EXCLUSIVE: Queen's best friend Angela Kelly 'cut off' by King Charles
EXCLUSIVE: The Queen’s former right-hand woman Angela Kelly has been ‘cut off’ by King Charles and kicked out of her grace-and-favour Windsor Estate home – and her work mobile has been disconnected
Queen Elizabeth’s former right-hand woman Angela Kelly has been ‘cut off’ by the King and booted out of her grace-and-favour home in the shadow of Windsor Castle, MailOnline can reveal today.
Ms Kelly, the late Queen’s dresser and confidante for more than 20 years, is being forced to move out from her Berkshire house, she has publicly confirmed.
Not only is she having to vacate the modest semi-detached cottage on the Windsor Estate, she revealed that her work-issue mobile phone has been cut off.
As she prepared for a new life in the Peak District, 180 miles away from Windsor, she was unusually candid this week on her public ‘Agenthighheels’ Instagram account.
Ms Kelly, 65, poignantly posted a picture of her garden, telling friends: ‘Getting ready to say goodbye. I am moving at last to my new home which I will be able to call My Home at last ♥️’.
She also posted, in response to a friend: ‘I’m moving to the Peak District just further on than Sheffield so not to far away from the family. My works phone has been disconnected but hopefully you have this one…Looking forward to my New Adventures [with smiling emoji]’.
Her Instagram stories from this morning suggest she was defiant to the end. She posted: ‘I am too old to worry about who likes me and who dislikes me! I have more important things to do! If you love me – I love you! ‘If you support me – I support you! If you hate me – I don’t care!’
She followed that with a gif of a child chanting: ‘I can’t do negative today. Positive vibes, positive vibes!’
Royal dressmaker Angela Kelly, pictured right with her ‘best friend’ the Queen and Anna Wintour in 2018, has been ‘cut off’ by the King and booted out of her grace-and-favour home
Sharing a picture of her garden in Windsor before she moved out
She said under the garden image: ‘Getting ready to say goodbye. I am moving at last to my new home which I will be able to call My Home at last’
Ms Kelly posted memes related to positive thinking and ignoring negativity and being ‘too old’ to worry about people who don’t like you in a series of Instagram stories
Although Angela Kelly (pictured with Queen) was not thought to have been officially on duty at the time of the Queen’s death on September 8, she was among a handful of close personal staff who were at her side for her final days in Scotland
Friends of fiery Ms Kelly, the Liverpool docker’s daughter who became the Queen’s closest aide, feel she has been treated badly after such loyal and devoted service and say she has become another victim of the King’s ‘property merry-go-round’.
Angela was praised for overhauling the Queen’s image with outfits in eye-catching colours and matching hats. As Her Majesty’s health faltered, Ms Kelly became more of a personal assistant. The Monarch had once told her: ‘We could be sisters.’
Angela Kelly is seen during The State Funeral Of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey on September 19, 2022
On the day of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral last year, Ms Kelly described it as ‘A very sad day for me today. I said goodbye to my best friend.’
Many in Royal circles expected she would be granted accommodation for life after her decades of service to the late Monarch.
She was recently recognised by King Charles in a special honours awards marking the death of the Queen.
But eyebrows were raised when she only became a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, rather than a Dame Commander as might have been expected.
But despite, or perhaps because of, Ms Kelly’s closeness to the Queen, some in the Royal Household were suspicious of her, and one insider suggested to the Mail on Sunday that perhaps ‘scores were being settled’.
A source told the paper: ‘She’s been told she will soon have to move out. It’s a nice little place on the Windsor Estate and it was convenient for seeing her grandson, who was at college nearby.
‘But the King has made it clear that under the new reign people will have to cut their cloth. The King is clearly not in the habit of providing homes for those no longer working for the Monarchy.’
Angela has lived in several properties on the Windsor estate, most recently this one
The Queen close friend and confidante Angela Kelly arrives to see her on her 96th birthday
King Charles, pictured, is said to be unhappy about the prospect of a further book on his late mother’s wardrobe and will stop Angela from accessing the garments to assist her research
A Palace insider said the ‘writing was on the wall’ for Ms Kelly after the Queen died in September. Within days, the locks had been changed on all the cupboards to which she held keys.
