Angela Kelly reveals all in her new book
In her book, “The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, The Dresser and the Wardrobe, ” Angela Kelly recalls how she asked the Queen for elocution lessons. She describes how she had always always wanted them since a tender age. And when the Queen realised that Angela was not going to give up, she accepted to give Angela the lessons herself.
This is how Angela describes the situation.
Angela Kelly worked as Her Majesty’s dresser for 25 years
“Listening to and speaking with Her Majesty, I would think, how wonderful to be able to speak so nicely and, after a few months of working with her, I plucked up the courage to ask if she knew anyone who might give me the elocution lessons I’d wanted for so long.”
She said, “The look on the Queen’s face was a picture. She simply asked, ‘Why?’ After I had explained, she said that it was not necessary. I asked again and again, but she still refused… I then told Her Majesty my new idea: ‘You can give me elocution lessons! You can tell me what I say that’s correct and what I say that isn’t.'”
The determined Angela added, “The Queen could probably sense that I wasn’t going to give up, so she instructed me to say one word: ‘furious’. ‘Fyer-ri-ous,’ I responded. ‘No, fee-or-ree-ous,’ said Her Majesty, in perfect received pronunciation. After several more attempts, I finally cracked it and Her Majesty exclaimed, ‘Yes!’ and her finger went up in the air, followed shortly by: ‘Not sick as a parrot.’ And that was it – my one and only elocution lesson, and from the Queen herself.”
The Liverpudlian designer has been working with the Queen for 25 years, all the while seeking elocution lessons for improved speaking. Eventually, though, she said this: “From then on, I listened and tried my best to speak properly – even adding an aitch to words where it didn’t exist – but in the end I gave up: it was just too much effort. Ever since I’ve stuck to being myself, a girl from Liverpool and a proud Liverpudlian, too.”
