Yesterday’s post — the first part in this series — looked at the late Queen’s perspectives on Brexit and on being a Prime Minister. It also included a profile of her first cousin and close friend Margaret Rhodes.

Today’s entry discusses more aspects of the people and things in her long life and historic reign.

No new Royal yacht

To his credit, Boris Johnson was smitten with the Queen.

It was he who came up with the idea of naming London’s long-awaited Crossrail link from Berkshire to Essex the Elizabeth Line, which the monarch officially opened in May 2022.

He desperately wanted the Royal Family to have a new yacht after then-Prime Minister Tony Blair quickly decommissioned Britannia during the first few months of his tenure at No. 10 in 1997.

On May 30, 2021, the Mail reported that Boris had big plans, but the Royals were less keen (emphases mine):

The successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia will not be named after the late Duke of Edinburgh as Prime Minister Boris Johnson had hoped.   

Costing up to £200 million, the boat will be used to host ministerial summits and diplomatic talks as part of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to build links with other countries following Brexit. 

It will be the first national flagship since Britannia, which was decommissioned in 1997, but the new vessel will be a ship rather than a luxury yacht. 

The old vessel is currently berthed in Edinburgh, Scotland. 

It was hoped that the ship would be named after the Prince Philip, who died in April at the age of 99, but the PM’s plan was rejected by the royals. 

A senior Whitehall inside had said the ship would be named after Prince Philip, who played a role in designing the original Britannia, if Buckingham Palace agreed to the plan. 

But, a royal source said the suggestion was ‘too grand’ and added ‘it is not something we have asked for.’ 

The Royal Family will not be using the new ship for personal travel or holidays, as they previously did with the former Royal Yacht Britannia, but will be able to use it to undertake overseas visits at the request of the government … 

When it was decommissioned the monarch, who it has been reported was happiest on board the yacht, was seen shedding a tear in public. 

Buckingham Palace has not been involved in the decision to commission the ship but a source said ‘we respect it’.    

Construction of the new ship is expected to begin as soon as 2022 and it will enter service within the next four years. 

The tendering process for the design and construction of the vessel will launch shortly, with an emphasis on showcasing British design expertise and the latest innovations in green technology.

It is expected to be in service for about 30 years, and will be crewed by the Royal Navy. 

Mr Johnson said: ‘This new national flagship will be the first vessel of its kind in the world, reflecting the UK’s burgeoning status as a great, independent maritime trading nation.

‘Every aspect of the ship, from its build to the businesses it showcases on board, will represent and promote the best of British – a clear and powerful symbol of our commitment to be an active player on the world stage.’

However, timing is everything. In 2021, the UK, as so many countries were at the time, was recovering from the pandemic, physically and economically. What might have sailed smoothly without coronavirus suddenly hit a political iceberg.

The plan went no further in 2022 because of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak scuppered the plan altogether for that reason. On November 7, 2022, The Guardian reported:

Rishi Sunak has sunk plans by Boris Johnson’s administration to build a new royal yacht, sparking criticism about the £2.5m of taxpayers’ money already spent on the “vanity project”.

As Whitehall braced for cuts expected in Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement next week, the project – intended to promote post-Brexit trade – was abandoned in favour of defence capabilities.

The scheme, championed by Johnson when he was prime minister, was likely to cost up to £250m, with additional annual running costs of up to £30m.

The defence secretary, Ben Wallace, who had previously supported the idea and described critics as “doomsters”, told the House of Commons it had been dropped on Monday.

He said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin’s “reckless disregard of international arrangements designed to keep world order” meant it was more important to deliver “capabilities which safeguard our national infrastructure”.

Wallace confirmed he had “directed the termination of the national flagship competition with immediate effect”, in order to prioritise the procurement of a multi-role ocean surveillance ship (MRoss).

The MRoss would “protect sensitive defence infrastructure and civil infrastructure” and “improve our ability to detect threats to the seabed and cables”, he said.

