Angela Kelly

Mary Angela Kelly, (born 4 November 1957) is a British fashion designer, dressmaker, and milliner, who served as Personal Assistant and Senior Dresser to Queen Elizabeth II from 1993 until the monarch's death in 2022. Her official title was Personal Assistant, Adviser and Curator to Her Majesty The Queen (Jewellery, Insignias and Wardrobe).

Early life
Kelly was born in Liverpool, as the daughter of a dock worker and a nurse.

Career


Kelly first began working for the Queen after gaining employment as the Queen's Dresser following an interview at Windsor Castle in 1994. She was responsible for the Queen's clothes, jewellery and insignia, researching the venues for royal visits as well as the significance of different colours, in order to create appropriate outfits for the monarch. In 2019, Kelly announced that the Queen would only wear faux-furs.

Notable creations by Kelly include:


 * The replica of the royal christening gown. The original, which had been commissioned by Queen Victoria for the christening of her first child, Victoria, Princess Royal, was retired in 2004 by Elizabeth II for conservation purposes. Kelly's replica has been worn by royal babies for their christenings since 2008.


 * The Queen's outfit for the wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine Middleton; a primrose-yellow double crepe wool coat and matching wool dress, with hand-sewn beading at the neck in the shape of sunrays.


 * Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie's outfits for the wedding of Zara Phillips.


 * Together with British fashion designer Stewart Parvin, Kelly altered, remodeled and fitted the dress that Princess Beatrice of York wore at her wedding to Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi on 17 July 2020. The original dress was designed by the British fashion designer Norman Hartnell, who had originally created it for Queen Elizabeth II, the bride's grandmother, in the 1960s.

With other members of the royal household, she attended the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on 19 September 2022.

Other work
Kelly founded a fashion label, Kelly & Pordum, with Alison Pordum, who was also employed as the Queen's in-house dressmaker until 2008. Kelly is also the author of Dressing the Queen: The Jubilee Wardrobe and The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe.

Honours

 * UK Royal Victorian Order ribbon.svg Royal Victorian Order:
 * 17 June 2006: Member (MVO)
 * 13 September 2012: Lieutenant (LVO)
 * 25 March 2023: Commander (CVO)

Criticism
In the 2023 biography Spare, by Prince Harry (ghostwritten by J. R. Moehringer), Angela Kelly is described as “a troublemaker” who purposefully withheld the tiara promised to Meghan Markle by Queen Elizabeth in her private dressing room, going so far as to begin a row with the Prince during her eventual, curt delivery of the tiara and leveling a threatening gaze.