For 25 years he coiffured the hair of the most famous face of the 20th century. Queen Elizabeth II's image, displayed on coins, portraits and busts, was instantly recognisable due to her bouffant curls and perm. But for the man behind it - hairdresser Ian Carmichael - it's always been "Ma'am's the word".

Talking exclusively to woman&home, he revealed, "It was an honour to serve her for all that time. My job was to make her look good -she knew she had to be seen to be believed. She didn't want to look fantastic or gorgeous - although she often did, but she wasn't very good at taking compliments. She wanted appropriate. She wasn't a movie star; she was the Queen.

Small Talk

"She was extremely funny, hugely intelligent and incredibly knowledgeable. But my most important job, even above her hair, was to keep her secrets."

Ian visited Queen Elizabeth once or twice every week, and accompanied her on foreign tours to the Commonwealth, Africa, Australia - and that historic Ireland visit in 2011.

He recreated a salon in her private apartments in Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Sandringham and Balmoral. And would also cut Prince Philip's hair.

The Queen never washed her own hair - Ian would do that. A soft shampoo with a stand-up attachment to a sink that Queen Victoria would have used 100 years earlier. Then a perm with rollers and a set while she was reading official papers or chatting about the weather or a family holiday.

She never dyed her hair - save for "an occasional silver rinse for a bit of shine" - and never had a blow-dry. A trusty hairstylist is every woman's secret weapon and treasured confidante, so it was no surprise to learn that even the Queen chatted about trivia.

"I think she liked me because I made her laugh," confesses Ian. "She was doing the crossword one day and she asked me if I could help her with a clue. Obviously I thought, 'I'm never going to be able to help her,' as she was very good at it. But she read out the clue: 'What is a mixture of beer and lemonade?' And I knew! 'Shandy,' I said, and she filled it in and replied delightedly, 'Oh, it is! Brilliant!'

I meet Ian in a trendy London restaurant, which is filled with shelves of coloured glass bottles. He immediately charms the staff with his Scottish brogue, orders a very appropriate ‘Regina' pizza and asks how often they dust the thousands of bottles.

Turns out not often, as he finds out when he runs a finger across one. A stickler for detail, and a perfectionist at heart, he freely admits that at 6ft 1in with long blond locks and an unbuttoned shirt, he was perhaps not quite what Queen Elizabeth II was expecting when he first met her at Buckingham Palace.

Ian got the job in 1997, when the Queen's previous hairdresser, "Mr Charles", retired.

"He put my name forward and told her, 'there's a boy within the training academy who's good.' Of course, I wasn't a boy, I was 37, but I had long, kind of dreadlocked hair, so her first words to me, rather sternly, were, 'Can you do hair like this?' I said, 'Of course,' but I suppose I didn't really look the type of hairdresser who could do an older lady's hair! I was trained in shampoos, sets, perming and all the things she needed. So I always felt very confident doing her hair."

However, three years later, Ian left Steiner - the company that had held the Queen's royal warrant.

"To be honest, I thought I'd done it for long enough and told her I was throwing in the towel. But she asked me if I could look after her personally and so, of course, I said yes. Later she gave me her royal warrant as personal hairdresser to the Queen, and in 2017 I was made MVO [Member of the Victorian Order, a personal gift of the monarch], which was a real honour."

Ian spent a huge amount of time with the Queen, but never lost sight of his role.

"It was a very intimate job and there probably weren't many people who could touch her in such a normal way, as you just didn't touch the Queen. I enjoyed being with her and it was always an honour, but I knew my place.

"She put a huge amount of trust in me. I had to make her look good in tiaras - for Catherine and William's wedding, at the State Opening of Parliament, the Royal Variety Performance, and for all her royal tours. Although she was incredibly friendly, she was not my friend. I always knew my duty was to serve her."

Cherished Memories

So does he have a favourite tiara? "Oh it has to be the George IV diadem. She would wear it to the State Opening of Parliament. I fixed it with the occasional kirby grip but the most important thing with tiaras was getting the right balance on her head."

As a good Scot, brought up in Stirling, Ian had learnt Scottish dancing as a boy - which came in very useful up at Balmoral.

"She asked me to come and stay, to do her hair for the Ghillies' Ball. She invited me to the ball but I didn't have a kilt, so I wore my Black Watch tartan suit. The St Bernard's Waltz came on and she said, 'I'll take Ian for this dance, as he's tall enough and won't knock off my tiara.' So I whirled her round the dance floor. It was joyous."

Ian has many such treasured memories, including seeing the Queen just a couple of weeks before she died on 8 September 2022.

But what of the current state of the royal family? Ian says the Queen had been insistent that when Harry and Meghan left as working royals in spring 2020, there was no "half in/half out", but was deeply saddened by the manner of their departure, and the fallout between Princes William and Harry.

"I'd like to hope that Harry and William will speak again," says Ian, "but I'm not sure. I would say Charles is doing a great job though." But after a tough couple of years with Harry and Meghan's brickbats and the King's cancer diagnosis, he looks to the Princess of Wales as the shining star.

"Catherine is such a breath of fresh air, she's absolutely fabulous, as is the Middleton family. She and her perfect children are the future and as such the monarchy is in good hands."

✢ Ian is a director at Trevor Sorbie in Covent Garden; bookings@trevorsorbie. com, 020 7379 6901.

This feature appeared first in woman&home's November issue. Subscribe and read the latest issue on sale now.

It's hard to think of Queen Elizabeth shouting at anyone but she didn't turn a blind eye when her grandchildren were up to no good. Prince William has spoken before about being given an "almighty b*********" as a child for knocking down a lamppost in a go-cart and almost squashing Zara but he saw his granny's formidable side on other occasions too.

During another stay at Balmoral Castle in 1990, the Prince sparked panic when he seemingly went missing on his pony. Lady Anne Glenconner, lady-in-waiting to his great-aunt Princess Margaret, overheard the Queen's reaction when William finally turned up and she wasn't happy…

"I peered out of the window and saw the Queen tearing a strip off Prince William who was on his pony on the drive. He must have been around eight," she claims in her memoir, Trunks & Tiaras.

At the time, Anne had no idea what had happened but Margaret spoke to the Queen and reported back that, "Prince William had been out riding with the groom and his cousins and had wheeled back from the group and returned to the castle on his own without letting anyone know."

When they'd realised the little Prince was gone, the grooms "had been frantic looking for him". As Lady Glenconner vividly put it, "You can imagine how terrified they were in case he had fallen and hit his head with no one knowing where he was."

Queen Elizabeth must've been relieved to see William was safe but like many worried grandparents and parents, wanted to make it clear that it must never happen again. As the family matriarch, her word was final and she still occasionally corrected his behaviour as an adult.

Many of us will remember her firmly telling him, "Stand up, William", during Trooping the Colour in 2016 when the Prince of Wales was bending down on the balcony to talk to George during the RAF flypast. We rarely saw the Queen scolding her family like this in public and even behind the scenes her grandkids could still enjoy getting up to *some* mischief.

The Prince of Wales gave Eugene Levy a tour of Windsor Castle when he appeared on the Canadian actor's show, The Reluctant Traveler, last year and revealed that they used to play games and chase each other in the historic St George's Hall.

"My cousins and I and the family, would chase each other up and down here and play silly games. And I remember these carpets weren't here, and there are a couple of spots where you used to have to watch out because you'd get massive splinters because the floor is old wood," he said.

The Prince of Wales didn't mention how Queen Elizabeth felt about him and his cousins running about the castle, though we know Prince Philip used to get into "trouble" with her for *his* way of keeping their grandchildren entertained.

In BBC's 2021 documentary, Prince Philip: The Royal Family Remembers, William described a childhood game involving a tube of mustard which Philip would put in their hands - "and then he'd squish your hands together to fire the mustard onto the ceiling". No wonder the Queen wasn't a fan!

From the moment he was born Prince William's royal destiny was set out for him but that didn't stop him dreaming of other career paths anyway. In a new appearance on BBC's The Graham Norton Show airing 23rd October the Prince of Wales was asked if he had ever wanted to be something other than King. His response?

"I did want to be a policeman when I was younger, I thought I could make a good one," William admits. "And then I went through a phase of wanting to be a DJ - I wasn't very good."

His ambitions never became reality (though it sounds like he attempted DJ-ing at least once), though they say a lot about who Prince William is at his core. The wish to work as a policeman in particular looks like it could've been inspired by his remarkable grandmother, Queen Elizabeth.

If there's one thing many people agree on when it comes to the late monarch it was that her sense of duty was what drove her. In the Queen Elizabeth, Her Story, Our Centenary documentary earlier this year, Queen Camilla said she doesn't think she's "seen anybody have a sense of duty like" her mother-in-law had.

Although being a police officer is different to being a working royal in so many ways, it also requires immense dedication and living your life to help others. Police officers also serve the nation and Prince William's early dream of being a "good" policeman could show that even from a young age he was being inspired by the Queen's approach.

His "phase" of wanting to be a DJ might have been a brief moment of wanting to be free from the traditions of royal life and do something radical, but ultimately the sense of duty ran deep. The Prince of Wales pursued a military career and then worked as a helicopter pilot for the East Anglian Air Ambulance until 2017.

It was only then that he stepped back to become a full-time working royal and each of these jobs reflects the same desire to serve and help people that Queen Elizabeth had. We've already seen the signs that Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis have inherited it too.

Back in 2018 the Prince of Wales attended a reception in honour of Scotland Yard and reportedly told then-Police Commissioner Jayne Richardson, "[George] is obsessed, actually, by the police… cars, toys, everything." Meanwhile, in the past it's been claimed that Charlotte expressed an interest in nursing and Louis in working as a fighter pilot.

There's definitely a similar theme there, though Prince William would surely also be immensely proud if they championed conservation causes like him and King Charles.

The dad-of-three joins Graham Norton on the iconic red sofa alongside Cate Blanchett, Hannah Waddingham and Robert Irwin for a special Earthshot Prize edition of the show ahead of the 2026 awards ceremony in November.

"I thought we could do something more powerful and more optimistic and the idea of an awards' ceremony came about and we could talk about urgency and optimism together. It's all about getting excited," William declares. "There are some amazing people out there doing things to protect the world. We could really highlight what is being done and scale them to the next level to have more impact around the world."

The Graham Norton Show, BBC One, Friday 23rd October 10.40pm. Also available on BBC iPlayer.

Princess Margaret had pretty luxurious tastes and enjoyed her royal life to the fullest, including taking a six-week long honeymoon on the Royal Yacht Britannia. So it might come as a surprise to discover that Queen Elizabeth's younger sister wasn't keen on a drink most of us associate with celebrations and pushing the boat out.

Sipping champagne wasn't for Margaret, according to her former Lady-in-Waiting, Anne Glenconner. In her new book, Trunks & Tiaras, she describes how "a list of questions" would be passed to her "well in advance" of Margaret's visits so hosts could have all the Princess's favourite things ready for her.

"They'd want to know what she'd like to drink, to which the answer was gin and tonic at lunchtime and whisky and soda in the evening. Grouse whisky if possible," Lady Glenconner writes. "She was not a fan of champagne. She used to say it made people's breath smell of poo."

Of all the possible reasons for Princess Margaret not to like champagne, this didn't cross my mind for a second! Anne adds that this unfortunate effect is "not something you notice" if you're drinking champagne yourself "but easy to spot if you aren't".

It's enough to make anyone think twice the next time they're offered a glass of bubbly and yet it looks like Queen Elizabeth didn't share her sister's view. The late monarch was often pictured daintily sipping champagne at State Banquets and other formal occasions.

She also awarded Royal Warrants to multiple champagne houses throughout her reign, including Bollinger, Pol Roger and Veuve Clicquot. Over the years reports have even alleged that Queen Elizabeth enjoyed a glass of champagne before bed.

Whether or not that was the case, she clearly enjoyed the taste of champagne and surely wouldn't have drunk it at major events if she also felt it made one's breath "smell of poo". After all, the Queen was always circulating and talking to guests and she was conscious of not eating garlic or onions at mealtimes too.

Former royal chef Darren McGrady claimed to MailOnline in 2016 that during his time working in the palace kitchens they "could never serve garlic to the queen but Prince Philip loved it".

"When she was at the table, there was no garlic at all. She was very Victorian and believed when she was brought up that you don't eat garlic - because if you were holding an audience the next day, you didn't want to be breathing garlic. It was seen as anti-social," he added.

Meanwhile, Queen Camilla has also spoken about the pungent ingredient before, telling her son Tom Parker Bowles in an interview for You magazine that she "avoids chili and garlic" too. She explained she still likes cooking for herself sometimes too and sounds like much more of a foodie than her mother-in-law and aunt-in-law.

Darren McGrady has alleged Queen Elizabeth used to eat "to live" and not the other way around, whilst Lady Glenconner notes that Princess Margaret "was not particularly interested in food and had very plain tastes".

"She didn't like meals to go on for hours, preferring to retire to a drawing room for coffee or whisky," the former Lady-in-Waiting says.

She may have been the UK’s longest-serving monarch, but she was a grandmother first - and it was seeing how Prince William’s future in-laws treated her grandson that really enamoured the late Queen to the Middleton family.

Ailsa Anderson, a former press secretary to Queen Elizabeth, revealed how important it was for the Queen to see her "children and grandchildren happy" and she recognised how Michael and Carole Middleton "welcomed [William] with open arms into their family".

The late monarch was also reportedly comforted by another aspect of the Middleton family dynamic - how they "stuck together through thick and thin", giving William and Kate a role model when the Queen had been left "distressed" by three of her own children going through a divorce.

Speaking to HELLO!, Ailsa shared, "The Queen always wanted her children and grandchildren to be happy, and she recognised what a huge support Carole and Michael Middleton were to William and how they welcomed him with open arms into their family."

"She clearly saw all the qualities that the Middletons provided for Catherine and William. She had three out of her four children divorce, so I think she liked the fact that her grandson was marrying into a really close family who have stuck together through thick and thin."

She added, "Carole has never put a foot wrong - she’s been a steadfast presence as a loving, supportive mother and grandmother to those grandchildren."

Royal author Robert Hardman has also suggested the Queen was left "distressed" by her children’s divorces in the past, echoing the sentiment shared by Ailsa.

In his book, Queen of Our Times, Robert alleges, "It distressed her much more than she let on" and that a staffer told him for his book "one shouldn't underestimate the pain she's been through".

The source reportedly told the author that Her Majesty once even proclaimed, "'Three out of four!' in sheer sadness and exasperation".

Of the Queen’s four children, King Charles, Princess Anne and the former Prince Andrew have all been divorced. Charles, in what is now arguably one of the most famous separations of all time, and Princess Diana ended their marriage after 15 years.

Princess Anne divorced her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips, after 18 years of marriage. And Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor divorced Sarah Ferguson after 10 years of marriage.

Now, with the late Queen gone, her trust in the Middletons seems well placed, with royal author Ingrid Seward describing how much of a support Carole has become to the future King and Queen.

She told HELLO!, "Carole is a really helpful, practical and unflappable mother and grandmother. Rather than ask what she can do, she just gets on with it; she's very proactive.

