Queen’s closest aide to reveal how royals got through Covid lockdown
The Queen has given her closest aide special permission to update her behind-the-scenes book about working for the monarch to include extra chapters on Covid and Prince Philip's funeral.
Angela Kelly's revised book, The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe – first published in 2019 – will be republished on May 12 to reveal how the royals coped in lockdown and look ahead to the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June.
The monarch spent most of the pandemic with the Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle, where they were protected in "HMS Bubble", the nickname given to the tight-knit group of staff that looked after them in isolation.
Ms Kelly, a Liverpool docker's daughter whose official title is Personal Assistant, Adviser and Curator to Her Majesty The Queen (Jewellery, Insignias and Wardrobe), will reveal how she had to set and cut the 95-year-old monarch's hair during lockdown.
Katya Shipster, the Harper non-fiction publishing director, said: "It tells the story of the royal bubble as well as the lengths Angela and the royal household went to in order to ensure the safety of the monarch."
It is not known whether the update will detail any of the concessions being made to the Queen's advancing years after she was forced to use a walking stick last October and cancelled engagements because of mobility problems.
Ms Kelly, 64, joined the royal household in 1994 and has grown so close to the Queen that Her Majesty once remarked: "We could be sisters."
In 2012, she was given special permission to write Dressing the Queen, telling the story of the sovereign's Diamond Jubilee wardrobe. Seven years later, she published The Other Side of the Coin, a part-autobiographical book featuring anecdotes from her uniquely close working relationship with the Queen.
As well as sanctioning both books, the Queen also gave permission for photographs that had never been seen before to be included, giving a coveted glimpse of life behind palace walls.
Ms Kelly rarely gives interviews but once disclosed: "We are two typical women. We discuss clothes, make-up, jewellery."
News of the book update came as Clarence House on Monday announced that the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will make an official visit to Canada next month to mark the Platinum Jubilee.
The pair, who last visited Canada in 2017, will meet communities throughout Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada's Capital Region and the Northwest Territories.
The Prince has visited Canada 18 times, while Camilla has been on four occasions. The Queen has visited Canada more than any other country, but she stopped travelling long haul in 2011.