Sunak’s spokesperson said the prime minister thought it was “right to prioritise at a time when difficult spending decisions need to be made”.

Labour welcomed the news that the government was scrapping Johnson’s “taxpayer-funded vanity project”.

The Queen’s dresser, Angela Kelly

The Queen and her personal dresser, Angela Kelly, developed a close personal relationship over the years.

In a January 5, 2020 article about her, The Sun told us how this occurred:

The pair first met in 1992, when Angela was working as a housekeeper for the British Ambassador to Germany.

The Queen, 93, and Prince Phillip, 98, visited Sir Christopher Mallaby at his home, while in Germany on an official visit.

As they left, the pair said goodbye to the household staff, and the Duke of Edinburgh asked Angela a question which would change her life forever.

He quizzed Angela over who was Sir Christopher’s next official visitor.

But Angela, revealing all in her tell-all book The Other Side of the Coin, the Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe, said she refused to answer him.

She explained that the information was confidential – even to the Queen.

The Duke pressed her again, saying: “Surely you can tell Her Majesty the Queen?’ he said.”

Angela said that as she had signed the official secrets act, she was forbidden from telling them.

The exchange had taken place in front of the Queen – and it made a lasting impression on her.

As Angela said goodbye to the Queen, she told her she’d remember this moment for the rest of her life, to which the monarch replied: “Angela, so will I.”

Two months later, the Queen invited her to work at Buckingham Palace as her assistant dresser.

The pair stayed together until the Queen died in September 2022.

Kelly revealed the anecdote in her 2020 book, The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe.

Because Kelly and the Queen had the same sized feet, the monarch used to ask Kelly to break in new shoes for her. Kelly also saw off a demanding Prince Harry about tiaras for his marriage to Meghan Markle. The Queen bawled him out in private later.

It is understood that Kelly and King Charles do not see eye-to-eye, and the dresser felt obliged to move out of her home on the Windsor estate recently.

One of the sticking points allegedly revolves around Kelly’s writing more books, including an updated version of The Other Side of the Coin, which the King believes revealed too much after the death of his father in 2021.

On May 29, The Mirror reported that the Queen gave her written permission to write more books:

The late Queen is protecting her right-hand woman from “beyond the grave” after handing her a trump card, a friend has claimed.

Angela Kelly, the former monarch’s dresser and confidante, famously published two books about her work after being granted extraordinary permission from her boss to do so.

It was understood she had the late Queen’s blessing to pen a third book, although recent reports have suggested King Charles scuppered those plans after getting Ms Kelly to sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) in exchange for a new grace-and-favour home in Yorkshire.

It is claimed the agreement banned Ms Kelly from using words such as ‘Palace’ and ‘King’.

However, it is now being reported that Ms Kelly has told friends she is holding a trump card over the King – who is said not to be a fan of hers – with the late Queen reportedly having given her a letter granting her express approval for three books.

And a source now says the letter is a “formidable weapon” for Ms Kelly, who is being protected by her former boss from “beyond the grave”.

The source told the Mail On Sunday : “It’s certainly a formidable weapon in her arsenal to have a letter like that from Queen Elizabeth II in her possession. It’s quite something because it seems she is protecting her favoured assistant from beyond the grave.

“It is pretty important because it includes the Queen’s wishes, and no one would want to ignore those” …

It was believed she was going to be allowed to stay at her grace-and-favour home in Windsor, however, last month, she appeared to confirm this was not the case.

She took to Instagram to say she would be leaving a property on the Windsor estate and also seemed to confirm that her work phone had been disconnected.

In recent days, Ms Kelly, who is originally from Liverpool, was spotted emotionally packing up her home in order to move north to be closer to her family.

However, as pictures emerged of Ms Kelly packing her belongings from her home in Windsor into a removals lorry, she took to her Instagram stories to share videos with several cryptic quotes …

It comes after reports the King felt that an updated version of Ms Kelly’s book, The Other Side Of The Coin, which was released last year, went “too far” in terms of revealing intimate details about the Royal Family.