"When William went back to royal duties after Catherine’s diagnosis, she was doing the school run and probably doing things like filling the freezer with the kids' favourite foods.

"Looking after the three kids would have been absolutely no problem for her whatsoever, and Catherine would have been able to relax in the knowledge that her mother's hand was on the wheel."

It wasn't just the Princess of Wales who had to get to grips with the intense public scrutiny when she married Prince William, it was her family too. The Middletons were thrust into the spotlight and had to figure out how they were going to handle the attention.

Carole's approach was to be very selective with what she said publicly, which royal author Ingrid Seward believes is the key to her success. In her new book, Catherine & Diana, she claims, "Put simply, Carole used her head, not her heart, when dealing with the phenomenon of becoming mother-in-law to the Prince of Wales."

According to her, the same couldn't be said for Princess Diana's mother Frances Shand Kydd, who was the total "opposite". Ingrid explains, "Carole's wiliness was in her silence - it's what has made a woman from truly humble beginnings such a successful royal mother-in-law."

Frances was the daughter of Baron Fermoy and her mother Ruth had also served as a Lady-in-Waiting to the Queen Mother. The aristocratic connections were there but she supposedly failed to win Queen Elizabeth's seal of approval like Carole decades later.

As Ingrid puts it, "The Queen liked Carole very much; she didn't like Frances."

Princess Diana's mother once said she was "always too honest" and the author suggests that the royals weren't thrilled about how often and how much she spoke out. In comparison, Carole's only given a few interviews since Kate and William's wedding and none at all since they became Prince and Princess of Wales.

In her first ever one in 2018 she even told The Telegraph, "Over the years, it's proved wise not to say anything." Frances could've chosen "silence" too but didn't and we all know how important discretion is to the Royal Family.

The Queen clearly appreciated it from her grandson's mother-in-law and they forged a bond. Carole was pictured in the passenger seat of the monarch's Range Rover at Balmoral in 2016 and she and Michael were guests at the main castle.

The Middletons are still often seen with the royals at big occasions now and as the grandparents of future King, George, they'll have a huge impact on the monarchy's future too. They've already been a big influence on William, who said in his and Kate's engagement interview that he's "very lucky" that the close-knit family have been so supportive.

Royal author Russell Myers has also suggested that the "constant presence" of the Middletons in their lives has been very valued, especially when the kids were young.

"William appreciated their involvement beyond measure, enjoying their company and the normalcy of the environment, whatever the circumstance," he wrote in William & Catherine.

According to Myers, the Prince of Wales once told an aide that having his in-laws there meant they had "more room to breathe". The author added, "Michael and Carole enjoyed visiting the couple in Norfolk and would often stay for weekends, providing much-needed extra support for the young family."

Although the late Queen always had people on hand to help her, she still liked doing certain things herself. She was often spotted behind the wheel of her land rover and apparently did the washing up after BBQs at Balmoral Castle, however there was one other everyday thing she "never" did, whether on holiday or not.

Washing your hair is part of most people's routine but Queen Elizabeth relied on a professional to keep her iconic curls clean and coiffured. In our centenary issue, woman&home magazine's Royal Editor Emily Andrews spoke with Her Majesty's former hairstylist, Ian Carmichael, who viewed his role as a huge privilege.

"It was a very intimate job and there probably weren't many people who could touch her in such a normal way, as you just didn't touch the Queen," he explained. "I enjoyed being with her and it was always an honour, but I knew my place."

According to Ian, Queen Elizabeth placed a "huge amount of trust" in him and although his remarks might sound surprising at first, it makes sense given how few people were actually in that kind of contact with her. Touching her hair or even getting that up close and personal isn't something just anyone could've done.

Traditionally, etiquette dictates that people shouldn't initiate any sort of contact with the Royal Family and keep a respectful distance. Handshakes and even hugs have been normalised by the Prince and Princess of Wales, but this wasn't always the case and with the monarch you also have to consider security even more.

Ian's role was very unique and he worked for her for 25 years, which shows how much Queen Elizabeth valued and trusted him. He used to shampoo her hair, then perm it with rollers and set it.

Apart from the "occasional silver rinse for a bit of shine", that was it - and she's not the only royal who relied on someone else to do her hair. Princess Diana's former butler Paul Burrell has previously claimed she had her blonde tresses washed and blow-dried every weekday.

Apparently, she described this as her "one trust extravagance". The Princess of Wales likely has hairstylists on hand to do hers for major occasions now too, but she's one Queen-to-be who has definitely washed and styled her own hair plenty of times before.

There's always going to be a public side of the royals and only certain people in "intimate job[s]" like Ian's will get a glimpse of them behind the scenes.

Queen Elizabeth was skilled at not letting her true feelings show and artist Chris Levine previously told woman&home how "surreal" this was.

"She wasn't giving anything away and I realised that she'd developed a mechanism where you couldn't tell what she was thinking or feeling because she's meeting people all the time," he said.

However, by the second sitting for her portrait, Equanimity, they connected more and when he worked on Lightness of Being, he really got to see the woman behind the crown.

"She said she was going to Balmoral the next day and really looking forward to it, and that was her meditation, gardening there. I realised that there was a real down-to-earth side of her," Chris shared.

You might think that Queen Elizabeth would've seen it all as a mother-of-four but there were apparently still some parts of parenthood that surprised her. In-keeping with tradition, the late monarch was the first to be informed about Prince George's birth in July 2013 and two days later she visited him at the Prince and Princess of Wales's Kensington Palace home.

However, according to royal expert Ingrid Seward, baby George wasn't exactly on his best behaviour for his great-granny. In her new biography, Catherine & Diana, the author revealed that he was crying the whole time, much to Queen Elizabeth's dismay.

"When the Queen came to inspect her great-grandchild for the first time he managed to scream throughout her visit, which was not something the monarch was used to or enjoyed," she alleged.

Ingrid reflected that "the world had changed and childcare had changed with it". A long time had passed since Queen Elizabeth last became a mum in 1964 and the author suggests that she "was not used to babies being fed on demand".

According to her, the Queen just "couldn't understand the infant George's displeasure at having to wait" to be fed. Her Majesty's children were born at a time when experts recommended feeding babies in line with a strict schedule and not when they cried.

She also had a lot of help on hand and so might not have had to get used to screaming babies as they adjusted to the schedule. In contrast, in the early days the Prince and Princess of Wales didn't have a full-time nanny and even now, the children's nanny Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo doesn't live with them at Forest Lodge.

However, whilst Ingrid claimed Queen Elizabeth didn't "understand" her great-grandson's crying, she was still something of a royal rule-breaker as a parent. When she was pregnant with Prince Edward she asked for Prince Philip to be in the room when she gave birth.

Nowadays this is the norm but Philip hadn't been with her for Charles, Anne or Andrew's births so this was a major turning point. Ingrid previously detailed this in her biography, My Husband and I: The Inside Story Of 70 Years Of Royal Marriage and alleged Philip was "actually holding his wife's hand" as Edward came into the world.

"The Queen, by then aged 37, had asked him to be there; she'd been keenly reading women's magazines that stressed the importance of involving fathers in childbirth and had become fascinated by the idea," she continued.

King Charles was there for Prince William's birth in 1982 and he was in turn there to support Kate in 2013. She has been very open about what it was like to become a mum and then have to face the world's press outside the hospital with baby George.

"It was slightly terrifying, I'm not going to lie," the Princess declared on the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast. "Everyone had been so supportive and both William and I were really conscious that this was something that everyone was excited about and, you know, we're hugely grateful for the support that the public had shown us, and actually for us to be able to share that joy and appreciation with the public, I felt was really important."

Even before Princess Diana married King Charles, the Spencer family had plenty of other royal connections but her brother ended up "being retired" from a prestigious role assisting Queen Elizabeth. The wording used by Earl Spencer in his controversial memoir, Swan Song, suggests that the decision was made for him and he claims it was for a surprising reason.

He once served as Page of Honour to the late Queen at ceremonial occasions and even attended the State Opening of Parliament twice. However, this role was short-lived.

"From the age of twelve to fourteen, I had been a Page of Honour to the Queen, twice helping to carry her train at the State Opening of Parliament, before being retired early, because my height had made the petite Queen look small," Charles Spencer alleges.

Although Queen Elizabeth never publicly confirmed her height, it's widely believed that she was roughly 5ft 4. The Earl doesn't specify how tall he was when he "retired" but he'd seemingly had a growth spurt and it's intriguing to think that the height difference apparently mattered this much.

Perhaps it was felt that having shorter Pages would make the Queen look more imposing and regal at big events, as Pages of Honour are called upon to carry the trains and robes of the monarch at ceremonial occasions. We saw Prince George taking on this role for King Charles at his coronation alongside three other boys, aged between 12 and 13.

Members of the Royal Family don't typically remain Pages of Honour for the full term so George's experience was likely a one-off. Some of the King's other Pages have gone on to attend the State Opening of Parliament so it is possible we'll see them again.

They all usually have some sort of aristocratic connections and Queen Elizabeth was Charles Spencer's godmother, so this was likely a big factor. As the Earl notes in his memoir, Princess Diana was actually the only one of his siblings who didn't have a royal godparent.

"Inexplicably there had been no such royal link for Diana," he says, acknowledging, "But, well, she certainly made up for that."

Charles's link to the Queen supposedly didn't help him retain his Page role when he got too tall, but it didn't seem to bother him too much as he explains, "My ADHD made lengthy official functions challenging ordeals for me".

The late monarch was very used to attending long events like the State Opening of Parliament - after all, her own coronation was almost three hours long. She frequently wore the Imperial State Crown to the Openings, like she did on her coronation day, and faced a unique kind of challenge in getting used to the hefty weight of it.

Her approach was to practice as much as she could before the coronation and, as per the BBC, King Charles vividly remembers this and spoke about it on the documentary, Coronation Girls.

"I remember it all so well then, because I remember my sister and I had bath time in the evening," he said. "My mama used to come up at bath time wearing the crown to practise. You have to get used to how heavy [it] is."

The King is staunchly standing by one of Queen Elizabeth's strict rules and he's made it crystal clear - the Sussexes might be back in the UK but they're not back in the working royal fold. In a letter sent on his behalf by the Lord Chamberlain, Charles stated that Prince Harry and Meghan will still not use their HRH titles or carry out royal engagements.

"The charitable work of the Duke and Duchess is a personal matter for them both and undertaken in their private capacity," the King's letter continued.

The message was sent the evening before an official review of the couple's security, but the timing was significant in a more personal way too. September 8th is the fourth anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's death and King Charles doubled down on her judgement of the Sussexes.

When Harry and Meghan first announced their intention to step back as working royals in 2020, the late Queen promptly shared her own statement. She didn't mince her words, either. Reports have suggested that Harry wanted a half-in half-out approach to royal life, yet Queen Elizabeth dashed her grandson's hopes.

Buckingham Palace confirmed, "While they can no longer formally represent The Queen, the Sussexes have made clear that everything they do will continue to uphold the values of Her Majesty. The Sussexes will not use their HRH titles as they are no longer working members of the Royal Family."

There was no arguing with that and now King Charles has held firm to her words and shown his commitment to Queen Elizabeth's decision.

Releasing the message just before the fourth anniversary of her passing - and the anniversary of him becoming monarch - adds an extra layer of meaning and shows the continuity between the two.

Mother and son are still aligned in their view of the Sussex situation and the King is emphasising the clear line between him seeing more of his son personally and how the monarchy remains unaffected by the family's return. According to their spokesperson, the Duke and Duchess "were a little surprised not to have been told about" King Charles' letter "in advance".

However, as per the BBC, royal sources claim the Duke and Duchess were made aware of the letter before it went public. Prince Harry and Meghan moved back to the UK in August and have enrolled Archie and Lilibet in British schools starting this month.

A month earlier they enjoyed a special reunion with King Charles and Queen Camilla at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire. This was seen as a positive step following Harry's open admission he would love a "reconciliation" with his family. Prince William didn't meet with his younger brother during the Sussexes' UK trip and in June, a royal source claimed to expert Duncan Larcombe in Woman that the King and Prince of Wales might have to make things clearer.

"There is an increasing view that the King and his heir may well have to try and draw a line in the sand when it comes to Harry and Meghan. They are acting as though the discussions with the late Queen never took place," they claimed.

Perhaps the King's message is this "line in the sand" the source predicted, but it definitely showed that Queen Elizabeth's decision remains unchanged.

Throughout her history-defining reign, Queen Elizabeth II oversaw many firsts and ushered in many changes, but there was one “solemn” tradition that was kept private - and King Charles followed her lead seventy years later.

Queen Elizabeth’s 1953 coronation was the first of a British monarch’s to ever be fully televised, but one part was kept hidden - the anointing of the oil. The Chrism oil is consecrated in Jerusalem ahead of a coronation, and per the Royal Family’s website, “It has historically been regarded as a moment between the Sovereign and God.”

In a new book, royal historian George William Cullen Gross suggests this was Her Majesty’s way “to preserve the mystery surrounding it”, and perhaps a testament to her faith and dedication to her role as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

In the book, Crown and People: British Coronations and the Shaping of National Identity 973–2023, Gross writes, "In a similar vein to the religiosity of baptism, the ceremony of anointing was hidden from television cameras during the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II to preserve the mystery surrounding it”

"In this instance, four Knights of the Garter held the canopy of gold over and around the monarch to shield the act from view. During the act of Anointing, the monarch disrobes from their crimson robes and takes off any jewellery, giving up all symbols of their status."

The book goes into more detail, explaining that the oil is presented in "an eagle-shaped flask in solid gold, [which] dates back to the remade crown jewels for the coronation of Charles II in 1661."

Interestingly, despite many changes in his own coronation in 2023, King Charles decided to keep this moment private as well.

The Royal Family’s website wrote in more detail about what was to take place in the build-up to the historic affair. They explained, “The Dean of Westminster pours holy oil from the Ampulla into the Coronation Spoon, and the Archbishop of Canterbury anoints the Sovereign on the hands, chest and head.

"It has historically been regarded as a moment between the Sovereign and God, with a screen or canopy in place given the sanctity of the Anointing."

King Charles’s anointing took place behind a special screen he had commissioned before the coronation. His Majesty personally chose the design of the anointing screen, which was inspired by the stained-glass Sanctuary Window in the Chapel Royal and created by the Royal School of Needlework.

The central design takes the form of a tree which includes 56 representing the 56 member countries of the Commonwealth. The King’s cypher was positioned at the base of the tree, representing the Sovereign as servant of their people.

Meeting Queen Elizabeth isn't something you ever forget and for the late Dolly Parton the build-up to the experience was totally different from the moment itself. She performed at a special Royal Variety Show in Glasgow to celebrate the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977 and was introduced to Her Majesty afterwards.

Pictures capture this special moment between British and country music royalty and in 2023, Dolly said she'd been anxious about the protocol beforehand. Thankfully, she quickly realised that the Queen wasn't really concerned about faux pas.

Dolly told BBC Radio 2, "Even though you have to do the protocol, you have to bow and all that, I could tell that she didn't care about that. That's just something she had to do. And if somebody made a mistake, it was OK."

