Queen Elizabeth's Trusted Aide and Close Friend Angela Kelly Attends Late Monarch's Funeral (2024)

Queen Elizabeth's most trusted aide honored the late monarch by attending her state funeral at Westminster Abbey.

Angela Kelly, who has worked for the Queen since 1994 and has served as her personal assistant and senior dresser for over two decades, was spotted among the many famous mourners honoring the Queen. She entered the Abbey alongside ladies-in-waiting Lady Susan Hussey and Dame Mary Morrison.

Kelly wore a very special symbol along with her black outfit — the Queen Elizabeth II Royal Household Long and Faithful Service Medal, awarded to her in 2014 for two decades of service to the royal family.

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Earlier this year, Kelly updated her bestselling book The Other Side Of The Coin: The Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe to include reflections on the Queen's life during the coronavirus pandemic, including her taking on the role of cutting and setting the monarch's hair.

In the new chapter excerpted by Hello! magazine, Kelly wrote, "From March 2020 onwards I washed The Queen's hair every week, set and styled it, and even trimmed it when needed. My team named it Kelly's Salon."

Kelly admitted that she was nervous at first — and the Queen knew it.

"During the first two weeks, I was shaking," she said. "I had only done her hair once or twice before while on board the Royal Yacht Britannia. The Queen was so kind as she advised me on the very specific way to put the rollers in."

Kelly was also responsible for fulfilling a "secret wish" of the late Queen's — to be photographed informally, rather than her usual painstakingly posed portraits.

But when Kelly was working on her first book, the dressmaker recalled the conversation and asked the monarch if she would model with her hands in her pockets.

"The Queen looked at me in amazement as I asked whether she knew the potential implications of the photographs," Kelly said. "She didn't take long to answer: yes, she would do it and, yes, she was sure."

During the coffin procession to Hyde Park at the Queen's funeral, over 100 Buckingham Palace employees lined up outside the royal residence as the late monarch passed by for the very last time.

Buckingham Palace was the Queen's main residence since her crowning in 1953. However, in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, she temporarily moved to Windsor Castle and did not return to live in the Palace before her death.

On Sept. 8, Buckingham Palace announced that the monarch "peacefully" died at age 96 at her beloved Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Following the announcement, a close source told PEOPLE that her loyal personal staff "are devastated" by the news.

"They are incandescent with grief," the insider said. "However much you are prepared for it, after a lifetime of service, it was still a terrible shock."