It detailed what the late Queen did after the funeral of her beloved husband Prince Philip in April 2021.

“I helped her off with her coat and hat and no words were spoken. The Queen then walked to her sitting room, closed the door behind her, and she was alone with her own thoughts,” Ms Kelly wrote.

A source previously told the Daily Mail: “His concerns were solely about protecting both the dignity of the Queen and the Crown.

“Nothing has changed with his mother’s death. If anything, he is more determined to defend her reputation and her legacy.”

The Mail‘s report has several photos of Kelly, more on the NDA and this additional information:

The King agreed to buy Ms Kelly a house to live in that will revert to the Crown upon her death. She previously had a grace-and-favour home on the Windsor Estate.

She surprised some in the Royal Family by writing two books during the Queen’s life. She published Dressing The Queen in 2012.

The Queen was so supportive of her writing that she attended the launch of Ms Kelly’s 2019 book, The Other Side Of The Coin: The Queen, The Dresser And The Wardrobe.

But the second edition, after Prince Philip died, angered Charles, who felt it was too intimate.

Friends have said Ms Kelly, who was nicknamed AK-47 at Buckingham Palace because of what some saw as her abrasive approach, was considering giving lucrative talks on cruise liners – a career move that could be affected by the NDA.

Today, Friday, June 9, 2023, The Express reported that there was some misunderstanding about Kelly’s future home and that she could have stayed on the Windsor estate:

Queen Elizabeth II’s dresser was not forced out of her home in Windsor and instead chose to leave to be closer to her family, a royal expert says. Angela Kelly worked for the monarch for around 30 years but her time within the royal household ended when the Queen died last September.

There had been talk that she was forced to leave Windsor but the Daily Express’s Royal correspondent Richard Palmer, who was speaking on our Royal Roundup earlier today, said this was not the case.

He says she could have stayed in her home for as long as she wanted and that King Charles has bought her a house in Derbyshire, so she can be closer to her family.

Mr Palmer said: “She’s got children and grandchildren in the north of England and my understanding is she wanted to spend more time with them.”

He added: “The key thing, I was told, was that she could have stayed in Windsor. She could have stayed in that house in Windsor that she’s had.

“Having retired, she could have had it for the rest of her life. So she wasn’t forced out of her home.

“And then it subsequently transpired – well, it’s certainly been reported – that the King has actually bought a house for her.

“It’s not been made clear [where the money for the house came from]. I think it will have come from the Duchy of Lancaster money, what they call the privy purse.”

He added: “I think the house will revert to the Crown when she’s gone. So he’s bought her a retirement home up there.

“I think there’s a little bit of tension because she was very close to the Queen.

“But I’m not sure it’s as vicious and as tense as it’s been portrayed.”

Ice cubes

On a less contentious note, the Queen was careful to ensure that conversation flowed at Royal residences.

To this end, she requested that round ice cubes be the norm.

On November 27, 2019, The Express explained the reason for this:

Author Karen Dolby, who wrote Queen Elizabeth II’s Guide to Life, told Fabulous Digital: “The Queen likes her ice cubes in her glass to be round so they don’t chink quite as much as square ones.”

The royal author added that the monarch has all the drinks she consumes in her residences served with round ice cubes.

The Queen’s former chef, Darren McGrady, had previously revealed the monarch’s favourite drink is gin and Dubonnet.

The monarch likes her drink prepared with two parts of Dubonnet, one part gin, two cubes of ice and a lemon slice, the Daily Telegraph had previously revealed.

The Queen took after her mother, Queen Elizabeth, her taste in drinks, as the Queen Mother was also said to like gin and Dubonnet – served with a slice of lemon under the ice.

Speaking about the Queen, Mr McGrady said she doesn’t consume alcohol every day.

He continued: “Just in the evening.

“She certainly doesn’t drink four glasses a day.”

Another drink the monarch likes is wine, and she sometimes has a glass of German sweet wine with her dinner.

Chin chin!

More to follow next week.