Angela Kelly has it all: brains, talent, know-how, a successful clothing line, recognition, and most important of all, a close working relationship bordering on friendship with the world’s most famous and beloved monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. Who would possibly want to murder her?
Etiquetteer greatly enjoyed Ms. Kelly’s new book The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe, which provides the unique insider’s look the public so loves at the daily operations of the British monarchy. But it definitely feels a bit show-offy, a bit the teacher’s pet polishing her halo in front of the class. Ms. Kelly shares with us the involved logistics of robing the Queen with the enormous velvet Robes of State, personally breaking in new shoes before the Queen has to wear them, and interesting stories about some of the Queen’s more memorable ensembles. But as Etiquetteer went deeper and deeper into the book, Ms. Kelly began to appear as one of those characters in Agatha Christie murder mysteries who gets murdered - because everyone has a motive. Or do they?
It’s not always easy to identify the suspects, as Ms. Kelly slaps out thick coats of praise for her staff and colleagues. Like Etiquetteer, she clearly believes in “Credit where it's due,” and it is a real pleasure to read her appreciation of her staff on the Dressers’ Floor, her colleagues in the Royal Household, and particular vendors. She names names in all the right ways, and even includes a photograph of her entire team on page 88. She proudly describes them as “the crème de la crème,” and Etiquetteer believes she means it. Mrs. Kelly also pays tribute to her predecessors, who taught her what she knows, including her mother.
She has also insulated herself, at least within the book, with more than a few testimonials and appreciations from colleagues, vendors, and even her grandchildren. It’s especially interesting to read what photographers share about working with Ms. Kelly on photo shoots with the Queen.
So . . . who could it be? Could it be the designer(s) whose designs were given a thumbs-down by Ms. Kelly in the presence of the Queen? Ms. Kelly makes it clear, more than a few times, that the Queen Comes First. And if someone’s opinions and feelings get a little bruised along the way due to her concern for the Queen’s appearance, that’s just too bad. In the chapter “Finding My Feet” Ms. Kelly confesses that she just doesn’t have a poker face. When finally invited to attend fittings with designers and being asked in front of them by the Queen for her opinion, Ms. Kelly fired both barrels. “Even worse, if the Queen asked my advice, I would be forced to dismiss an outfit in front of its designer, or the hat in front of its milliner. Her Majesty would never want to hurt anyone’s feelings, even if I didn’t mind [emphasis Etiquetteer’s], and I would have to be honest about my opinion for her sake.” The result: a happy, more stylish Queen, and more possible murder suspects in the British fashion world.
Could it be the anonymous London couturier who, when Ms. Kelly visited incognito and asked to see things “on the rails,” did himself out of any Palace business by sneering that they were “couture, not retail?” Could it be the (again) anonymous Private Secretary in 2000 who tried to keep the Queen from wearing black to visit His Holiness the Pope so she could appear less funereal in a group photo with her Household afterward? Ms. Kelly gave him a deserved mauvais quart d’heure on the day, telling this now-panicked Private Secretary that the Queen would appear before the Pope in shocking pink. But she had secretly prepared a black day dress for Her Majesty, who was visibly relieved.
Could it be the ghost of Marion Crawford, the Queen’s childhood governess who was ostracized completely by the Royal Family after she published her own memoir, The Little Princesses: The Intimate Story of HRH Princess Elizabeth and HRH Princess Margaret by Their Governess? Indeed, how many members of the Royal Household must be seething right now, casting “loving glances” at Ms. Kelly, profiting thus from her royal appointment by unique privilege? Are these the colleagues who gave her the nickname “AK47,” which Ms. Kelly writes she “takes as a compliment,” but might cut both ways?
Could it be one of the (unnamed) former Palace staff whose memoirs Ms. Kelly takes time to discredit? At the start of the chapter “The Queen’s Wardrobe,” she swipes at those who “are prone to making suggestions and sharing supposed details about the Queen’s private rooms, when they actually have no iinsight whatsoever . . . There will always be people who will say anything for attention.”
Of course Etiquetteer hopes Ms. Kelly isn’t really bumped off, though one can see how her flashes of self-aggrandizement might tempt others to get her out of the way. But The Other Side of the Coin still delights. With exuberance and reverence, Ms Kelly shares with us the logistics of handling enormous Robes of State, anecdotes from overseas Royal tours, and her creative process in designing the Queen’s outfits for specific occasions. It’s an engaging, well-illustrated account, throughout which the author constantly reminds the reader that Some Things Cannot Be Told.
Mrs. Kelly portrays herself, flatteringly, in several roles: designer, leader, fighter, and courtier/confidante. Fashionistas, and those who simply love clothes, will be most interested in her stories about particular garments and what led to them. An advance visit to a mosque, for instance, led to the creation of a cloth-of-gold coat with colorful beading inspired by the site. To create the perfect outfit for Her Majesty requires considering the season, time of day, specific occasion, requirements (for instance, will the Queen have to give a speech or not, etc.), what was worn on previous visits, and of course Her Majesty’s comfort. Mrs. Kelly’s achievements have kept the Queen up to date “without,” as Mrs. Archer put it in The Age of Innocence, “appearing in advance of the fashion.”
From an etiquette standpoint, Ms. Kelly includes some fun Court-specific tidbits, such as educating a jeweler that it isn’t Perfectly Proper to refer to the Queen Mother as '“mum.” Early in her Palace career there was some confusion about whether, as a divorcée, she should be known as Miss or Mrs. Kelly. (She chose Miss, to eliminate questions about her marital status.) At Sandringham, once the Queen has chosen what to wear for dinner, a notice is pinned in the “Dressers’ Corridor” to alert houseguests who might be uncomfortable showing up wearing the same color. (Ms. Kelly makes clear that the Queen wouldn’t really mind if that actually happened.) We’ll never have to worry about these things in our own daily lives, but oh, how the public loves these little details of Court life.
This is Ms. Kelly’s second book. Let’s hope the sequel isn’t Murder in the Queen’s Wardrobe!