The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe

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With the help of Angela Kelly, she opted for yellow and pink and powder blue, in summery dresses with pretty floral designs." Was Queen Elizabeth a strict person who never agreed to break protocol? The answer to this question can be easily found on social media in the London Olympics inauguration video. It was not a video that fortuitously happened. We can see how she agreed to break the protocol and made us all see her humorous side to make us all happy. That she and Prince Philip didn’t see each other for weeks after he retired from public duties in 2017 One crucial factor was the dress The Queen would wear for the momentous skydive. I had to be careful not to choose a colour that was strongly associated with any of the participating nations, too, so after much consideration, I chose peach. However, the colour wasn't the only factor, the dress also had to be designed perfectly to allow movement in the skirt as The Queen seemingly flew through the air." Angela is obviously a very important person in the Queens life and is involved in the fabric selection, the dress making, the alterations, hat design you name it. Even ironing on the Royal train.

There are few occasions on which Her Majesty will agree to break protocol, but in 2011, when film director Danny Boyle approached the Royal Household, he had a request to make that we simply could not refuse. You know how when you had to write a paper in school and there was a minimum length requirement so you just kept repeating and rewording the same thoughts over and over? That is this book. I wasn't expecting Kelly to disclose any deep, dark secrets. Some things as best left private. I did; however, learn a lot more about the Queen than I knew before, which made this a most enjoyable read for me. how Kelly prepared HM for her entrance to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, the making of her hologram, and for various professional photography sessions;

🍪 Privacy & Transparency

author Angela Kelly gives an in-depth, but dignified look behind-the-scenes as Queen Elizabeth II's Personal Assistant, Advisor and Curator (Jewellery, Insignias, and Wardrobe) since 1994;

Bombshell claims in the upcoming biography by Prince Philip's friend Gyles Brandreth titled Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait suggest the Queen's closeness to Angela was said to "not always go down well" and other staff "found her a nuisance". First impression matter. Angela met QEII while working at the Berlin embassy. She refused to tell the Queen who was coming next since she had signed a confidentially agreement. Notes on Reading I once read that the Queen said "I am an ordinary person with an extraordinary job". And I believed it, but she's not. She's not like us at all. When Prince William, who is her grandson and second in line to the throne, got married and the invites went out the first thing all the women did was concentrate on getting the right outfit. I'm sure that Carole Middleton, mother of the bride, had the outfit, jewellery and accessories all sorted out months before. But the Queen only decided three weeks before that she'd like to wear something in yellow. Who does that? Also extreme name dropping, especially with QE2. I couldn't believe one of the earliest experiences she related when she kept bothering QE2 about elocution lessons even when QE2 had given her opinion once. For the nearly seven decades of her reign, Her Majesty The Queen has used clothing to create a powerful visual identity that transcends fashion and has made her perhaps the most readily identifiable person on the planet. Angela Kelly, building on the work of the great designers and milliners who have worked with Her Majesty through the years – including couturiers Sir Norman Hartnell, Sir Hardy Amies, and Ian Thomas, and milliners such as Simone Mirman and Freddy Fox – brings her own imagination to bear on an iconic ‘uniform’ that suggests continuity and tradition, and ensures that the wearer is always the most visible person in a room or a crowd.’ –Anna Wintour, Vogue

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I absolutely loved this book! It may seem easy to imagine what goes into dressing the Queen, especially for the Diamond Jubilee Celebration which happened in 2012. I guarantee that you really cannot imagine the scope of what it took - what it still takes every day - to dress HRH the Queen. Angela is the Dresser of the Queen and has been for the past 25 years. How she came upon this position and how her friendship with the Queen was so empowering and a breath of fresh air. Learning about what it takes to make the Queen's looks is astonishing and to just be a bystander in the room would have me in awe. It takes an army and Angela's team is one of those teams that are truly miracle workers. From designing her looks (up to two a day!) to her hats to her shoes, the Queen is always in style! And she's pretty down to earth too!

I would have been interested to read more in the book about the history of the position of the Queen's dresser over the course of Queen Elizabeth II's reign. Kelly notes that previous dressers did not keep records concerning the provenance of materials in the Queen's wardrobe and I would liked to learn more about the challenges Kelly faced in organizing the Queen's fashions when she began her role. I enjoyed learning about Kelly's personal memories about trips abroad, especially when she came to Canada and worked with the Mi'kmaq in Nova Scotia and her special fondness for the province of Saskatchewan; One of the good things about working in the same job for such a long time is that it allows you to put things right that haven't gone quite as planned in the past." A fascinating glimpse of life behind the scenes in the Queen's household. As the Queen's Personal Assistant and senior dresser, Angela Kelly describes her numerous duties including consulting with Queen about suitable fashions for every occasion, caring for delicate fabrics and conducting advance visits to royal tour itineraries to plan the Queen's wardrobe. Kelly also describes the more unique aspects of her role including ironing on the royal train (following the rhythm of the train "like surfing") and letting the bookies know when to close the betting on the colour of the Queen's hat at Royal Ascot. I enjoy reading about the Royal Family. I found this audiobook on Hoopla shortly after Queen Elizabeth II passed away; and,The author is a professional royal family dresser. So she goes into the details of selecting costumes for the Queen and what she considered and discussed with the Queen while choosing each outfit. If you are someone who is reading this book just to know more about Queen and not a fashion aficionado and are not interested to know anything about her wardrobe, haute couture, and fashion, you will find some of these areas of this book boring.

In a snippet serialised in the Mail+ it explained how Angela helped the Queen dress in colourful clothes following the death of her husband. Along with the claims about the staff's feelings towards the dresser, Brandreth's book also reveals the Queen's incredible stoicism during her final months. It was also interesting to see drawings of many of pieces designed by Ms. Kelly over the last 2 decades and the finish product worn by Her Majesty.Kelly herself is a tough Liverpool-Irish girl with great energy and an optimistic outlook. She loves fabric and clothes and feels privileged to have been the means of encouraging the Queen to transition to brighter colors and more modern designs. It's always fun to read about someone who loves his/her job.