"I was scared to death that I was not going to know how to curtsy, that I wasn't going to bend right," she continued. "But she was just very warm, very sweet, and I could tell she was a very giving person. And just meeting the Queen of England, just to meet a queen, it was amazing."

Although the Royal Family's website confirms that there aren't "obligatory codes of behaviour" when it comes to greeting the monarch, the traditional way for women is a "small curtsy". This seems to be what the singer was preparing for and meeting "sweet" Queen Elizabeth in person backstage must've been particularly special - if nerve-wracking - for her.

Dolly, who sadly passed away after a "brief battle with cancer" on 25th August, confessed she was intrigued by royalty as a child growing up in Tennessee.

The Jolene star explained, "I remember as a child being fascinated with the kings and queens and all their flamboyant clothes, people living in another world with riches and crowns and jewelry and all that. But when I actually got to meet her, she was very sweet."

She almost got to meet a future Queen too, as in the same interview Dolly revealed she'd been asked to tea with the Princess of Wales. Sadly, she "couldn't even go" as she was so busy promoting her album, Rockstar. However she thought Kate's gesture was also "very sweet".

The Princess would surely be honoured to be described by Dolly Parton in the same way as her late grandmother-in-law. When Queen Elizabeth died in 2022 there were outpourings of tributes from people across the world and the flags on the royal palaces were lowered to half-mast.

Following Dolly's passing, official US flags are at half-mast as a mark of respect for the 12-time Grammy Award winner and they'll remain lowered for a full week.

Across the pond, King Charles shared a special video on social media, in which the Band of the Coldstream Guards played a rendition of 9 to 5 outside Buckingham Palace. This unique performance surely fulfilled Dolly's childhood idea of a "flamboyant" monarchy.

The late Queen famously spent her summers at Balmoral Castle in Scotland and it was one of the few places where she could enjoy just being "Elizabeth". While she was there, she swapped floral hats for headscarves and liked things to be a little less formal.

Tradition and ceremony are important to the Royal Family, but Queen Elizabeth's personal protocol meant that guests at her Balmoral BBQs were never allowed to wash up. According to former Prime Minister David Cameron, she cleaned the dishes herself and he found out that this wasn't a rule to break…

As per The Telegraph, he previously explained, "One of the best parts [of going to Balmoral] was when in the evening you'd get into Her Majesty's car, a Range Rover, and she would drive at breakneck speed up the hill and onto the moor."

Once they got up there they went to a "sort of converted bothy, an old cottage on the hill" and Prince Philip would be there barbequing. Lord Cameron added that the Queen's husband would have built the barbeques himself and he'd cook grouse.

"I'm not making this up, you sat down and Prince Philip and Her Majesty the Queen served your dinner and cleared it away and washed it up while you sat talking with the other guests," he said.

You might think it's only polite to offer to assist the hosts but the former Prime Minister tried this once - around year five of his time in office.

He continued, "I thought 'Well, I now surely can help' and got up and got on the Marigolds and started doing the washing-up. And I remember Her Majesty saying: 'What on earth is the Prime Minister doing?' I'd broken with the protocol and rapidly sat back down and did what I was told."

During Queen Elizabeth's summer break it seems she took a more down-to-earth approach and the same was true when she was at other royal residences. After Philip retired from public duties in 2017 he moved to Wood Farm on the Sandringham Estate.

On her and Reverend Richard Coles' Catching Up With The Royals podcast, woman&home royal correspondent Emily Andrews explained the couple behaved similarly at the "secluded" home.

In an episode in April, she claimed, "[Wood Farm] always has held a special place for him and the Queen. Often he and the Queen when Sandringham was open to the general public or whatever, he and the Queen would live at Wood Farm, doing their own washing up, maybe even stacking the dishwasher."

Sometimes while they waited for Balmoral Castle to close to the public, the couple used to stay at Craigowan Lodge where they also lived more humbly. Speaking on Channel 5's Secrets of the Royal Palaces, expert Wesley Kerr explained, "I think the Queen sees the grandeur in these amazing houses as, sort of, part of the job. But the Queen, like anybody else, can only be in one room at a time. So one room in a small house is probably a rather nice change."

For someone raised in royal splendour, it likely was quite refreshing - and freeing - for Queen Elizabeth to be able to live more simply and to do things for herself and her guests.

The Duchess of Edinburgh was incredibly close to her late mother-in-law Queen Elizabeth, so it might come as a surprise to learn that she was once told to leave the table at a dinner in Scotland. However, the reason for Her Majesty's suggestion makes all the difference, as it turns out Sophie was actually desperate to leave.

Telling the hilarious anecdote on BBC 5 Live Sport, the Duchess revealed she was at Balmoral with the Queen and Prince Philip when Team GB played in the 2016 Women's Hockey Olympic final. An avid fan, she'd been sending messages to them "all the way through" the matches but the evening of the final the time difference put her in a tricky position.

"That evening, of course, it was a completely different time zone and so I started off watching the match and then I had to go into dinner," she said, adding that she was "twitching by the end".

Throughout the meal, Sophie was kept updated on the score by someone helping at the table. When they had finished eating, she sat there wondering what was happening and was so obviously eager to find out that Queen Elizabeth stepped in.

"Eventually Her Majesty sat there and said, 'Oh, for goodness sake, just go!'," Sophie shared. "So I ran through to the library and I was watching it and my father-in-law, the late Duke of Edinburgh, came through and he loved good sport and he sat down and was watching it with me."

Laughing, the senior royal admitted that Philip had probably been "watching [her] reaction more than he was watching the television" because she was "living and breathing every moment".

We're used to hearing stories about the Princess of Wales being super competitive, but Duchess Sophie was being so enthusiastic that the Queen came next door too.

After seeing her daughter-in-law "leaping up and screaming", Her Majesty stood in the doorway but could only watch for a short time before "she had to take herself away again". Apparently, the pressure of watching Team GB in the penalty shoot out was too much for the Queen.

Meanwhile, Prince Philip was "laughing" at Sophie's response and the team eventually won Olympic gold in brilliant style. The Duchess of Edinburgh recalled her experience watching it on the BBC 5 Live Sport programme that airs on BBC Sounds on 19th August - exactly ten years after the victory in Rio.

Queen Elizabeth's telling Sophie to "just go" and watch after spotting her eagerness was a kind move and it's funny to think that she couldn't bear to watch herself. When her granddaughter Zara Tindall was competing at the London 2012 Olympics, the Queen reportedly suggested going for a picnic at Balmoral because she was "so nervous" on this occasion too.

Former royal protection officer Richard Griffin told Sky News in 2022 that he radioed in and found out Zara had won a team silver medal, before telling her delighted granny.

"I remember the Queen just grabbed me and we were dancing around in circles on this hill in Scotland,' Griffin claimed. "That's a memory that will stay with me for evermore."

Anyone might find an invitation to a historic royal residence intimidating - never mind a teenager. But that’s exactly the scenario a 14-year-old Tanya Rose found herself in when fellow Gordonstoun pupil, Prince Edward, invited her to Sandringham House.

The pair became friends at the Scottish boarding school which Edward's father Prince Philip had also attended. Recalling the memory of her visit in a recent podcast appearance, Tanya - now a PR expert - described the "terrifying" first night when she found herself alone with the royal women.

Fortunately, the late Queen Elizabeth showed her motherly instincts and immediately helped put her at ease, with Tanya praising her as "divine".

Speaking on Amanda Wakeley’s Style DNA podcast, Tanya explained, "I was 14, and Edward invited me to Sandringham just after Christmas, so it was just me who was not family".

On the first night with the Royal Family, she was separated from Edward when the “ladies [went] into another room" after dinner. Finding herself alone with Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, Princess Anne, the Queen Mother and Princess Diana, Tanya was - understandably - "absolutely terrified".

However, "the Queen was so divine because she knew I was nervous,” Tanya continued. "So she started doing impressions of her groom and just being so sweet to me. She was lovely."

Even before Tanya made it to Sandringham, she was aware that things were going to be quite different. She chatted about the detailed dress code that was required, and how it led to her father questioning why they even sent her to Gordonstoun at all.

She said, "I remember it was four days I was there. Four long dresses, four outfits for breakfast, four outfits for tea, shooting things, Barbours, Wellington boots. And I didn't grow up like that. I mean, I did not have that wardrobe, so we had to go out and buy everything."

But this led to a sweet moment, where Tanya got to show off her mother’s "pride and joy", and it seemingly gained the approval of the Queen Mother.

"My mother lent me this pearl fake necklace of hers that she had bought in Fenwick. It was her pride and joy. And the first night, I remember the Queen Mother saying to me, "Is that a family heirloom? And I said, 'Well, my mummy did give it to me', but I didn't say it's from Fenwick".

Queen Elizabeth, who was praised throughout her historic 70-year reign for putting people at ease, might have instinctively looked out for the teen, but Tanya alleges that someone else noticed an awkward gaffe. She remembers being seated with King Charles on one side of her and Prince Philip on the other.

"Everyone had a pot of coffee in front of them and I wanted some sugar. And we all had a little salt thing in front of us and I thought it was sugar," she said. "So I put two things in my cup. And Charles said, 'What an extraordinary thing to do… You just put salt in.'"

Being monarch grants you a lot of privileges, but also puts you in a position where you have to make some difficult choices between duty and family. The late Queen Elizabeth knew this better than anyone and according to Woman’s royal editor, Emily Andrews, she committed to what many would view as a harsh reality.

Emily recently reflected on Prince Harry and Meghan's recent reunion with the King and revealed what she believes the monarch's main priority should always be.

"Charles' first duty is not to the spare. It is to the heir and his wife," she claimed in the magazine. "That is the deal Queen Elizabeth II understood and honoured for 70 years. The institution comes first, sentiment a distant second."

Since stepping back as working royals, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex haven't shied away from sharing their thoughts about The Firm. From their Harry & Meghan Netflix series to the Oprah Winfrey interview and Harry's memoir, their revelations and allegations have often put the monarchy in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

According to Emily, the things that have been said "must still be painful" for the Prince and Princess of Wales. She wrote, "I understand that William believes the couple should not have been rewarded with a family meeting, however private, with the King."

King Charles and Queen Camilla met with Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lilibet at Highgrove and although it was a family occasion, he's monarch 24/7 and his decisions will inevitably influence how the Royal Family is viewed by the public. The late Queen was firm about trying to separate love for her family from what made sense for the monarchy.

Despite Harry apparently hoping for a half-in, half-out role, Her Majesty didn’t sign off on this. She made it clear publicly that the Sussexes would no longer carry out engagements on her behalf, though still treasured them as "much loved members of [her] family".

Queen Elizabeth later also stepped in after the Oprah Winfrey interview aired, releasing her "recollections may vary" statement. Her Majesty had to be able to separate the personal from the professional as much as possible and we also saw her do this with King Charles himself.

When he was a child she went on a tour that lasted almost six months and for most of it, he and Princess Anne didn't see their parents. Although it was likely hard for her as a mother to be away so long, duty called and she answered.

Years later when King Charles got married to Queen Camilla, she didn't attend the wedding ceremony, only the service after. Reports have claimed that as she was Supreme Governor of the Church of England, she didn't feel it was right to attend the civil ceremony of two divorcees.

Behind closed doors at the reception she showed her support for Charles' marriage. As per royal biographer Robert Jobson in Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen "could be the proud mother" at their reception and "showed it by breaking convention" and making a speech.

Putting the institution ahead of "sentiment" might sound impossibly hard, but this was something monarchs like Queen Elizabeth - and now King Charles - must seemingly face.

Zara Tindall has described Queen Elizabeth as an "inspiration to us all" and she took this to heart on her wedding day too. She and Mike are celebrating their 15th anniversary on 30th July and when they tied the knot in 2011 they paid tribute to her grandmother with arguably the biggest decision a bride can make for her big day.

The equestrian royal walked down the aisle of Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh wearing a striking drop-waist gown. It was very different to a lot of other royal wedding dresses and unlike her cousins or their brides, she picked Stewart Parvin as her designer.

He is famous for being one of Queen Elizabeth's favourite dressmakers and designed so many of her most iconic clothes, including the green coat she wore for her final balcony appearance and her lime look for the Sussexes' nuptials.

It can be seen as a sweet tribute to Queen Elizabeth that tied the two together and this was emphasised by the monarch's outfit too. She wore a pastel pink Stewart Parvin coat dress with a matching hat to her granddaughter's wedding, so both championed the same designer.

Zara and the Queen were incredibly close, so I would be surprised if her choice to wear Stewart Parvin was a coincidence. Princess Beatrice was the only other grandchild to wear a wedding gown by one of the Queen's designers, but her Norman Hartnell dress once actually belonged to Elizabeth and wasn't by her current dressmaker.

The others have all honoured the Queen in other ways at their weddings and there were a few other details on Zara and Mike's day that incorporated a link to her too.

Zara's bouquet included lilies - a possible nod to Elizabeth's nickname Lilibet - and the Queen hosted their reception at her official Scottish residence, the Palace of Holyroodhouse. She and Zara had a lot in common besides dress designers, as the two shared a passion for horses.

They were often pictured excitedly watching the races at Ascot and Cheltenham and Zara Tindall rarely got on her grandmother's bad side - at least as an adult.

When asked if she ever got that "stern look" from Queen Elizabeth, she responded, "I always get the good look. We are okay. I think we are alright. Probably when we were much younger, but not recently, definitely not."

Retired rugby star Mike has also commented on his wife's relationship with the Queen on his The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast.

"Zara loved the Queen beyond everything else, their connection with horses, same with the Princess Royal, they had a real bond around that," he explained.

Mike Tindall also developed a bond with her and earlier this year he told woman&home's Royal Correspondent Emily Andrews that his “biggest regret” was holding back from asking questions.

"I was lucky enough to have the best seat in the house on 14 or 15 occasions when I sat next to the Queen. She was this icon and I knew she had so many stories, but I never asked," he said.

Whenever there's a heatwave a lot of people's main complaint is finding it difficult to sleep and the late Queen Elizabeth had a strict rule that helped keep her royal bedroom cool. She used to enjoy an annual summer break at Balmoral Castle and according to former royal butler Paul Burrell, she "never" closed her bedroom windows when she was there.

Paul previously claimed that the Queen "loved the fact that her bedroom windows were open every night and she would get the fresh air from the highlands". He added that "From August until early October, she never closed" them and when the autumn got "very, very cold" she used a lot of "sheets and blankets and covers and eiderdowns".

Although most people wouldn't want to keep the windows open on a freezing October day, right now Queen Elizabeth's approach sounds perfect.

She also managed to avoid a common cooling mistake, as opening your windows during the day can actually make your home warmer.

Letting in some air sounds like a great idea but Angus Struthers, Managing Director at heating & cooling specialists BOXT, has explained to woman&home that "If the air outside is warmer than the air inside, you're just letting more heat into the house."

It's better to throw them open in the evening when the outside air is cool and Angus advises keeping windows shut "throughout the hottest part of the day". While it's been so hot in the UK I've been following this recommendation and can confirm it's definitely worked for me.

The Queen's love of "fresh air from the highlands" probably meant her Balmoral bedroom was a comfortable temperature at night, even when Scotland's weather was warm. Keeping the windows open was just one part of her evening routine.

