Queen picks Liver Bird as her Lord-Lieutenant!
HE WAS the Marxist scriptwriter who warned schoolchildren of the dangers of heroin in Grange Hill before introducing the first pre-watershed lesbian kiss on British TV in his gritty Liverpudlian soap opera Brookside. But now Phil Redmond is to be the plus-one of a pillar of the Establishment.
I hear his wife, Alexis Redmond, has been appointed as Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Cheshire, the Queen’s representative in the county.
And courtiers see the influence of the Queen’s senior dresser Angela Kelly, a Liverpool docker’s daughter, in the appointment. Kelly is said to be a fan of Brookside and an admirer of the Redmonds.
‘There’s an increasingly strong Liverpool connection at the Palace,’ says one. ‘You could say it fits in rather well with the Government’s Northern, levelling-up agenda.’
Kelly, 63, was raised in a council house but worked her way up to become the Queen’s closest confidante. Known as ‘AK-47’ because of her no-nonsense manner, she designs many of the monarch’s outfits.
Significantly, perhaps, the Queen chose to wear a hat designed by Kelly when she opened the Museum of Liverpool in 2011. Redmond showed her round as the museum’s chairman. She had previously been introduced to him and his wife when she met members of Brookside’s cast on another visit to Liverpool in 2002.
‘What always strikes me is that she is just so incredibly beautiful,’ Alexis, 65, later said. ‘You don’t expect that.
The photographs never do her justice. She has a good sense of humour, too. Quite a wicked sense of humour.’
Alexis will step into a new pair of gold buckle shoes and velvet frock coat in August. Her duties will include presenting honours, medals and awards, and arranging royal visits.
The couple’s path to the Establishment began when Redmond was presented with a CBE in 2004.
A knighthood followed last year, and Alexis has already spent a year as Cheshire’s High Sheriff. Lieutenancy officer Robin Roberts confirms. ‘Alexis Redmond will be the first female lord-lieutenant of Cheshire.’