping the Queen’s image with outfits in bold colors and matching hats. When the Queen’s health deteriorated, Mrs Kelly became more of a personal attendant. The Monarch once told her: ‘We could be sisters.’
There were rewards for their loyalty. Ms Kelly, who regularly wore new shoes for the Queen as her feet were the same size, lived in a cottage on the Windsor Estate and in 2021 she moved to another property.
In recognition of her work, and perhaps knowing that such permission would not be granted after her death, the Queen allowed her to publish two books revealing details of her role: Dressing The Queen and The Other Side Of The Coin: The Queen, The Dresser. and. The wardrobe.
Carlos is understood to have been horrified by intimate details, such as the behind-the-scenes details of Prince Philip’s funeral.
When the Queen made Windsor Castle her home for her final year, Mrs Kelly was assigned the next room. It is said that Charles felt that she turned up the volume on her television too much.
Now, she has apparently been stripped of the privileges of palace life. But she can have the last laugh. Her editorial contract is for three books. Given how close she was to the Crown, the third might be her most revealing yet.