She apparently used to aim to go to bed around 11pm and woke up at 7:30am, giving her a solid eight and a half hours of restful slumber. In 2017 an ex-guardsman alleged to The Times that when Queen Elizabeth found it a struggle to get to sleep, she would sometimes walk around the palace grounds late at night.

The guardsman recalled one incident when he spotted a figure in the dark at 3am and called out, "Who's that?" When he realised it was her, he said, "B***** hell, Your Majesty, I nearly shot you."

The Queen gave a typically witty response, saying, "That's quite all right. Next time I'll ring through beforehand so you don't have to shoot me."

In the morning she also had a routine and it began, not with an alarm clock, but with a performance by the Piper to the Sovereign. A bagpipe performance is a pretty unique wake-up call and the piper plays outside the monarch's window every morning for 15 minutes, split into two sessions.

The position is currently held by Pipe Major Paul Burns who was appointed by Queen Elizabeth and kept on by King Charles. His role is prestigious and the Piper is the only person outside the Royal Family who's permitted to wear Balmoral tartan.

Prince William has shared rare recollections of spending time with his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, away from the public eye, when she was "completely at ease" and "off duty".

The Prince’s personal recollections come as part of a new digital memorial honouring the monarch, which is available online now, featuring tributes from both the public and those who knew her best.

As well as revealing more details about "a side of Granny the world didn’t often see", William shared that she fostered in him a love of tea time, something he still appreciates "to this day".

In his moving message, the future King recalls "many a quiet afternoon" with the Queen and the late Prince Philip at Windsor Castle. He said, "Whilst I had the privilege to know the late Queen better than most, some of my fondest memories of my grandmother are from here in Windsor.

"I remember many a quiet afternoon having tea with her and my grandfather at the castle, chatting, sharing stories, and seeing how completely at ease she was here, surrounded by family and her much-loved dogs and horses.

"To this day, she’s given me a love of teatime that I never knew I needed.

"Watching her ride her horses in the Great Park, even well into her later years, showed a side of Granny the world didn’t often see - off duty, relaxed and utterly at home. These moments with my grandmother are ones I’ll always hold dear."

The late Queen’s love for afternoon tea has been discussed before, with former Royal chef Darren McGrady revealing all about the traditions she would always follow and just exactly what was on the menu.

Speaking to Coffee Friend in the past, Darren revealed, "The Queen loved afternoon tea, I would say it’s probably one of her favourite meals."

He added that there always had to be two sandwiches on the menu and the scones had to alternate flavours each day. "It was really important the way they alternated. So much so, that the chefs at Buckingham Palace would ring Windsor Castle on a Monday morning and ask what flavour scones the Queen had the day before, just to be sure we didn’t serve the same.

"I’m not sure what would have happened if we did, but we always checked."

Touchingly, and perhaps why William continues to love teatime to this day, the Queen always made sure to have her grandson’s favourite on the menu.

Darren explained, “If she had Prince William coming for afternoon tea, she knew her grandson loved chocolate biscuit cake, so she’d write that in and put a number two. That told us there were two for tea”.

The Princess of Wales won't be a Queen in her own right but she's learnt some valuable lessons from Queen Elizabeth that she's putting to good use. Of all the late Queen's skills and qualities, we often don't think about her aura of mystery.

The way she presented herself in public was all most people ever saw and she was an expert at keeping her true feelings to herself. Now royal biographer Catherine Mayer has suggested that the Princess of Wales has taken this smart approach too.

"She has done such a clever job of finding a way to adapt to the institution," she told Hello!'s A Right Royal Podcast. "That does not mean that I think she has it easy. [But she's done] very little speaking and almost no confessional spilling of anything about who she is. She's quite enigmatic.

Like Queen Elizabeth, Kate has cultivated an ability to connect with the public without sharing too much of her private self. She's appeared on two podcasts and in a few interviews, but that's pretty much the extent of her "confessional spilling" and she admired the Queen deeply.

Speaking on ITV's Our Queen at Ninety Kate said, "Everyone feels like they've had some quality time with Her Majesty and, also, a real personal connection and I think that's a real skill."

Earlier this year portrait artist Chris Levine told woman&home that he'd found Her Majesty hard to read at their first sitting. He declared, "She wasn't giving anything away and I realised that she'd developed a mechanism where you couldn't tell what she was thinking or feeling because she's meeting people all the time. I've never experienced it with anyone else in my life and it was really quite unnerving."

Given how many people Queen Elizabeth met every year and her diplomatic position this skill was probably very necessary and will be just as useful for Kate. With scrutiny on her at all times, there will be occasions where the Princess can't afford to let her innermost thoughts become known.

This approach also helps draw a line between her work and private life and means she doesn't risk sharing too much. Catherine Mayer's new book Divide and Rule: Royal Women and Their Battles focuses on several royals including Kate and the author praised her and Prince William for finding a way to live in relative privacy whilst being in the public eye.

In her view, this is "enormously difficult" to do and woman&home Royal Correspondent Emily Andrews claims on her Keeping Up With The Royals podcast that there is definitely a difference between her public and private personas.

"The public Catherine is quite reserved and quite formal and very warm with the kiddies…but she's not going to give you too much," Emily alleged. "The private Kate is quite different. Very warm, very friendly, and got a great sense of humour."

According to her, the Princess likes a good practical joke too, though it's unlikely members of the public will ever actually get to see this in practice.

There are many things we expect to see at Trooping the Colour - the King taking the Royal Salute, cute moments between the royal children and a magnificent flypast - but one of the senior family members checking their phone isn't one of them. Yet this royal 'first' has now happened and I couldn't quite believe my eyes when I saw pictures of the Duke of Kent breaking protocol like this.

Photographers managed to capture the moment the late Queen's cousin checked his phone whilst standing on the left side of the Buckingham Palace balcony. To his right, the King, Queen and Wales family were excitedly looking up to admire the aircraft flying overhead.

The 90-year-old Duke of Kent is one of only eleven working royals and was born Prince Edward, the grandson of King George VI. He's grown up in the Royal Family so will definitely be aware that checking your phone during this huge ceremonial occasion is a rather unusual move…

If his cousin Queen Elizabeth had been there I can only imagine how she'd have reprimanded him. Her Majesty was a stickler for good behaviour on the balcony and although she seemed to be less strict with the children (she often looked amused by Louis's cheekiness), she famously told Prince William off at Trooping the Colour in 2016.

He had been bending down to chat to Prince George and according to reports, the Queen said to her 33-year-old grandson, "Stand up William. Don't Crouch."

She also wasn't afraid to scold him in private either. William once recalled an "almighty" telling-off he got from her as a child after he and Peter Phillips had been messing around on go-carts at Balmoral and Zara Tindall almost got "squashed" by a falling lamppost.

She surely wouldn't have been very impressed to see the Duke of Kent on his phone with thousands of people watching and I wonder how King Charles might react after seeing all the pictures. Trooping the Colour is the monarch's birthday parade after all and we hardly ever see the royals with their phones out at all.

There's one time that comes to mind when the Princess of Wales held her phone when she was at Wimbledon but in general when they're on official business, mobiles are kept out of sight at all times.

At the same time, for those of us who aren't royals the Duke of Kent's protocol-breaking move is a bit more understandable and I can't help but sympathise with him. Trooping the Colour is a long day for anyone and he was standing on a section of balcony by himself for a lot of the flypast.

It's also possible that he was perhaps checking or responding to a more urgent message from his daughter Lady Helen Taylor. She attended the funeral of Prince Philip's cousin and Queen Elizabeth's Lady-in-Waiting, Lady Pamela Hicks, that afternoon representing the Duke of Kent.

Whatever the reason, the amount of attention the Duke's phone checking has received already means I somehow doubt he'll do that again in future.

When Prince Harry and Meghan announced they were stepping back as working royals in 2020 the world reacted with dismay and there was speculation over how the Royal Family truly felt about it. Days later Queen Elizabeth declared in a personal message that Harry, Meghan and their son Archie "will always be much loved members of [her] family".

Nevertheless, it's now been suggested that she was slightly "worried" about what the Sussexes would do after their high-profile royal exit. Writing in the latest issue of Woman, royal correspondent Duncan Larcombe alleges that there was a condition set out by the monarch.

"Her Majesty made it clear to Harry that he and Meghan would leave with her blessing as long as they understood leaving royal life meant exactly that," he writes.

Duncan understands that "she was worried the Sussexes would continue with public engagements" but without coordinating their work to "prevent them overshadowing the actual work of the family". This half-in, half-out approach to royal life was something that Prince Harry and Meghan had reportedly hoped for.

However, Queen Elizabeth didn't share this vision for the Sussexes' future and left them in no doubt about her feelings. Writing in The Windsor Legacy, royal author Robert Jobson described a summit held at Sandringham House in January 2020.

"The answer from the top was clear: no halfway role was possible. They were either in or out," he claimed, adding, "Her Majesty's ruling deepened the existing tensions in the family, particularly between Harry and William."

Although the Duke and Duchess of Sussex followed the rules set out for them at first, in recent years the thing Queen Elizabeth was "worried" about is seemingly coming true. The couple's Australia trip in April garnered both praise and criticism, particularly when it came to the elements that were similar to a traditional royal tour.

The visit came just before King Charles and Queen Camilla's US State Visit. Then in May, Meghan visited Switzerland for the inauguration of The Lost Screen Memorial which is dedicated to children who lost their lives as a result of the harm they suffered on social media.

A few days before, the Princess of Wales undertook her first overseas visit since her cancer diagnosis in neighbouring Italy. The working royals coordinate their engagements carefully but since Harry and Meghan stepped back who knows if there's any sort of communication like this between them all.

There's inevitably a lot of direct comparison when Sussex visits and royal engagements occur around the same time. So it's understandable that Queen Elizabeth might have been concerned about the institution's work being "overshadowed" by headlines concerning Harry and Meghan.

Her dedication to the monarchy and the Commonwealth was one of her strongest character traits and her grandson praised it in a statement following her death in 2022.

"In celebrating the life of my grandmother, Her Majesty the Queen - and in mourning her loss - we are all reminded of the guiding compass she was to so many in her commitment to service and duty," he declared.

Read Duncan Larcombe's feature in Woman magazine. Subscribe now and get your first 6 issues for £1.

Trooping the Colour is always an exciting event for royal fans but the 2024 parade was particularly moving. Held to celebrate King Charles's official birthday, it also marked the first appearance of the Princess of Wales so far that year after making her cancer diagnosis public.

I wouldn't be surprised if she put even more thought than usual into her outfit knowing how much attention she would inevitably get and Kate wore head-to-toe monochrome focused around a Jenny Packham dress. This is a go-to British clothing brand for her and the design had black detailing accentuating the neckline and waist and a bow bringing a feminine flourish.

The colour palette was a little different for her and it showcased how seriously the Princess of Wales still takes one of Queen Elizabeth's unofficial mottos.

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When we think of Queen Elizabeth's style two things immediately spring to mind - bright colours and floral hats. Both are very eye-catching and according to her daughter-in-law Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, this is partly why she wore them.

"She needs to stand out for people to be able to say 'I saw the Queen'," Sophie explained on the ITV documentary, Our Queen at Ninety. "Don't forget that when she turns up somewhere, the crowds are two, three, four, 10, 15 deep, and someone wants to be able to say they saw a bit of the Queen's hat as she went past."

Looking at the Princess of Wales's black and white outfit in 2024 you might think it's very minimal but against the backdrops of the parade and Buckingham Palace balcony it also really stood out. According to royal author Christopher Andersen this was probably not a coincidence.

In Kate! The Courage, Grace, and Power of the Woman Who Will Be Queen, he reflects, "Realizing the importance of this moment, Kate wore a white Jenny Packham dress with a large black-and-white bow and a wide-brimmed hat."

"She chose the outfit for two reasons: white is the universal colour of hope, and - Kate always follows the late Queen's famous dictum: 'I must be seen to be believed' - white is visible from a distance," he adds.

In pictures of the Royal Family standing on the Buckingham Palace balcony to watch the flypast in 2024, the Princess of Wales stands out clearly between her red uniform-wearing husband and father-in-law.

Before she made her cancer diagnosis public there was an onslaught of speculation and conspiracy theories circulating as to why we hadn't seen her. At Trooping the Colour the future Queen was clearly visible to everyone who lined the streets to watch the parade and in the photographs that were published around the world.

Last year Kate wore turquoise and her dress had white detailing which again incorporated this colour associated with hope. I wouldn't be surprised if there was white somewhere in her outfit this year for the same reason and she will likely choose a dress in another equally striking shade.

Having served as monarch of the United Kingdom for a history-making 70 years, Queen Elizabeth II met many, many notable figures throughout her life. Part of her popularity and success has long been credited with her ability to seemingly never let her personal opinions show.

However former US First Lady Dr Jill Biden has now claimed in her new book, View from the East Wing, that Queen Elizabeth did share her opinions about prominent world leaders behind closed doors. Not only that, but the late monarch wasn't against sharing her views about those she "disapproved of".

Dr Biden, who is married to Joe Biden, who served as 46th President of the United States, has documented her time and various meetings with diplomats, dignitaries and other notable names. This includes a trip to Windsor Castle in June 2021, where she met with Queen Elizabeth II who reportedly trusted her enough to be candid.

According to PEOPLE, Jill writes, "I think she and Joe could have gone on talking forever. She had such a wonderful sense of curiosity about people and world events. She was rather honest about some leaders she disapproved of, and I felt grateful to be taken into her confidence."

While the world leaders in question are not named, this is a surprising claim to make and is at odds with the reputation Her Majesty had built up publicly for decades.

Their visit to Windsor Castle came just a couple of months after Prince Philip’s death in April. Conscious not to upset Her Majesty, Dr Biden recalls not wanting to bring up the late Duke of Edinburgh in conversation, but the Queen did so herself.

"I studiously did not ask the queen about her husband or anything related to the royal family," Jill claims. "As soon as we began speaking, though, she filled us in on her eleven great-grandchildren and the new one on the way [Sienna Mapelli Mozzi, who was born that September]."

It was during this same trip, which happened to be Dr Biden’s first overseas visit as First Lady, that Her Majesty reportedly shared her practical way she was thinking about beloved husband’s passing.

Dr Biden alleges that Her Majesty revealed Philip, who died aged 99, wouldn’t have wanted to reach the milestone age of 100, as he declared it "too old". According to Philip's own biographer, Gyles Brandreth, he also once said, "I can't imagine anything worse. I'm already falling to pieces as it is. Bits keep dropping off. I have absolutely no desire to cling on to life unnecessarily. Ghastly prospect."

Jill returned to the United Kingdom in 2022 for the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth, and again to represent Joe and the United States in a defining moment of British history - the Coronation of King Charles III in May 2023. She brought her granddaughter with her on what she described as "the once-in-a-lifetime trip" where "[she] felt that [she] was watching history being made."

Queen Elizabeth's death in September 2022 was met with outpourings of grief and tributes from public figures, fans and, of course, those who knew her best. Just a day after losing his mother and ascending the throne King Charles addressed the nation and honoured his "darling mama".

