The loyal aides rallying round the Queen in her hour of need
WITH the Queen mourning the ‘huge void’ in her life left by the death of Prince Philip, family, friends and aides are rallying round.
Led by the Countess of Wessex and the Princess Royal, as well as long-serving staff, they are largely female and determined to make the coming months as bearable as possible.
None will ever be able to replace the man who steadied her ship for 73 years, but some have known her for more than half a century, and will make sure she is never alone.
THE FAMILY
She will receive regular visits from her children. Her Majesty enjoys a close relationship with her only daughter, Princess Anne.
Prince Andrew (the Queen feels comfortable at Royal Lodge, his Windsor home where the Queen Mother once lived) and Prince Edward are very regular visitors as both live closest to the castle, and the Prince of Wales frequently pops in on his way out of London to Highgrove, his Gloucestershire home. However, she will lean most on the Countess of Wessex – Prince Edward’s wife, Sophie.
The 56-year-old, whose own mother, Mary, died in 2005, is like another daughter to her. They genuinely enjoy each other’s company and Sophie frequently goes to the castle to see her. Before Covid, the monarch would visit her home in Bagshot Park, Surrey.
The Queen sees Sophie as a safe and loyal pair of hands. Her daughter, Lady Louise, was extremely close to her great-grandfather as they shared a passion for carriagedriving. Louise, 17, was even seen driving his vehicle and horses on the day he died.
THE HEAD GIRLS
The Queen, given her great age, has lost many of her closest friends, but her ladies-inwaiting have been her rocks and will take their time with her to their own graves.
‘No1 Head Girl’ is Lady Susan Hussey, widow of Lord Marmaduke Hussey, former chairman of the BBC, and one of Prince William’s godparents.
A Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, she is the youngest daughter of the 12th Earl of Waldegrave and has been the loyal friend and companion of the Queen since she joined the Court in 1960 after Prince Andrew’s birth.
Like all ladies-in-waiting, Lady Susan, 81, accompanies Her Majesty on engagements and organises her diary, as well as dealing with her correspondence. She is not paid for her services but does it out of love and loyalty.
But her illustrious lineage belies the fact that she is fun, friendly, ‘wonderfully’ down to earth and knows the intricacies of royal life ‘inside out’.
The other ladies-in-waiting are Mary Morrison, 83, known as Mossy, who has been a Woman of the Bedchamber since 1960 and a Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order. She is the daughter of
John Morrison, 1st Baron Margadale and a Tory MP who served as chairman of the 1922 Committee.
Others include Lady Elton and Dame Annabel Whitehead, 78, a former lady-inwaiting to Princess Margaret.
THE DEVOTED AIDES
At the top of the list of staff closest to the Queen is Angela Kelly, personal assistant and senior dresser, the most powerful woman at Court.
She is a gatekeeper to the palace inner sanctums and revels in her nickname of ‘AK47’, which reflects her ferocious loyalty to the monarch.
The 63-year-old daughter of a crane operator at Liverpool docks, she once said: ‘I come from a humble background and I hope to stay humble.’
She met the Queen in 1992 while working as a housekeeper for the British ambassador to Germany and was offered a job in the royal household the next year.
They are so close that she even wears the Queen’s shoes in, brushes her hair and, palace insiders say, rubs her feet after a particularly long day.
Notably, the monarch took Mrs Kelly’s side when she clashed with Prince Harry over which tiara Meghan could wear at their wedding.
Other close aides include ‘Tall Paul’, towering Page of the Backstairs Paul Whybrew, who appeared with her in the James Bond sketch at the 2012 London Olympics.
He is with her every day and was part of ‘HMS Bubble’ with her and Philip at Windsor during the lockdowns of the past year – and sees more of her than almost anyone else. He has been rewarded with a host of honours for his loyalty.
Other members of the Queen’s private office who will be help her include Sir Edward Young, 54, her private secretary. He has worked at Buckingham Palace since 2004 and has held the top job in her office since 2017.
Sir Edward is supported by deputy private secretary Matthew Magee, who is 7ft 2in, while another close figure is head groom Terry Pendry, who rides with her regularly.