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.
'I whirled her round the dance floor. It was joyous'
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.
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"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.