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

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Revised and updated to mark The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, this special edition of The Other Side of the Coin contains chapters covering the Royal Household’s isolation during the pandemic, Angela’s own devotion to service to keep the monarch safe, and the light and laughter that was shared behind closed doors, even in the darkest moments. If you know me, you know my love and obsession for the Royals and for fashion and this book covered it all! This book was on my Christmas list and although it is the second book of Angela Kelly and I have not had the chance to read the first one, this book gave an insight of what it is like to work for Her Majesty, The Queen. And oh how I wish I did! In 2012 Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Diamond Jubilee, 60 years on the throne, only the second English monarch to do so, Queen Victoria being the first. Even in an ordinary year she attends many events, but this year was special so more were planned, and her wardrobe had to be special too. Angela Kelly serves as the queen's personal assistant, advisor and curator of the personal jewel collection. She also designs most of the queen's wardrobe, including hats, but always with input from the queen. Everything has to be reasonably comfortable to wear, easily seen in a crowd. They start with the fabric which has to not crease or crush easily. They do special shopping, but start with the collection of fabric they already have, much of it bought on previous trips overseas as well as locally in the UK. The wardrobe is made in-house by dressmakers, with a milliner for the hats. The font was annoyingly small and overall I thought the quality of the finish of the book not to be as good as expected.

Her Majesty personally gave Angela her blessing to share their extraordinary bond with the world. Whether it was preparing for a formal occasion or brightening Her Majesty’s day with a playful joke, Angela’s priority was to serve and support. Sharing never-before-seen photographs – many from Angela’s own private collection – and charming anecdotes of their time spent together, this revealing book provides memorable insights into what it was like to work closely with The Queen, to curate her wardrobe and to discover a true and lasting connection along the way. 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. In The Other Side of the Coin , The Queen has personally given Angela her blessing to share their extraordinary bond with the world. Whether it’s preparing for a formal occasion or brightening Her Majesty’s day with a playful joke, Angela’s priority is to serve and support. Sharing never-before-seen photographs – many from Angela’s own private collection – and charming anecdotes of their time spent together, this revealing book provides memorable insights into what it’s like to work closely with The Queen, to curate her wardrobe and to discover a true and lasting connection along the way.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.’ This gives quite the enjoyable insight into how the Queen's wardrobe is planned, made and maintained. Whilst I enjoyed the liveliness of the author's personality there were times in the book where I felt she was a bit self glorifying! However, she has real reason to be really proud of her work and she clearly respects and loves the Queen. The book documents the unique working relationship between Her Majesty The Queen and the woman who has been her Personal Assistant and Senior Dresser for more than two decades: Angela Kelly. It gives a rare insight into the demands of the job of supporting the Monarch, and we gain privileged insight into a successful working relationship, characterised by humour, creativity, hard work, and a mutual commitment to service and duty. Angela is a talented and inspiring woman, who has captured the highlights of her long career with The Queen for us all to share.’ – Samantha Cohen, Assistant Private Secretary to The Queen (2011–2018) The author uses the opportunity to remove the public's misconceptions about Queen and the royal family in this book. She tells us why we shouldn't believe these furtive details spread as rumors circulating in the crowd.

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. I'm not a clothes horse OR a follower of the Royals, but I was fascinated by Kelly's stories of her childhood as one of six children in a working class family in Liverpool. She started working at age fifteen and married and had three children by the time she was in her twenties. She was divorced when she was hired to take charge of the Queen's wardrobe. 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." 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.how Kelly prepared HM for her entrance to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, the making of her hologram, and for various professional photography sessions;

The author portrays the Queen as an intelligent woman with a well-developed sense of humor and a charming modesty. Her life's work (and first responsibility) is to serve the people of the British Empire and her ego is sublimated to that goal. If a hat designed to match that day's outfit turns out to be unflattering, she's unflappable. She won't have a temper tantrum and disappoint the people who've come to see her. She's the Queen and their servant. She must go through with her schedule and she MUST wear a hat. If it looks like hell, too damned bad. 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. This was extremely cringeworthy. It was a case of everyone else is wrong and the author is right, especially if the everyone else was someone who was in a more senior position (except for her mentors). The author and any budding author should take note: no one likes a chronic complainer or a tattle tale, it just sounds bad and is a bad look.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 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. 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? Her Majesty needed to look glamorous on every occasion: there must not be a 'stand-out' outfit that overshadowed the rest, especially since she would be visiting two countries. There were also cultural sensitivities to take into account: would any particular colour be considered offensive or inappropriate?"

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. Angela also shares her love for design with her granddaughter Scarlett, which made me smile as I share my own sewing stories with my own grandmother Carol. I absolutely loved the stunning photos in the hardcopy! Many have never been seen before! The colors were especially dazzling!There's little about the Queen's relationship with her children or grandchildren, but Prince Philip plays a starring role. The author is an admirer of that controversial character, claiming that his value to the Queen was that he ALWAYS told her the truth. I loved his blunt opinion of an outfit done in a loud plaid. Suitable for covering the sofa, was the way he put it, saving his wife the embarrassment of appearing in clothing unsuited for her petite figure.