Queen Elizabeth Has Royal Staff To Wear In Her Shoes

One of Her Majesty’s official dressmakers reveals what it’s really like to be in charge of the Queen’s wardrobe

There are many perks to being royal, such as jet-setting around the world at just five months old, or having the whole country celebrate your 18th birthday. But one of the more niche perks includes having an assistant to break in your hardiest new footwear, so that you don’t have to worry about doing it yourself. 

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The Queen, accompanied by The Countess of Wessex, held a reception at Buckingham Palace celebrating the work of The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust, as the charitable foundation prepares to close in 2020. Commonwealth Heads of Government decided to create a Trust in 2012 to mark and celebrate Her Majesty’s sixty-year contribution to the Commonwealth. The Trust’s work has since focused on helping to prevent avoidable blindness and to empower a new generation of young leaders. Its mission is to leave a lasting legacy owned by the whole Commonwealth, in honour of Her Majesty. The Trust has helped more than 22 million people in Africa and the Pacific receive vital antibiotics to combat trachoma – the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness and provided sight-saving surgery to over 104,000 people suffering with trachoma trichiasis. Each year from 2014 to 2018, 60 exceptional young people were selected to receive a @queensyoungleaders Award and become ‘Queen’s Young Leaders’ – one for every year that The Queen had served as Head of the Commonwealth at the time of her Diamond Jubilee. Progress made in the areas of preventable blindness and youth leadership will ensure that The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust has a lasting legacy. © PA / Royal Family

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In her new book, The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, The Dresser and the Wardrobe, royal dressmaker Angela Kelly has revealed that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II does indeed have someone to wear in her shoes for her.

In the book, (which has been authorised by the monarch), Kelly says that the issue comes down to wanting to save time – and it’s none other than Kelly herself who is the designated assistant to break in Her Majesty’s shoes. 

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Her Majesty, Patron of @crusecare, this evening met the bereavement charity’s volunteers at a reception to celebrate their 60th Anniversary. #CruseAt60 Cruse Care offer bereavement support, advice and information through a network of nearly 5,000 volunteers. The charity’s volunteers have provided support following devastating events, including 9/11 and the Grenfell Tower Fire. See our story for more from tonight’s reception. PA

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“The Queen has very little time to herself and not enough time to wear in her own shoes,” she explained in an extract published by Hello!  “We share the same shoe size [so] it makes the most sense this way.” 

Kelly has been the Queen’s right-hand woman since 2002. She first announced that she would be writing The Other Side of the Coin back in Septmeber earlier this year, writing all about her relationship with the monrach, and even revealing that, “the Queen and I have a lot of fun together.”