Beatrice of York, the sad princess who was the favorite granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth
Women are better queens.
That's what a biographer of the Windsor family thinks
One day in January 1999, the Prince of Wales and the future Queen of the British left the party at the Ritz organized by
Annabel Elliot
to celebrate her 50th birthday together.
There, the first official photo of
Carlos
and
Camila's courtship was obtained.
It was not the first time that Annabel, the sister of the current queen, had played host to the couple, some of whose furtive meetings she had sponsored as a cover-up or an accomplice.
More than once, the adulterous couple met at
Annabel's house
in Dorset, on the English Channel coast.
She even figured in one of the most notorious episodes of the Welsh War, when, at
Lady Annabel Goldsmith's Ham Common, Diana
read Camilla the primer.
The occasion was Annabel's 40th birthday party.
listed interior designer
Sonia Annabel Elliot,
plain Annabel for everyone, is 73 years old, studied art in Florence and embarked on a career as an interior designer.
In 1972, aged 23, she married
Simon Elliot,
a Dorset landowner and son of RAF Chief Marshal
Sir William Elliot.
They have three children: Ben (who was co-chair of the Conservative Party, along with
Amanda Milling,
until her resignation last September),
Alice,
an interior designer like her mother, and
Catherine.
Co-founder of the Talisman antiques
firm
, whose annual parties were a 'who's who' for the English aristocracy, in 2014, the
Daily Telegraph ranked Annabel as the fifth most
influential
interior designer in
the UK.
In 2011, she renovated the
Bovey Castle Hotel
in Devon, which entered the Golden List as one of the best hotels in the world.
The same year she decorated the Dumfries Lodge House in Ayrshire, Scotland, The Duchy Nursery sustainable building in Lostwithiel and Highgrove House Shops, which sells home and garden products.
Its style,
a cross between
classicism
and
retro
, has made it a reference among hoteliers and the rich.
She looks at each material, touches it, wonders what it could be used for and ends up deciding if it is for a sofa, a chair or a lamp.
Annabel Elliot Interior Design and Antiques,
the store that opened in Dorset more than thirty years ago, had already made her a sought-after interior designer when the Prince of Wales -half because of shared tastes, half out of gratitude for the complicity of who was already his sister-in-law- appointed her, in 2005,
official decorator of the Duchy of Cornwall.
He rehabilitated the
tourist 'cottages'
that Charles of Wales operated in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (which left him more than five million euros a year), and later some of his offices in Retormel and a hotel in the center of Poundbury, the
town Carlos model
on the outskirts of Dorchester.
The hotel is called The Duchess of Cornwall, after Annabel's older sister, and bears a striking resemblance to the imposing Ritz Hotel in Mayfair, which Carlos is very attached to because there, at a party to celebrate Annabel's 50th birthday Camila emerged from the shadows to be photographed in public with Carlos for the first time.
Charles's gratitude
Carlos has always been grateful for the help and comfort he and Camila received from Annabel and her husband Simon.
Camilla's sister has decorated at least 30 of Charles' hundreds of properties in the Duchy of Cornwall;
the successive
contracts
-between 200,000 and 400,000 euros- would total
more than three million euros.
On the other hand, well earned, because thanks to the imprint of the decorator, Carlos's cabins achieved the category of five stars.
Even as the royal rump sinks pleasurably into the deep padding of a striped sofa at Charles's country home in the Carmarthenshire Welsh village of Myddfai, the king is surrounded by Annabel's welcoming expertise, from the local knits in the walls to medieval-style wrought-iron chandeliers and a stone fireplace displaying its own heraldic insignia: the Prince of Wales's feathers.
Annabel always tries to reflect the taste of her customers, that's why there are duck egg blues in the Welsh hideout: it's one of Camila's favorite colours.
When Annabel was fixing up some of Charles's cottages in Wales, she traveled the country in search of rare items like antique quilts and glazed earthenware.
She also ordered rugs, rugs, and fabrics from local vendors.
notable differences
As Prime Minister
John Major
announced the separation of the Prince and Princess of Wales in the House of Commons, Annabel was behind the wheel of the car that took Camila from her home, surrounded by paparazzi and television crews.
The
sisters adore each other
and are
very close,
especially since their
travel writer brother
Mark died eight years ago.
They talk on the phone every day and Camila often includes Annabel and Simon at royal events.
Both accompanied the couple on their
honeymoon to Balmoral.
Annabel was the first to bless her sister's union and in 2015, in a fundraising campaign for the NGO Elephant Family (of which her brother Mark was president until his death in 2014) she said she felt "very proud" of Camila for earning the respect of
Isabel II
and the people after years of going through the bad of the movie.
As a young woman, Annabel was prettier and had a better figure than her sister, who was a bit chubbier.
But Camila was sexier, she loved the round of parties on the debutante circuit.
Annabel was much more serious and preferred a quieter life: "She was not the type of girl who throws her panties on the table", remember her friends of her then.
Recalling those days, Annabel said that Camila, who debuted a year before her, "had a big hit, but I didn't. I probably wasn't as confident as her."
The older sister was also the most sporty, she loved
horses
and
riding.
Annabel never shared her sister's enthusiasm for hunting, but she was considered more intelligent, if less worldly, by her.
Annabel married her
first boyfriend, Simon,
and he is still 50 years after her.
She is one of those people who, although they would never want to star in a mess like her sister's, enjoy playing small parts in other people's adventures.
happy to be together
At 73 years old, Annabel does not let up.
She runs her business, Annabel Elliot Ltd, from her
country home
in the Dorset village of Stourpaine, where her son Ben also lives.
The eldest son soon learned from his mother to get a slice of luxury and, in addition to having co-chaired the
Conservative Party,
he founded the
Quintessentially Group,
a company of
personal assistants
for the rich and aristocrats available 24 hours a day anywhere on the planet, with more than 60 branches.
Accompanied by her sister and confidant, on October 17 Queen Camilla attended the Booker Prize for Fiction 2022 ceremony at the Roundhouse in London.
In pictures from the event, the sisters sported their blonde hair in big waves, her matching hairstyles not the only resemblance of hers.
They are only two years apart and their facial expressions, particularly their beaming smiles, showed family traits, genetic similarities.
Elegant and more smiling than ever, the queen and her younger sister seemed delighted to be together.
And so it has always been.
A sister is always a great ally, especially if you live in Buckingham Palace.
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King Charles III of England