Now he's put pen to paper and reflected on her "final days" in Scotland in the foreword for the soon-to-be-released Balmoral by Mary Miers. As reported by The Telegraph, the King explains that Queen Elizabeth "particularly treasured her time at Balmoral".

"It was here, in these most beloved of surroundings, that she chose to spend her final days," he added poignantly.

Balmoral Castle was widely seen as Queen Elizabeth's favourite residence and it's where she spent her summer holidays with her family. Because of this, it also means a lot to them and Charles confirms this, adding, "Since my earliest childhood, it has held, and continues to hold, a uniquely special place in the hearts of my family and myself."

Her choice to head to Scotland for what turned out to be the final months of her life shows how important Balmoral and the tradition of going there was to her. She seemingly knew this could be where she passed away, as Princess Anne has described the Queen's concern over whether it would be "difficult" if she died there.

However, Elizabeth's daughter encouraged her to see that the practicalities of arranging her funeral didn't matter compared to her comfort and happiness.

"I think there was a moment when she felt that it would be more difficult if she died at Balmoral", Anne said on the BBC documentary Charles III The Coronation Year. "We did try to persuade her that [location] shouldn't be part of the decision-making process. So I hope she felt that was right in the end, because I think we did."

Princess Anne was with Queen Elizabeth for the last 24 hours of her life - something she thinks she was very "fortunate" to have experienced. She also accompanied her mother's coffin from Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh and then from there to London.

"It has been an honour and a privilege to accompany her on her final journeys. Witnessing the love and respect shown by so many on these journeys has been both humbling and uplifting," the Princess Royal declared in a statement at the time.

The Queen spent so much of her life being scrutinised and in the public eye, but at Balmoral she could enjoy just being Elizabeth. It's no wonder she specifically chose to spend her "final days" there - a place that Princess Eugenie once said gave them all "room to breathe".

"I think Granny is the most happy there. I think she really, really loves the Highlands," she explained, adding that it used to be a "lovely base" for the Queen and Prince Philip. Although Balmoral and its grounds are open from spring to August, it's one of the few privately-owned royal residences and is still where King Charles heads for his annual summer break.

Thousands met Queen Elizabeth throughout her reign but only a small circle got to see what she was like behind the scenes. Her granddaughter Zara's husband Mike Tindall was one of those few people who spent time with the Queen outside of the public eye but he still hugely regrets how long he "held back" with her.

"I was lucky enough to have the best seat in the house on 14 or 15 occasions when I sat next to the Queen. She was this icon and I knew she had so many stories, but I never asked," he told Emily Andrews in the July issue of woman&home. "For a long time I held back, and I always say that was my biggest regret."

After spending so long admiring her but not wanting to ask questions, Mike's relationship with the monarch became more "normal" after a lunch in Scotland.

He explained that he was sat beside Queen Elizabeth and because of the way things were laid out the retired rugby star ended up with two table legs in front of him. As Mike put it, "I sort of had to do a little man spread" either side of them - unbeknownst to his royal host.

"[T]hen the Queen stood up and started moving the tables closer together! And I said, 'Excuse me, Ma'am, but if you move those any closer, I'm going to be talking an octave higher,' and she burst out laughing," he continued.

Mike believes this was a "turning point" and made him realise he "didn't need to worry about what I said to her and the more normal, the better". Queen Elizabeth's sense of humour shone through in this potentially awkward situation and from then on, he felt comfortable enough to ask her questions like who her favourite Prime Minister was.

Having the Queen as your grandmother-in-law would naturally take some getting used to anyway and Mike has previously admitted he found protocols tricky initially.

"You do get used to it over time, but the trickiest part is the beginning when everything is new. All the protocols, they're a little daunting," he said, as per The Telegraph. "I stayed quiet for a long time, it is hard to pick what to talk about. The first time you sit next to the Queen at a dinner table, it is a nerve-racking experience."

He and Zara Tindall married in Scotland in July 2011 and even after becoming a married-in member of the Royal Family he still addressed the Queen as Ma'am or Your Majesty, whilst Zara apparently just called her Granny.

The pair were very close and shared a passion for equestrianism. Zara's silver medal in the London 2012 Olympics was celebrated in such a sweet way by her grandmother, who was reportedly too anxious to watch her compete in the eventing live.

Former royal protection officer Richard Griffin told Sky News in 2022 that Queen Elizabeth suggested they go out for a picnic at Balmoral because she was "just so nervous". Later he radioed in and found out Zara was an Olympic silver medal winner - much to her granny's delight.

"I remember the Queen just grabbed me and we were dancing around in circles on this hill in Scotland,' Griffin said. "That's a memory that will stay with me for evermore."

It seems that eight-year-old Prince Louis has taken after his great-grandmother when it comes to his preferred snack. The late Queen had a serious sweet tooth and loved chocolate, but her teatime essential was slightly healthier and Louis apparently eats the same thing in the car.

Prince William revealed this in a recent appearance on Heart Breakfast, where he was asked if the morning school run is chaotic. He admitted it can be, depending on what's going on, and said, "There's a lot of jam sandwiches taken in the car usually."

Giving his youngest son a specific shout-out, the dad-of-three added, "Louis will leave jam fingerprints throughout the car, which is really helpful."

I suspect Queen Elizabeth never indulged in a messy jam sandwich while she was in a car, but she reportedly enjoyed them with her afternoon tea. On the Channel 5 documentary, Secrets of the Royal Kitchen, former royal chef Graham Newbould claimed she was served "jam penny sandwiches", round and crustless, instead of ones with "points". This is an old custom with a rather surprising reason behind it.

"The royals never have square sandwiches because tradition has it that anyone presenting them with pointed-edged food is trying to overthrow the throne of England," Graham explained.

Meanwhile, on his YouTube Channel fellow former royal chef Darren McGrady has previously shared that the Queen was served penny sandwiches as a little girl and "had them for afternoon tea ever since".

These were "usually" filled with strawberry jam which would be made with berries from the gardens at Balmoral. We don't know what kind Prince Louis has in his sandwiches (and gets all over the Waleses' car) but perhaps he tucks into Balmoral strawberry jam too. His mum Kate also makes her own plum jam.

Earlier this year the Princess visited Wales and heard how young volunteers at a community garden were growing plums and making jam. She apparently told them, "I'll send you my recipe so you can try it."

Jarred goods seem to be a speciality of Kate's, as she famously made her granny's chutney as her first Christmas present to Queen Elizabeth. Homemade recipes could also be a bit healthier as a snack for Louis, though his love for jam sandwiches clearly keeps her and William busy cleaning their car.

When you have three young children like the Waleses do, a messy car is to be expected and Louis had a new habit last autumn that brought a little bit of chaos indoors too. The young royal developed an interest in collecting conkers and the Princess confessed, "We keep finding conkers in cupboards, in his bed - conkers everywhere!"

She added that her son had also been putting the conkers in his toy trucks and playing with them. Thankfully the conker season in the UK is relatively short, but it seems that Prince Louis's excitement meant tidiness took a backseat for a little while just as it does when he’s enjoying his jam sandwiches on the way to school.

The late Queen Elizabeth's sense of humour became world-famous throughout her reign but she apparently also loved a good "gossip". So much so, that she actively encouraged this at royal lunches in a rather surprising way, according to former royal butler Julius Smith.

Smith has suggested that the Queen would ensure guests' wine glasses were regularly topped up - even if they tried to get out of it. Getting candid with the Daily Mail, he explained that despite long-standing claims about Elizabeth regularly enjoying gin and Dubonnet, she "certainly wouldn't be drinking" as part of her "routine".

At some royal lunches things were different though. Smith alleged that she "loved to gossip" and if guests attempted to put their hands over their glass to prevent wine re-fills "she would say to pour it in through their fingers!"

The former butler and founder of Regal Afternoon Tea served the late Queen on multiple occasions and it's so funny to think of her mischievously getting guests tipsy hoping they'd be up for chatting. It's a conversation-sparking approach for sure and her interest in political "gossip" in particular has been revealed before by former Scottish National Party leader, Nicola Sturgeon.

"She liked to hear what was happening in the political world," she said on the Rosebud with Gyles Brandreth podcast. "She would ask me about things she had read in the papers and what was the real story here."

As well as loving gossip, Queen Elizabeth also liked it when things went a little off-plan at engagements. Given she was surrounded by people trying to make every detail perfect for her, it actually makes sense that she enjoyed spontaneous moments.

Prince William said on the BBC documentary, Prince Philip: The Royal Family Remembers, that both of his grandparents "loved" it when something went awry.

"There's that imbalance of everyone doing their absolute best to make sure, 'The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh are coming, let's make sure everything is absolutely right. Remember every single year has gone right,'" Prince Harry also explained. "While the two of them are going, 'Well I wonder if something's gonna go wrong this year? How exciting'."

It's when things went wrong that Queen Elizabeth would often spring into action and offer up a witty remark. She dryly quipped, "Oh dear, I hope that wasn't anyone important", after a former cabinet minister's phone started ringing and interrupted the start of a Privy Council meeting.

Another memorable remark came about after the Queen (who was around 5ft3) gave a speech to a crowd during a US visit and was pretty much totally obscured by the podium. You could just make out the top of her face and her purple hat but the next day when she addressed the House of Congress it got a special mention.

She began her speech by saying, "I do hope you can see me today from where you are…" which prompted standing applause and laughter.

These moments probably provided a lot for her to gossip about too and the Queen wasn't afraid to let her personality shine through at times like these, despite her royal position.

A few weeks after the late Queen Elizabeth’s centenary renowned conservationist Sir David Attenborough is celebrating his 100th birthday. The two British icons met multiple times throughout the Queen's reign, but one occasion sounds particularly memorable.

She and David teamed up for a special documentary in 2018, The Queen’s Green Planet, and an unexpected situation unfolded. Speaking to ITV after Queen Elizabeth’s death in 2022, Sir David light-heartedly described how "awful" it was when the monarch asked him to check the plaques on trees at Buckingham Palace.

"That was awful for me because she planted certain trees when her children [were born] and she had asked me just to check on the notice which said what the tree was and I couldn’t find my glasses," he revealed.

David had seemingly not anticipated this and continued, "Not only could I not find my glasses, but the placard itself was overgrown with moss, so I had to make a kind of guess. Which was wrong!"

We actually get to see David Attenborough in the documentary making this mistake - even after finding his glasses. He’s heard identifying Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s tree before going to the next and saying that was Andrew’s as well. As soon as Her Majesty heard that she said, "They can’t both be", and it turned out one was actually Prince Edward’s…

In the documentary narration Sir David explains that the Queen was continuing Queen Victoria’s tradition by having a tree planted to honour her family members. The documentary explored the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy project which aimed to create a global network of protected forests in each Commonwealth country.

Whilst they strolled through the Buckingham Palace gardens Queen Elizabeth also made one of her famous quips. In response to the conservationist predicting there would be all different types of trees growing in 50 years, she said, "Might easily be, yes. I won’t be here though."

At the time she and David filmed the documentary they were both 91 and a frank joke about her own mortality perhaps showcased how comfortable she was around him. The pair met years earlier and he produced her Christmas broadcasts for years.

That history together meant he had plenty more Queen Elizabeth anecdotes to share and he also spoke to ITV about his "favourite" personal memory of her.

"I suppose the most precious things were hearing her laugh. Easy to make a polite laugh isn’t it? But when she laughed in a genuine way, if there was something funny she laughed in a genuine way, she wasn’t putting it on," he said. "And that made it very easy because she was an expert at getting people to relax."

David Attenborough thinks that Queen Elizabeth was someone who you knew was "extremely important in our society" and yet "she made it seem like you were meeting another human being with exactly the same sort of conditions that all human beings have". He makes an excellent point that it was a real skill to meet as many people as she did and still have everyone feel like they’d made a connection with her.

Prince Philip sacrificed a lot for his 73-year marriage to Queen Elizabeth, including his titles and citizenship of Greece and Denmark. He renounced them and became a British citizen the year they married, as well as converting from Greek Orthodoxy to Anglicanism.

He was the Queen’s most loyal supporter and close confidante, and he adapted to life as consort of one of the most famous women in the world. Even so, Philip made his feelings plain in the 1950s after his wife was persuaded to keep Windsor as the Royal Family’s name in an outburst that prompted her to make a surprising "concession".

"I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his children!" Prince Philip is famously quoted as saying. "I'm nothing but a b***** amoeba!"

The late Duke of Edinburgh adopted the surname Mountbatten in 1947 when he became a naturalised British subject. It’s an Anglicised form of his mother’s family name, the Battenbergs, but the Government were reportedly keen that the Queen shouldn’t change the Royal House name from Windsor to Mountbatten.

Although surnames aren’t generally needed if you’re royal, the Royal House name can act as one - hence Prince Philip’s outburst. The Queen confirmed in 1952 that the Royal Family name of Windsor would be used.

This changed in 1960 and royal expert and woman&home correspondent said on a recent episode of her and Reverend Richard Coles’ Catching Up With The Royals podcast that this was Queen Elizabeth’s "concession" to her husband.

"Because any children of hers were going to be Windsor, but by taking his more Anglicised surname, Mountbatten-Windsor and making it double-barrelled [she included Philip]," Emily said.

As the Royal Family’s own website puts it, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip “decided that they would like their own direct descendants to be distinguished from the rest of the Royal Family”. The Royal House remains Windsor, but it was declared in the Privy Council that the Queen’s descendants would carry the new double-barrelled name if they weren’t Prince/Princess of a married female descendent.

Essentially this meant that the couple’s children, when they needed a surname, would use Mountbatten-Windsor. This is why the former Prince Andrew is now Mr Mountbatten-Windsor and before they became Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, the Sussexes' children had this surname too.

For the Queen to have changed her mind like this, it clearly meant a lot to Prince Philip to have his own surname included and his quip indicates this too. Her love and respect for him led her to create the new royal surname, but it was 43 years before someone would officially have it.

In 2003, Prince Edward and Duchess Sophie’s daughter was born and although she’s known as Lady Louise Windsor now, she appears in the royal line of succession with the full surname.

Her younger brother James, Earl of Wessex was also Mountbatten-Windsor at birth. They’re understood to have been incredibly close to Philip and he was probably very touched to see his grandchildren using this royal name.

Anyone expecting to see Queen Camilla in one of the Royal Family's magnificent tiaras at the US State Banquet was in for a surprise. Instead of donning a jewel-encrusted headpiece she went for a necklace that was - if anything - even more eyecatching.

Studded with amethysts and diamonds, this was the first thing you noticed about Her Majesty's outfit that night and it certainly won't be to everyone's taste. Even so, you can't help but admire the story-telling that was going on here as Queen Camilla's demi-parure (a partial matching jewellery set) directly links back to Queen Elizabeth's State Visit to America in 1991.

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This was the last visit of a British monarch prior to Their Majesties' trip and the late Queen wore the brooch from the same set. As with every royal banquet look, this won't be a coincidence. Even before they flew stateside, there's been so much talk about how this visit is the first since Elizabeth's and King Charles acknowledged this in his address to Congress too.

