‘The Queen was my best friend, I miss her every day’: Late monarch’s dresser Angela Kelly shares treasured memories of dancing to ABBA together and ‘burned burgers’ at Balmoral

Angela Kelly, dresser of the late Queen, II. She recalled how Elizabeth would ‘dance and sing’ to ABBA as she remembered her ‘best friend’.

Ms Kelly, who worked for the Queen for 25 years, said her boss was a ‘really wonderful grandmother’ and could not stop moving ‘from side to side’ when the band’s hit song Dancing Queen came on the radio.

In his first wide-ranging interview, he was talking about what the late monarch has become since his death at the age of 96 on September 8, 2022.

Mrs Kelly, 68, the daughter of a Liverpool dockworker and seamstress, rose through the ranks at the Palace after taking a job as an Assistant Dresser in 1994.

Ms Kelly, the Queen’s right-hand woman and most trusted adviser, shared “a few moments to cherish” with Elizabeth.

These included listening to Radio 2 and dancing together as I helped her get dressed in the morning.

“I was getting carried away and dancing around her like I was at a disco and the Queen was telling me to ‘step aside’ because I couldn’t sing and we laughed,” Ms Kelly said. Vanity Fair.

‘Seeing the Queen so relaxed were moments to cherish.’

Ms Kelly added that the Queen was deeply committed to her duty and her country, but also loved her role as ‘grandmother’.

Ms Kelly, who remained with the Queen until her death nearly four years ago, also gave insight into her choice of Easter decorations: ‘fluffy chicks and chocolate eggs’.

She added that Her Majesty was never above ‘doing the dishes’ during the royal family’s idyllic summer holidays at Balmoral Castle and always laughed when her husband Prince Phillip ‘burned the burgers’ while barbecuing.

Ms Kelly said: ‘He had barbecues, fun things to do and always did the washing up, even when he was entertaining the Prime Minister.’

‘If the Duke or the cook had burned the burgers he would have just laughed. To be honest, the queen was full of energy and a truly wonderful grandmother.’

The daughter of a Liverpool docker, Miss Kelly started working for Elizabeth in 1994 and became her personal assistant and senior dresser in 2002.

She was known as a cheerful and hard-working royal aide who kept the late Queen’s style up to date and even added a touch of flamboyance.

Elizabeth valued her personal assistant’s opinion and, over the years, gradually freed herself when helping him design for an event.

Despite the late monarch’s advancing years, under Ms Kelly’s direction, he was ready to spruce up his style as a nod to modern times.

The 3D glasses the Queen wore at a film screening in Canada in 2010 were given a flamboyant touch by Ms Kelly with Swarovski crystals forming the letter Q on the sides.

During lockdown, when the Queen was left alone with a small group from her home called ‘HMS Bubble’, Ms Kelly was thought to be part of the team.

She once explained in an interview: ‘We are two typical women. We discuss clothes, make-up, jewellery.’

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Ms. Kelly said that as well as their love of fashion, they also shared a sense of humor and had “some great back-to-back banter.”

Ms Kelly, who worked for the Queen for more than 25 years, told Vanity Fair what the late monarch was like behind closed doors during a recent interview, admitting her boss was a ‘really wonderful grandmother’.

Ms Kelly said the Queen usually started her day listening to Terry Wogan’s show on BBC Radio 2 and could not resist ABBA’s disco pop hit Dancing Queen.

‘When the song came out he loved it and we would both dance to it.

“The Queen would move from side to side and sing,” Ms. Kelly continued. ‘Her Majesty loved to sing and had a beautiful voice. I didn’t. I would get carried away and dance around her like I was at a disco and the queen would tell me to “step aside” because I couldn’t sing and we would laugh.

‘Seeing the Queen so relaxed were moments to cherish.’

Ms Kelly, who now lives in Sheffield, ended the interview on a bittersweet note, saying Elizabeth ‘was my best friend and I miss her every day’.

In March 2023, Ms Kelly was made a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (RVO) for her services to the Queen as part of special ‘Demise’ awards.

Awards under RVO are gifts from the King and are awarded independently of Downing Street to individuals who have served the monarch or the royal family personally.

The following month, it was revealed that the King had secretly gifted Miss Kelly a new house to fulfill her mother’s promise.

Miss Kelly was promised accommodation for life by the Queen, but a few months after Her Majesty’s death the dressmaker was asked to vacate her cottage on the Windsor estate.

In September 2024, Ms. Kelly left for World War II. He had paid a touching tribute to Elizabeth, revealing that before he died he told her “I love you” and “kissed her goodbye”.

Two years after the Queen’s death, Ms Kelly said each anniversary would forever ‘break my heart’.

Ms Kelly also said she was still unsure why she told Her Majesty that she loved him in his final moments.

In a touching statement on Instagram Stories, she said: ‘It’s been two years since I kissed you goodbye. I said I loved you but I still don’t know why.

‘This meant that although I tried to continue for the first year, I couldn’t. I tried to get better the second year, but I couldn’t. Maybe tomorrow can be a new beginning for me, even though every anniversary breaks my heart.’

At the end of her heartfelt message, Ms Kelly wrote: ‘Patience is a virtue you have passed on to me. I waited and now I can see. You sent a guardian angel to help me. You sent your strength to me. ‘My time has come and now I am free.’