Three-times-married Ms Kelly is said to have thrown a bag of rubbish at a member of the catering staff after her lunch was served late before an investiture.
But her biggest mistake appears to have been to fall out with senior Royals. When Prince Harry said he visited his grandmother last year to ensure she was ‘protected’ and ‘had the right people around her’, it was seen as a swipe at Ms Kelly.
Angela is said to have had an incredibly fractious relationship with Prince Harry. This followed reports of ‘Tiaragate’, in which Harry and Ms Kelly fell out over a tiara the prince’s then fiancee, Meghan Markle, was to wear at her wedding in 2018.
This followed reports of ‘Tiaragate’, in which Harry and Ms Kelly fell out over a tiara the prince’s then fiancee, Meghan Markle, was to wear at her wedding in 2018.
Meghan wanted it beforehand so she and her hairdresser could work out how best to wear it, but it is believed Ms Kelly stood in the way. Harry is said to have told her: ‘What Meghan wants, Meghan gets.’
He denied saying this in his memoir, Spare, but did write: ‘She [Ms Kelly] was being obstructive. Angela was a troublemaker and I didn’t need her as an enemy.’
When the King’s reign began, there was no obvious new role for Ms Kelly. The Queen Consort already had her own dresser. It was thought the Queen had made provision for Ms Kelly. Now, though, she appears to have been cast out of the Royal fold.
In recognition of her work – and perhaps knowing that no such permission would be granted after she died – the Queen let her 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.
Charles is said to have been appalled at the intimate specifics disclosed therein, such as behind-the-scenes details of Prince Philip’s funeral.
When the Queen made Windsor Castle her home in her final year, Ms Kelly was given the neighbouring room. Charles is said to have felt she turned her TV up too loud.
Now, she has seemingly been stripped of the privileges of Palace life. But she may have the last laugh. Her publishing deal is for three books. Given how close she was to the Crown, the third one could be the most revealing yet.
In her book Ms Kelly wrote a personal message to the Queen which said: ‘Your Majesty,with humble respect I would like to dedicate my second book to you for allowing me to write about our personal working relationship that has grown over many years, and allowing me to share the details of it and to describe how we have come together on a trusted personal level.
‘I will always be truly grateful. I cherish the time you have allowed me to have with you and the friendship you have shown me.
‘With love and gratitude, Angela x,’
She added: ‘When I first asked The Queen if she would mind me writing another book, after Dressing the Queen in 2012, but this time about our close working relationship, I never thought in my wildest dreams that Her Majesty would say yes.
‘Once the initial shock was over, I found myself struggling. The Queen trusts me and she knows I would not write any intimate details or anything untoward about our friendship and working relationship, but, nevertheless, I still struggled.
‘I wanted to do this book justice. I wanted to be worthy of writing it, and to share with you the magic]and engaging moments that have happened between Her Majesty and myself while we have been working together.
‘The Queen may not have thought them magical, but I did and I still do.’
‘During my twenty-five years to date of working with The Queen, many events and engagements have taken place. Her Majesty travels to and from Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Sandringham House, the Palace of Holyrood house and Balmoral Castle, and spends numerous private weekends away, too.’
She added: ‘The Queen and I have fun and laughter, but there is a serious side to my work in which challenging and difficult decisions have to be taken – split-second decisions sometimes. I have to be quick and think on my feet. But it’s all in a day’s work. Someone has to do it – and I’m so glad it’s me.’
Ms Kelly began working at the Palace after meeting the Queen and Prince Philip when they visited Berlin, where she was housekeeper for the British ambassador. She told them she wanted to return to Britain, and was later offered a job at the Palace. She became an assistant dresser to the Queen in 2002, and then principal dresser.
She was praised for overhauling the Queen’s image with outfits in eye-catching colours and matching hats. As the Queen’s health failed, Ms Kelly became more of a personal assistant. The Monarch once told her: ‘We could be sisters.’
There were rewards for her loyalty. Ms Kelly – who regularly wore in new shoes for the Queen as their feet were the same size – lived in a cottage on the Windsor Estate and in 2021 moved to another property.
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