Queen Camilla will have thought a lot about what she would wear to the White House State Banquet and given she's not been seen in the amethyst set before, it's no doubt to make that connection to her mother-in-law.

The purple gems also coordinated with her fuchsia pink Fiona Clare gown and this could also have been her own twist on Queen Elizabeth's 1991 style. Back then the Queen wore the brooch pinned on a purple jacket with a matching skirt and although Camilla's dress doesn't exactly match, it's in the wider colour palette.

She is putting her own twist on things while still paying tribute to the past and if this doesn't sum up the Royal Family's approach to style I don't know what does! With a necklace that bold a tiara would've taken her look from regal to eye-wateringly opulent, so it makes sense that Queen Camilla didn't choose a headpiece.

It's tradition for the royal women to wear tiaras when they're *hosting* State Banquets on UK soil. However, we've often seen them go without when they're the ones being hosted abroad, particularly if the nation doesn't have a monarch or consort who'll be wearing their own. Queen Elizabeth did wear a sapphire tiara in 1991, though.

The previous day when they first arrived in the US, Her Majesty also nodded to Queen Elizabeth with some luxurious jewellery. This time she sent a message in the form of a brooch which combined the British and American flags.

It was given to Queen Elizabeth by the Mayor of New York when she visited in 1957 and some reports have estimated the value to be several million dollars. The State Visit is four days long and the banquet was the only occasion where we'd expect something like the amethyst set to be worn, but there are more opportunities to see some other, subtler pieces like the flag brooch.

If we're looking back at the jewellery Queen Elizabeth wore during her 1991 trip, she favoured a three strand pearl necklace. Queen Camilla has several pearl necklaces she loves, including a four strand one with a circular diamond clasp. Who knows if she could have packed this in her jewellery box for the US State Visit?

Queen Elizabeth had a number historic properties she could live at and she’s known to have had a particular soft spot for Windsor Castle, Sandringham House and Balmoral. However there’s a humbler home that was also very "special" to her and Prince Philip, according to royal expert and woman&home correspondent Emily Andrews.

Whilst it is a royal residence, it’s "secluded" and this allowed the couple to enjoy living in a down-to-earth way. On a recent episode of her and Reverend Richard Coles’ Catching Up With The Royals podcast, Emily answered a question about Wood Farm, which was where Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh lived after he retired in 2017.

"He wanted nothing more to do, really, with royal life after that. He went to live and retire at Wood Farm and he actually didn’t see the Queen very much," she claimed. "[It] was where he painted, it was his home. And it always has held a special place for him and the Queen."

Although she lived apart from her husband a lot whilst she carried out her duties, Queen Elizabeth reportedly enjoyed spending time with him at Wood Farm when she could. Sandringham House and Gardens are open to the public from March/April until October and if this coincided with her visiting Norfolk, she went to the farm instead.

"Often he and the Queen when Sandringham was open to the general public or whatever, he and the Queen would live at Wood Farm, doing their own washing up, maybe even stacking the dishwasher," Emily declared.

The royal expert confirmed to co-host Richard that the home was "not very grand" even though it’s "quite a big place". It’s still hard to imagine the Queen and Philip doing the dishes, yet the monarch’s former press secretary Dickie Arbiter previously referenced her willingness to wash up at Balmoral in a piece for woman&home.

"No sooner had I started than I heard footsteps and, thinking it was the Lady-in-Waiting coming to give me a hand, I casually said over my shoulder, ‘Okay, I’ll wash you dry,’ but it was not the Lady-in-Waiting. The Queen washed up and I dried, and no, she did not wear rubber gloves to protect her hands," he wrote.

Perhaps it made a refreshing change for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip to do these kinds of household chores themselves and to spend time together in such a private place. Emily Andrews described Wood Farm as "secluded" and expressed her belief that this is why Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor moved there first whilst Marsh Farm is being renovated.

Wood Farm has rarely been photographed and a courtier previously suggested to the Daily Mail that the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh had other reasons for loving the residence which tied into their interests.

"They adored the simplicity of what Wood Farm represented," they alleged. "For the Duke, it was the light which he thought was perfect to paint by, and the proximity to the sea only a couple of miles away. The Queen likes the unfussiness - the sense of getting away from it all and being able to slip out for a walk with the dogs whenever she likes."

Queen Elizabeth had a staggering amount of jewellery that either belonged to her personally or was part of the royal collection, including many magnificent tiaras, necklaces and earrings. Storing these priceless pieces sounds like a bit of a nightmare but the late monarch apparently found an unusual method that worked for her.

On a recent episode of her Catching Up With The Royals podcast, expert and woman&home royal correspondent Emily Andrews responded to a question about where all these items go. Admitting she'd wondered "exactly the same thing" before doing a deep dive into tiaras, she described the set-up that Queen Elizabeth relied on.

"Actually there are these very secure, well what was described to me, anyway, by courtiers at the palace, as wardrobes," she told co-host Reverend Richard Coles.

Emily added, "Often female members were lent pieces of jewellery and tiaras and these then became synonymous with those female members."

She gave the example of Princess Diana frequently wearing the Lover's Knot Tiara which is now closely associated with the Princess of Wales. Kate has stepped out in it around 14 times now and according to the royal expert, once a piece became linked to a particular person, they could be given the honour of a named shelf.

"For instance, the Duchess of Cambridge [now Princess of Wales] had a shelf with her name on it. The Duchess of Cornwall [now Queen Camilla] had a shelf with her name on it," Emily claimed.

The Princess of Wales was the first royal bride of that generation to borrow a tiara for her wedding. In his biography, William & Catherine, Russell Myers claims that it was a "startling gesture" of generosity by Queen Elizabeth and the thought had "not occurred to [Kate] at first".

When she was shown the Cartier Halo Tiara she was said to be "overcome with emotion". There's so much history behind the piece as it was a gift from King George VI to the Queen Mother and they then gave it to the Queen on her 18th birthday.

She'd loaned it to Princess Margaret and Princess Anne and had "given her blessing for Catherine to wear it". According to Myers, "Many believe it to have been a symbolic gesture of not only her fondness for her grandson's bridge but also a recognition of her future status within the family."

As the Princess has only worn it this one time it might not have made her shelf in the wardrobe, but if this is still the storage method for royal jewellery there are at least two more tiaras which probably will be on there. One is the Lover's Knot Tiara and the other is the Lotus Flower Tiara.

In the fifteen years since she married Prince William, Kate has only actually worn five separate tiaras. Queen Camilla also has her favourites, notably the Boucheron Honeycomb Tiara, though she's branched out in the jewellery department recently.

In 2024 and 2025 Her Majesty made her debut wearing the Burmese Ruby Tiara and the emerald-studded Greville Emerald Kokoshnik Tiara respectively, both of which used to belong to Queen Elizabeth personally.

There were plenty of celebrations last week for what would’ve been the 100th birthday of our late Queen (April 21).

From Princess Anne opening a new green space in central London to King Charles's solemn speech, the Royal Family came out in force for the special centenary.

Elizabeth II was never much of a fashion fan but she understood the huge power and silent messages her clothes conveyed. She reportedly once said, "I have to be seen to be believed," and to celebrate her icon status, a new exhibition of her style has just opened.

More than 300 items from her wardrobe are on display – from her Norman Hartnell wedding dress, to her royal christening robe made almost 200 years ago, to an amazing collection of hats.

I was lucky enough to have a sneak preview and it’s a fascinating greatest hits of her reign, which includes her coronation gown with that tiny waist and many examples of her diplomatic dressing on royal tours.

Taking after her mother Elizabeth, and grandmother Queen Mary, the late Queen kept everything: all her hats, shoes, coats, dresses, handbags and even receipts for her Burberry dry cleaning.

The result is an archive of couture fashion, consisting of more than 4,500 pieces, now looked after by the Royal Collection Trust (the charity that cares for the royal art collection).

It is such a fun exhibition. I particularly enjoyed the two peach dresses, designed by the late Queen’s assistant Angela Kelly for the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics.

One, famously, was worn by the Queen that evening in a skit with Daniel Craig’s James Bond, where she was seen being picked up at Buckingham Palace by Bond, and then a helicopter hovered over the arena where the ‘Queen’ jumped out before walking to her seat with the stadium cheering.

The larger of the two outfits, worn by the stuntman with a very cleverly concealed zip down the back where his parachute deployed, is seen here for the first time.

I quizzed the curator and archivists on how the Queen’s wardrobe is kept and most are stored wrapped in tissue in special plastic storage boxes, while items that need to be hung are kept on a hermetically sealed clothes rail.

The satin of her gorgeous wedding dress from 1947, despite meticulous care, is showing its age (at the time it was common to treat satin with tin salts to improve the drape, which has meant the material has become brittle).

So it was fascinating to hear how the arms have been replaced and restored, while if you look closely you can see the fabric has been treated with a net overlay to stop it breaking down further.

This is fashion as history - don’t miss it!

Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style runs until 18 October 2026 at The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace - tickets can be bought online.

On Tuesday, 21st April, Princess Anne was given the honour of opening the Queen Elizabeth II Garden in central London on what would've been her mother's 100th birthday. This brand new green space is dedicated to the late monarch and has turned a disused plant nursery into a two-acre garden.

It was no doubt an emotional day for the Princess Royal, but the designers included a secret detail that brought a smile to her face. Hidden in amongst the greenery was a corgi tribute and according to reports, Anne "chuckled loudly" when she spotted it.

The garden’s blacksmiths, Ian Thackray and Ian Kebby, included this in the viewing platform alongside the original plans of decorating it with cast iron wildflowers. After spotting it and letting out a chuckle, they handed Princess Anne her very own cast iron rose - thought to represent the species aptly named the Princess Anne Rose.

Her Majesty famously loved Pembroke Welsh Corgis and she received her first one as an 18th birthday present in 1944. Named Susan, this canine companion would usher in a lifelong affinity for the dogs. Queen Elizabeth bred 10 generations of dogs from Susan, personally owning more than 30 of them in her lifetime.

They were all either purebred Pembroke Welsh Corgis or Dorgis - a cross between a corgi and a dachshund. On the day of her funeral in 2022 we saw her final two corgis, Muick and Sandy, standing outside Windsor Castle waiting for the cortege to go by.

The corgi tribute that made Princess Anne laugh wasn't the only more subtle tribute to Queen Elizabeth that day. Perhaps in a nod to her mother’s famous tradition of wearing eye-catching, bright colours, the Princess Royal wore an orange knee-length coat with gold brooch and a red, floral scarf.

During a speech to unveil the commemorative plaque, Princess Anne said, "Gardens are important for a number of reasons, in terms of historical perspective. When [the Queen] was growing up, the gardens were one aspect of life that changed dramatically during the war to become places where everybody grew things, and then the spaces afterwards became used for other things."

The gardens, open to the public on 27th April, have been designed with biodiversity as a main focus. Amongst the flora and fauna, there will be wildflower meadows, native hedgerows and trees planted to symbolise the strength of the monarchy.

There is also a straight path that runs through it, designed to represent her unwavering loyalty and service with each end offering a moment of quiet reflection. Visitors will also get to walk through a meandering path that circles the garden and reflects key aspects of her life and reign.

The late Queen Elizabeth cemented her place in British history throughout her 70-year reign and her centenary has been poignantly marked by King Charles. He addressed the nation on what would've been his mother's 100th birthday on 21st April and this significant date has got us taking a trip down memory lane too.

From the moment she found out she was Queen, to her final balcony appearance in 2022, Queen Elizabeth made a real impression on people's lives. Her dedication and sense of duty was astonishing and if you take our quiz you can find out how much you really know about her.

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As a monarch and Head of State, Queen Elizabeth had the challenging task of treading a delicate diplomatic path throughout her reign. She hosted countless Presidents and Prime Ministers, undertook overseas visits representing the nation and made thousands of public appearances.

All the time the Queen looked serene and at ease, never letting us know what she was really feeling deep inside. This is surely essential for someone with such a high-profile and politically neutral role and former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond has dubbed it a "great skill".

"I travelled extensively with the Queen and also met her many times at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. Even so, she remained something of an enigma to me," she wrote on what would've been Queen Elizabeth’s 100th birthday. "Her great skill was not allowing any of us truly to know what she was thinking or feeling."

In her piece for The Mirror, Jennie went on to reveal that there were times where she caught a glimpse of the Queen "a little off-guard, off-duty for a moment". She treasures these, including an instance when she saw Queen Elizabeth "putting on her lipstick without a mirror just before entering one of the main reception rooms".

The royal expert also recalled when the Queen invited her and a few other journalists aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia in South Africa. Jennie shared, "The Queen had a glint of real joy in her eyes as she told us that this was her first visit back to South Africa since she had visited with her parents and sister in 1947."

It makes sense that these "off-guard" moments were rare, at least in front of the media or members of the public. That’s not to say that Her Majesty kept her distance or didn’t give people a warm, memorable impression of her when they met - far from it.

Speaking on the 2016 documentary, Our Queen at Ninety, the Princess of Wales praised her grandmother-in-law’s ability to build a "connection".

"Everyone feels like they’ve had some quality time with Her Majesty and, also, a real personal connection and I think that’s a real skill," the Princess said. "I think she’s so, so engaging. She has got the most fantastic smile and I think if the Queen says nothing but she smiles, I think it gives everybody such a huge amount of joy and a huge amount of pleasure."

Queen Elizabeth also famously had a brilliant sense of humour and while we might not have been able to tell her true feelings about more serious things, she didn’t shy away from showing her amusement at appropriate moments.

"She had a dry but quite mischievous sense of humour. She rather liked it when things went a bit wrong on an official engagement - the car stalling or her plane being grounded in a thunderstorm - hardly surprising when you live a life so planned and regulated," wrote Jennie Bond.

The Royal Family also often mention the "twinkle" in her eye when they talk about her and King Charles did just that in his message to mark what would’ve been his mother’s 100th birthday.

"Millions will remember her for moments of national significance; many others for a fleeting personal encounter, a smile, a kind word that lifted spirits…. or for that marvellous twinkle of the eye when sharing a marmalade sandwich with Paddington Bear in the final months of her life," he declared.

The King's message on what would've been his "darling mama" Queen Elizabeth's 100th birthday was every bit as emotional and reflective as you'd expect. Yet there was an underlying theme that really struck me and summed up the Queen as she was seen by the nation and across the world. It also showed how the example she set has been deeply taken to heart by King Charles and he's striving to uphold it.

"Queen Elizabeth's 'promise with destiny kept' shaped the world around her and touched the lives of countless people across our nation, the Commonwealth and beyond," he said early on in the pre-recorded message released on 21st April.

The King also used the phrase "promise with destiny" in his first address as monarch and uses it to describe his mother's dedication. It could also be seen as a nod to her life-changing literal promise on her 21st birthday in 1947.

At the time she was Princess Elizabeth with no idea that she would become Queen in just three years and she vowed to dedicate her "whole life whether it be long or short" to serving the Commonwealth. There were no stipulations, no references to "as best I can" - it was simply that.

Seeing King Charles mention this immediately reminded me of what broadcaster Kirsty Young said to close out the BBC's new documentary, Queen Elizabeth II: Her Story, Our Century. She was visibly emotional as she referenced the Queen's promise, declaring, "By God she was as good as her word wasn't she?"

