Queen Elizabeth’s senior dresser Angela Kelly is a big fan of a new play about her relationship with the monarch.
Daisy Goodwin’s By Royal Appointment was inspired by the late monarch and her personal assistant’s working relationship and Daisy revealed Angela actually attended a performance of the play and was impressed with how “true to the Queen” it was.
Daisy told HELLO! Magazine: “She wrote me such a sweet note afterwards to say how much she’d enjoyed it. She felt it was truthful and it had made her well up.
“I thought that was so impressive. It takes a lot of nerve to watch something that’s meant to be you on stage. She was big enough to see that what I’ve done was not her but true to her position. I think she thought it was true to the Queen so I was thrilled by that.”
Daisy also spoke about how Angela’s circumstances have changed since the death of Queen Elizabeth in 2022, going from a role “at the heart of the court” to obscurity.
She said: “You go from having been one of the most powerful people at the heart of the court to someone whose services are no longer required and I thought ‘here is a great story’.
“I didn’t want her to feel exploited but now that she’s seen it, she knows it’s an affectionate portrait of the Queen and a realistic portrait of her.
“I imagine that in a world of courtiers, to have someone like Angela, who is not to the manor born, in a position of power, must have been quite tricky. She didn’t suffer fools gladly.”
And, Daisy was also fascinated by Queen Elizabeth’s relationship with fashion.
She explained: “Here is a woman who isn’t interested in fashion at all. What she wanted to wear was a Barbour or a headscarf. And yet she was the most famous clotheshorse in the world.”
By Royal Appointment is currently on a national tour with Anne Reid as the Queen and Caroline Quentin as the dresser.