Queen Elizabeth never did this 'intimate job' herself and 'put a huge amount of trust' in long-time employee
Her Majesty's signature look wouldn't be the same without her curls and she relied on Ian Carmichael to keep them perfect
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.
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"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.