Nothing ever swayed Queen Elizabeth from her promise and King Charles said in his message that "through each passing decade, through every transformation, she remained constant, steadfast and wholly devoted to the people she served".

Although he suspects that a lot about the times we're living in "may have troubled her deeply" he's taking heart from her belief that a "brighter dawn is never far from the horizon". He concluded his message by declaring, "I renew my own solemn pledge of duty and service to you all. God bless you, darling Mama; you remain forever in our hearts and prayers".

Having grown up with a mother who was steadfastly dedicated to her duty, King Charles is clearly focused on following her example. His renewal of his "own solemn pledge" echoes Queen Elizabeth's 21st birthday speech and reaffirms that he views the monarch's role as one of service.

Whilst some people across the world might look upon the royals as akin to celebrities in so many ways, the reality for King Charles and Queen Elizabeth before him couldn't have been more different. This really came across in King Charles's speech and perhaps more than it initially appeared on first listen.

Part of serving the nation is to do what he can to bring people together and he urged everyone "whatever our differences" to "seek to follow this example as we make today not the marking of a milestone felt by absence but the celebration of a life well-lived, and a legacy of hope, as we strive together towards a 'better, happier tomorrow'".

Although he suspects a lot about our current time "may have troubled her deeply", King Charles is taking comfort from his mother’s view. Queen Elizabeth thought that a "brighter dawn is never far from the horizon" and this optimistic belief likely also helped her through the challenging times she navigated in her decades of devoted service.

As a monarch who reigned for 70 years it’s no surprise that Queen Elizabeth faced plenty of difficult times, though she could never have imagined saying goodbye to the love of her life in the way she did in April 2021. Prince Philip had been her "strength and stay" throughout everything and passed away just a few months before his 100th birthday, during the pandemic.

Government guidelines in place at the time stipulated that funerals should have no more than 30 mourners attending. They also had to be spaced out from anyone not in their household, meaning Queen Elizabeth sat alone in her pew at St George’s Chapel.

Her grandson Peter Phillips explained in the new BBC documentary, Queen Elizabeth II: Her Story, Our Century, that "all you wanted to do was go and give her a hug, and you couldn’t do it".

Peter, the son of Princess Anne, was one of the 30 people at Prince Philip’s funeral and seemed to be speaking for himself and likely the rest of her loved ones too. He’d walked in the procession between Princes William and Harry and it must’ve been incredibly tough seeing his grandmother grieving and knowing he couldn’t get close to her.

The photographs of Queen Elizabeth wearing her face mask, sitting apart from everyone else was described by broadcaster Kirsty Young in the documentary as "one of the most moving and iconic images of her entire reign". Prince Philip’s death was a national moment but it was also a family one and Peter’s comment reminds us of this.

When we stop and think about it, the idea of anyone hugging the Queen seems hard to picture and we’ve never really seen her grandchildren doing this.

They’ve been photographed greeting her with a kiss on the cheek but this is the closest they’ve come to it in public. So even though Peter couldn’t give her a hug at the funeral, it’s a lovely insight into their bond.

He is the eldest of the late Queen’s grandchildren and over the years he’s been widely reported to be her "favourite grandson". Ahead of celebrations for her 90th birthday in 2016, Peter shared that he’d always been "very close" with Queen Elizabeth and they spoke often, calling her an "inspirational person throughout [his life]".

In 2024 he told Sky News Australia how "lucky" he was to be in Scotland before she passed away in 2022 and described how the royals said their goodbyes privately.

"I was lucky to be in Scotland before she passed and actually having those few days with her, just in Scotland, just as a family, before she left Balmoral - that was really nice," he said. "Looking back on it, it's still quite emotional, that part was a proper family moment."

Peter Phillips added, "In many ways we'd had our quiet moment with her, we'd said our goodbyes, so whilst it still wasn't particularly easy, it was easier to be able to share the public's grief for her."

At her funeral Peter once again walked in the procession. As all restrictions had been lifted the year before, this time the Royal Family could come together in public and private as they mourned Queen Elizabeth in a way they hadn’t been able to for Prince Philip.

Queen Elizabeth was an extraordinary figure who commanded respect and devotion on the world stage across her 70 year reign. She's viewed with awe by the Royal Family too and Queen Camilla believes she remains unsurpassed in one particular way.

In the BBC’s new documentary, Queen Elizabeth, Her Story, Our Centenary, which airs at 9pm on 19th April, Queen Camilla reflects on her mother-in-law’s sense of duty. In her mind, no-one has rivalled it and she declares, "I think duty has overridden everything. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody have a sense of duty like she had."

Her Majesty makes this remarks early on in the film after discussing how "like everybody else" the royals "tried to do their bit" during the war. She notes that "the war generation was a very special generation" and that Queen Elizabeth played her part.

Two years after the Second World War ended, the Queen delivered an astonishing broadcast on her 21st birthday. Broadcasting from Cape Town where she was with her parents on a tour, Elizabeth publicly promised to dedicate her entire life to serving the Commonwealth.

"I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong," she said.

Despite speculation about a possible abdication at various points in her reign, there was no question in her mind of going back on this promise. Queen Elizabeth’s dedication was steadfast and it’s hardly surprising that Queen Camilla thinks her "sense of duty" is in a league of its own, seemingly even considering the rest of the Royal Family.

The late monarch’s legacy is a lot to live up to and in his first speech after her death, King Charles acknowledged his mother made "sacrifices" in her 70 years on the throne in order to keep her 21st birthday promise.

"That was more than a promise: it was a profound personal commitment which defined her whole life. She made sacrifices for duty," he said, before he made a vow of his own.

"As the Queen herself did with such unswerving devotion, I too now solemnly pledge myself, throughout the remaining time God grants me, to uphold the constitutional principles at the heart of our nation," the King continued.

Meanwhile, in her first speech as Queen Consort two months later, Camilla began by paying tribute to her "dear mother-in-law" who is "so greatly missed by us all". She also described Queen Elizabeth’s "enduring love of the Commonwealth".

The release of Queen Elizabeth, Her Story, Our Centenary is, as the name suggests, in honour of what would’ve been the Queen’s 100th birthday on 21st April. It’s a huge milestone and King Charles will address the nation and host a reception at Buckingham Palace with Queen Camilla.

The guest list will include representatives from a selection of Queen Elizabeth’s patronages, including Cancer Research UK and the Army Benevolent Fund. Other special events are planned for her 100th birthday too and it’s likely we’ll see posts on social media from the Royal Family.

Queen Elizabeth II: Her Story, Our Century Sunday 19^th April at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

The death of Princess Diana on 31st August 1997 sent shockwaves around the world and amid the outpouring of grief many found it bewildering that Queen Elizabeth was nowhere to be seen. At the time she attracted considerable criticism for initially staying at Balmoral instead of immediately returning to London to mourn with the nation.

However, Dame Helen Mirren believes that the Queen did the "right thing" by putting her grandchildren first following this tragedy. Opening up on the BBC documentary, Queen Elizabeth: Her Story, Our Centenary, which airs at 9pm on 17th April, the actor praised her response.

"Difficult for anyone to really know quite how to handle it," Helen said. "I think she did exactly the right thing. I think she was right to stay in Balmoral with the children and I think when she came out and did the very, very difficult walk by all the flowers and everything, that was the right thing to do."

Queen Elizabeth arrived in London five days after Princess Diana died, the day before her former daughter-in-law’s funeral service. She met with mourners and viewed floral tributes, but she was also aware of how the public had reacted to her absence and addressed this choice in a message broadcast to the nation that evening.

"This week at Balmoral, we have all been trying to help William and Harry come to terms with the devastating loss that they and the rest of us have suffered," she declared. "No-one who knew Diana will ever forget her. Millions of others who never met her, but felt they knew her, will remember her. I for one believe there are lessons to be drawn from her life and from the extraordinary and moving reaction to her death."

She delivered these words from her heart as the "Queen and as a grandmother" and had begun her address by paying tribute to Diana personally.

"She was an exceptional and gifted human being. In good times and bad, she never lost her capacity to smile and laugh, nor to inspire others with her warmth and kindness," she said. "I admired and respected her - for her energy and commitment to others, and especially for her devotion to her two boys."

Queen Elizabeth had responded firstly as a grandmother and then led the nation in mourning as their monarch - and it makes sense why Helen Mirren believes these were the "right" choices. Prince William was 15 and Prince Harry 12 when their mother passed away and the older Prince has said how in the "dark days of grief that followed [he] found comfort and solace in the Scottish outdoors".

Prince Harry has also been open about what it was like grieving Princess Diana in the public eye when they were back in London and seeing thousands of strangers crying for his mother.

"I cried once, at the burial, and you know I go into detail [in Spare] about how strange it was and how actually there was some guilt that I felt, and I think William felt as well, by walking around the outside of Kensington Palace," he said in a 2023 interview. "There were 50,000 bouquets of flowers to our mother and there we were shaking people's hands".

"Everyone thought and felt like they knew our mum, and the two closest people to her, the two most loved people by her, were unable to show any emotion in that moment," Harry added.

Queen Elizabeth II: Her Story, Our Century Sunday 19^th April at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

From the moment Prince Harry and Meghan confirmed their four-day Australia trip people couldn’t help but compare what they had planned with a traditional royal tour. Perhaps it didn’t help that the last time they were Down Under as a couple was when they were working royals on this kind of official overseas visit.

This time around the Sussexes aren’t representing the monarch and their itinerary is a mix of supporting charitable causes and private, paid events. This combination has raised eyebrows and in the latest issue of Woman, a senior source based at Buckingham Palace claimed, "Harry and Meghan are now acting outside the rules set down for them by Queen Elizabeth".

The late Queen apparently set these down "when they first chose to give up royal duties" in 2020. At the time, it was confirmed in a statement that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would not use their HRH titles as they weren’t working royals any longer.

Buckingham Palace also made it clear that with the Queen’s "blessing" the Sussexes would continue to "maintain their private patronages and associations", but could "no longer formally represent" her. Beyond this, it’s not clear which "rules" Queen Elizabeth set, however the statement makes a distinction between what they *used* to do and what they are going to do now.

Prince Harry and Meghan’s Australia trip isn’t a royal tour but it does bear some resemblance to one and this hasn’t gone uncommented upon. It’s also been widely reported over the years that the couple initially hoped to have a half-in, half-out arrangement rather than stepping back as working royals entirely.

Their four-day trip is a mix of royal-esque visits and business which is perhaps similar to how they might’ve imagined this working. Queen Elizabeth is said to have been very much against the idea of anyone being half-in The Firm and made her feelings plain at a summit held at Sandringham House in January 2020.

"The answer from the top was clear: no halfway role was possible. They were either in or out," claims royal author Robert Jobson in The Windsor Legacy. "Her Majesty’s ruling deepened the existing tensions in the family, particularly between Harry and William."

No other working member of the Royal Family maintains separate careers alongside their duties. The Duchess of Edinburgh used to have her own PR company and Prince Edward had been head of his own production company at one point.

Neither have these businesses now and although Sophie says she did "miss it very badly for a while", she later put her experience to good use as a senior royal. She told Harper’s Bazaar that she tries to use her skills "without overburdening the organisations [she’s] involved with – because [her] opinion is only one opinion".

The Edinburghs play a key role in supporting King Charles and Queen Camilla and go on plenty of royal visits overseas as part of this. Prince Harry and Meghan’s time in Australia will culminate with the Duchess speaking at a women’s retreat.

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Queen Elizabeth would have turned 100 on 21st April 2026 and the date is not going to pass unmarked by the Royal Family. Her only daughter Princess Anne has now been confirmed as having a special role in the events and will be the one to open The Queen Elizabeth II Garden in Regent's Park.

She'll do this on her mother's actual birthday date and the garden will be open to the public from 27th April. It's been designed to reintroduce more green space back into central London, turning a disused plant nursery into a two-acre garden.

Sharing more details about what to expect from the garden, the official website explains that there will be a straight path that runs through it. This is designed to represent the late Queen’s "unwavering loyalty and service with each end offering a moment of quiet reflection".

Visitors to the garden at Regent’s Park will be greeted by a large pond, complete with seating and a pergola at the south entrance. There will also be a central promenade bisected by a meandering path leading visitors through a series of beautiful landscapes.

The plants in the garden will be wildlife-friendly and have been chosen intentionally to provide a vibrant, year-round horticultural display. Each plant species has been picked as they have some sort of connection to Queen Elizabeth’s life too.

One example of this is the planting of a magnolia tree. A video from the Royal Parks account claims Her Majesty loved the species. Other flora to be found in the garden will include specially bred plants, such as the Narcissus Diamond Jubilee or Tulipa Royal Celebration.

As well as standing as a living, year-round tribute to Queen Elizabeth, the garden has been designed to bring a huge boost to biodiversity in the form of hedgerows, trees, meadows, wildlife-attracting plants and a new pond. Princess Anne opening the garden is just one of the many celebrations planned for the centenary.

King Charles and Queen Camilla will be joined by members of the Royal Family to see the designs for the national memorial to Queen Elizabeth II. These are set to be built in St James's Park, not far from Buckingham Palace.

The memorial will be designed by Lord Norman Foster and will be created by a number of artists who'll all meet the royals as they discuss the plans. The Royal Family will also come together for a reception at Buckingham Palace and King Charles is set to deliver a personal address to the nation honouring his mother.

Behind closed doors Queen Elizabeth was seemingly not afraid to put her foot down if she felt her family needed to be told off. According to royal historian Hugo Vickers, who met the late monarch over 40 times, she once "got in her car" and went to talk to the Duchess of Sussex after receiving a report from the head gardener at Windsor.

He was asked about the alleged incident on the Daily T podcast and claimed, "She apparently was rude to one of the under-gardeners and the head gardener went up to the Queen and reported this and the Queen got in her car and went down and tore a strip off her because you cannot be rude to staff."

In Hugo’s view, Meghan Markle had "been rude to the gardener, so she needed to be ticked off, put in her place" by Queen Elizabeth.

As of now, the Duchess of Sussex hasn’t publicly commented on the historian’s remarks regarding this supposed telling-off. However, this isn’t the first time reports have circulated about Queen Elizabeth rebuking Meghan over her approach to certain aspects of royal life.

Writing in The Windsor Legacy, royal author Robert Jobson claimed that the Duchess’s choice to wear a Dior dress with an "estimated £60,000 price tag" during a visit to Morocco "drew the Queen’s ire" when she read about it. She apparently "later let Meghan know" that an outfit this expensive "was an ill-judged choice".

Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth is said to have made her feelings clear to Prince Harry about who had final say over the Duchess’s wedding tiara. His alleged "What Meghan wants, Meghan gets" comment is now well-known, but the monarch reportedly disagreed.

"Her Majesty did not approve. 'Meghan cannot have whatever she wants,' she was reported to have replied. 'She gets the tiara that she's given by me’," claimed royal author Robert Lacey.

In his memoir, Prince Harry denied he ever uttered such a remark at all and Meghan ultimately wore Queen Mary’s Bandeau Tiara for their wedding. Whilst these reports claim she might have had words with Meghan occasionally, the Duchess of Sussex has always talked glowingly about her late grandmother-in-law.

She called her the "most shining example" of female leadership a few months after Queen Elizabeth passed away and expressed "deep gratitude" for having got to spend time with her. The monarch was also known to step in and scold other family members, including Prince William, when she felt it was necessary.

He previously reminisced in the Our Queen at Ninety documentary about getting reprimanded when he was younger.

"We were chasing Zara around who was on a go-cart, and Peter and I managed to herd Zara into a lamppost. And the lamppost came down and nearly squashed her, and I remember my grandmother being the first person out at Balmoral running across the lawn in her kilt," he said, sharing that she came "charging over" and gave them an "almighty b*********".

Queen Elizabeth was also spotted telling the Prince of Wales to "stand up" when they were on the Buckingham Palace balcony during Trooping the Colour in 2016. He’d been bending down to chat to George but immediately straightened up in response to his remarkable granny.

Queen Elizabeth's sense of style was iconic and instantly recognisable, from her love of bright colours to her floral hats. British fashion designer Stewart Parvin was responsible for some of her most memorable looks in the later decades of her reign.

As those who were in Her Majesty’s orbit celebrate what would’ve been her 100th year, Stewart has offered new insight into working with the Queen. Speaking to The Telegraph he recalled her love for "outrageous" fashion and her awareness of the power of clothes.

According to Stewart, it was Jackie Kennedy Onassis who was cited as an inspiration when searching for new designers to reinvent the Queen’s style in the 2000s.

He recalled being approached by Angela Kelly, the Queen’s personal dresser for nearly 30 years, and before she’d actually told Stewart who her mysterious client was, she revealed she was after a "Jackie O look".

"That was Angela’s terminology, which threw me off, because they were reported not to have got on, but whether that’s just The Crown, I’m not sure," the designer said.

He is, of course, referring to the Netflix series' fictionalised account of their famous first meeting back in 1961, which was shown in the second season. The pair did meet for the first time at a dinner hosted at Buckingham Palace in June that year, and while some sources suggest Jackie later referred to it as "heavy going", there's no official record it was as awkward as depicted.

Regardless of the Jackie O of it all, Stewart jumped at the chance to design for the Queen, and got to witness first hand her appreciation for the power of clothing. He said, "It’s only my opinion, but I thought she was very interested in clothes on different levels, because one, it is how she’s perceived, two, they’re an intimate thing. If you go out in your favourite thing, you feel better and that’s very important."

"She was somebody who had clothes made for her all her life; she was brought up with that, and so she understood it in a way that people who haven’t done that don’t understand," Steward continued.

Stewart, along with Angela Kelly and input from Her Majesty, helped shape what has become known as the definitive "Queen Elizabeth II style" of bright, bold colours.

It’s been often stated that the Queen chose such colourful ensembles so that everyone would have a chance to spot her, even in huge crowds. And Stewart’s fascinating insight reveals that the Queen would actually revel in "outrageous" style choices.

Of his designs, he said, "There would be the 'queen' ones, and there’d be the more 'fashion' ones. Often she would choose the fashion ones, the choice would be much bolder than the choice you’d think. It might be tweaked for Her Majesty, but she was very definitely open. I mean, some of the embroideries we did were, quite frankly, outrageous."

Some of his designs include the neon green ensemble worn at the 2016 Trooping the Colour, the lime and purple look she wore for Prince Harry and Meghan’s wedding and, poignantly, the emerald green dress she wore for her final Buckingham Palace balcony appearance in 2022.

Queen Elizabeth had plenty of iconic moments throughout her 70 year reign but there are some that stick with you more than others and her final balcony appearance is one of these. She last took to the Buckingham Palace balcony at the end of her Platinum Jubilee weekend in June 2022, a few months before she passed away.

The Queen was visibly moved looking out at the cheering crowds and we apparently might never have got this moment had it not been for King Charles. In his newly-released biography, Elizabeth II, author Robert Hardman suggests that Queen Elizabeth had been happy to watch the Platinum Pageant on TV but Charles thought plans should change.

"Once again, the Queen was watching on television at Windsor until the Prince of Wales felt that she really had to be part of it," he claims.

Hardman adds that the Queen’s private secretary Sir Edward Young "sped down to Windsor to press the point in person". Her Majesty was persuaded to make the trip to London and before long the "Royal Standard suddenly appeared on the flagpole" above Buckingham Palace.

The monarch is said to have "arrived through the back gate" and she went out onto the balcony where she’d stood so many times before, wearing green and "unaided but for her stick". She was accompanied by King Charles, Queen Camilla and the Wales family.

"Poor weather late in the day had ruled out the usual flypast by the Red Arrows. But no matter. On this occasion, the Queen herself had been the grand finale," Hardman writes.

There had been uncertainty over whether we could see Queen Elizabeth on the balcony more than once during the jubilee weekend. Though there’s no way the nation could’ve known how last minute the change of plans was - or how King Charles helped persuade her to make this balcony appearance which turned out to be her last.

"The Queen was totally overwhelmed by the number of people waiting to see her - she had tears in her eyes before she stepped out on the balcony," a source alleged at the time.

Throughout her reign Queen Elizabeth mostly took a "the more, the merrier" approach to balcony appearances, including not only her immediate family but her cousins and their children and grandchildren too. Nowadays this would be unthinkable and the Queen sent a powerful message with her pared-back selection of royals in June 2022.

Queen Camilla and the Princess of Wales helped with this and though you might not have noticed, the pair stood back at a certain point with Charlotte and Louis. This left only the monarch and her three direct heirs in the royal line of succession together.

Royal expert Katie Nicholl discussed this on True Royalty TV’s The Royal Beat, claiming, "If you’re going to take one image away from the weekend, it has to be (this one). A Jubilee isn't just a moment to reflect on the 70 years, but to look forward to the future."

All things considered, King Charles had a point when he felt his mother should be part of things. She clearly realised it too and her final balcony appearance of the hundreds she’d made during her lifetime remains a significant royal moment to this day.

As head of the Church of England, Queen Elizabeth didn’t attend King Charles and Queen Camilla’s civil wedding ceremony in 2005 but she still found a special way to signal her "approval" for their marriage. The couple tied the knot at Windsor Guildhall on 9th April and had a service of blessing at St George’s Chapel, which she was at.

The Queen hosted a reception afterwards at Windsor Castle and it’s here that she "could be the proud mother" and "showed it by breaking convention" according to royal biographer Robert Hardman. In his new book, Queen Elizabeth II, he reflects that "instead of the usual speech from the father of the bride, guests would hear from the mother of the groom".

"Many of the guests were not expecting it at all. Someone just tapped a glass and there was the Queen talking," he quotes one of the Household involved.

"It was her idea. She’d decided she could not go to the civil wedding but, having navigated all the official problems, this was her informal way of showing approval and marking the occasion."

The source adds that the late monarch "came out with every racing metaphor in the book", including the proclamation that King Charles and Queen Camilla had now "reached the winners’ enclosure". Their wedding date coincided with the Grand National that year and as a horse racing fan, Elizabeth’s turn of phrase gave her speech a personal feel.

This surprising way of giving her son’s second marriage her seal of "approval" sounds so touching and she arguably played a huge role in introducing the idea of ‘Queen’ Camilla to the world and having it accepted by the public.

Before then, she had been set to be known as "Princess Consort" when Charles became King. She also never went by "Princess of Wales", despite being entitled to do so. Both decisions were made out of respect to Diana, Princess of Wales and the public’s enduring devotion to her.

Then, out of the blue, Queen Elizabeth made a decisive move the day before the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne. In a message to the nation she gave her blessing for her daughter-in-law to be known as "Queen Consort" instead of "Princess".

"When, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes King, I know you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support that you have given me; and it is my sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service," she declared.

Queen Elizabeth’s "sincere wish" helped pave the way for the public to accept the change and after being known formally as the Queen Consort for many months, Her Majesty is now simply known as Queen Camilla.

She and King Charles are celebrating their 21st wedding anniversary this year and although the date is now likely tinged with some sadness (it is also the anniversary of Prince Philip’s death), they have so many special memories to reminisce about, not least the wedding itself and that "informal" speech!

In the world of royalty, one doesn’t just wake up and put together an outfit. Royal dressers have been the norm for centuries, and continue to this day. It’s a privileged position and, as was the case with former royal dresser Angela Kelly and the late Queen Elizabeth II, it’s also one that fosters closeness and confidentiality.

Indeed, in a moving new interview, Angela has recalled the time she spent with the late Queen, calling her "my best friend." Ahead of what would’ve been Queen Elizabeth's 100th birthday, her close confidant of nearly 30 years described how special their bond was and the regular ABBA song and dance parties they enjoyed.

"Every morning the Queen would listen to the Terry Wogan show on Radio 2. When the song Dancing Queen came on she loved it, and both of us would dance. The Queen would move from side to side and sing," she told Vanity Fair.

Angela added, "Her Majesty loved singing and had a good voice. I didn’t. I’d get carried away and be dancing all round her like I was at a disco, and the Queen would tell me to ‘move over’ because I can’t sing and we laughed. They were moments to cherish, to see the Queen so relaxed."

Angela's official title was Personal Assistant, Adviser and Curator to Her Majesty The Queen, and perhaps a telling sign of just how deeply the trust between the pair ran can be inferred in the Queen approving of Angela writing two books about her.

Famously not one for explaining or complaining, Angela authored two books while carrying on working with Her Majesty right up until her death in 2022. In fact, the former dresser was one of the rare few who assisted the Queen during the pandemic when her staff was slimmed down as they all isolated together.

Elsewhere in the interview, Angela recalls how "fun" work could be with Her Majesty, and what she was like when she was simply allowed to be a "cool granny".

She revealed, "Fittings were fun. The queen loved seeing the clothes being made from the beginning to the end, seeing the material. She liked the pastel and deep colours but she preferred people to focus on her speeches rather than her clothes. Though she was not fashion-led, she still knew she had to look the part."

Of summers spent in Balmoral, Angela remarks, "It was just a normal loving family to be quite honest. If the Duke [Prince Philip], or whoever was cooking, burned the burgers she’d just laugh. As long as they had extra to put back on, and as long as all the family were fed and watered that was all right. The queen was just full of energy and a really cool granny, to be honest."

Today, Angela lives with her family in Sheffield and ahead of would've been the Queen's 100th birthday on 21st April, Angela still thinks of her "every day".

"We both knew we had trust, loyalty, and understanding. The queen was my best friend and I miss her every day," she declared.

The BBC is set to celebrate what would have been the 100th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II with the release of a new star-studded documentary, Queen Elizabeth II: Her Story, Our Century. Described by the broadcaster as a film that will reflect "not only on the woman behind the Crown but on a century of transformation in Britain and beyond", it'll touch on everything from the Blitz to the 2012 London Olympics.

Bringing even more majesty to the one-hour film will be the likes of former US President Barack Obama, Sir David Attenborough, Dame Helen Mirren, Dame Sheila Hancock and Queen Camilla, who will share personal memories and stories about the late monarch.

Catherine Catton, Head of Factual Entertainment and Events for the BBC, said, "Queen Elizabeth II: Her Story, Our Century explores the life of her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II through the lens of a century of change and offers an important reflection on how modern Britain has been shaped."

The Queen Elizabeth documentary will feature new interviews with these notable figures, among others, alongside powerful archive footage from key, defining moments in what was a truly defining chapter of British history. Details of when the film will air are yet to be finalised, but the Queen 100th birthday falls on 21st April.

This was one of two birthdays Her Majesty used to celebrate every year, as her official birthday was marked in June with the traditional Trooping the Colour parade.

Her actual birthday was usually a private affair, although the Royal Family did release new pictures of her to commemorate the day. Given how historic Queen Elizabeth's reign was and how big a milestone 100 years is, it's no surprise that the BBC didn't want her centenary to go unmarked.

Queen Elizabeth is Britain's longest-reigning monarch and marked her Platinum Jubilee in 2022 with a weekend of celebrations that brought the nation together. The Jubilee Weekend was the last time we got to see Her Majesty on the balcony of Buckingham Palace and she made a special second appearance there alongside the direct heirs to the throne.

As Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth was a key figure of stability throughout seismic changes in Britain, and around the world. Her Majesty was served by 15 Prime Ministers (beginning with Winston Churchill and ending with Liz Truss) and 14 US Presidents (meeting 13 of them, only missing out on Lyndon B. Johnson).

She visited over 110 countries, met seven popes and became the first British monarch to ever visit China. The special film will explore her defining reign, touching on her role as one of the few constants, a symbol of continuity in a world that evolved rapidly.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were married for almost 74 years when he passed away in April 2021 and spent so much time together throughout that last year as they isolated at Windsor Castle during the pandemic. Despite living in the same residence, though, royal historian Hugo Vickers has suggested that the Queen "was not there" when her beloved husband died.

In an extract of his upcoming book, Queen Elizabeth II, published in the Mail on Sunday, Vickers alleges, "There had often been times in earlier days when she had asked the staff to let her know when Philip was leaving, only to be told 'His Royal Highness left 20 minutes ago'."

"She took the line, I was told, that she was ‘absolutely furious that, as so often in life, he left without saying goodbye’," he adds, claiming that Philip "quietly slipped away".

This is a heart-breaking remark and it’s completely understandable that Queen Elizabeth would have wanted to be there to say a final farewell to her "strength and stay". Vickers believes that if she’d "retreated into Queen Victoria-style mourning, it might have been hard for her, at nearly 95, to pick up the reins again".

Instead, she "pressed on" and she led by example at her husband’s funeral by ensuring there were only 30 attendees in accordance with government guidelines. One of the most iconic and deeply poignant photos ever taken of the Queen depicted her alone and masked in a pew of St George’s Chapel during the service, with her closest family members spaced out around her.

The wreath laid on his coffin had a hand-written note from her nestled within it. It might not have been delivered in person before he died, but this could be seen as Queen Elizabeth’s goodbye to Philip and her exact words aren’t known, though it’s widely reported she signed it with her family nickname, Lilibet.

Another deeply personal detail about their relationship that is still private is what Prince Philip had inscribed on the inside of his wife’s wedding band. Only three people knew the secret message according to royal expert Ingrid Seward.

In Prince Philip: Revealed, she writes, "[Queen Elizabeth] never takes it off and inside the ring is an inscription. No one knows what it says, other than the engraver, the Queen and her husband."

When Queen Elizabeth died in September 2022 she was laid to rest beside Prince Philip, her sister Princess Margaret and her parents King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at Windsor. She once famously said that grief is the price we pay for love, and she and Philip were devoted to each other throughout the ups and downs of royal life.

The Queen supposedly "taking the line" that she was "furious", might have been her way of coping with the sadness of not being able to say goodbye and could also be seen as a sweet nod to his nature and habit of leaving home unannounced.

On her 95th birthday two weeks after his death, her message was primarily focused on her husband and how "touched" she was by people’s well-wishes.

"My family and I would like to thank you all for the support and kindness shown to us in recent days. We have been deeply touched, and continue to be reminded that Philip had such an extraordinary impact on countless people throughout his life," she said.