The Duchy of Cornwall’s financial report indicates that Annabel Elliot, the Queen’s sister, was removed from the payroll. So, what’s the real story?
Emily explained: “He hasn’t fired the Queen’s sister! Annabel Elliot is the Queen’s sister, her younger sister. And she is a well-established interior designer.
“She was working across properties owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. But now, since Prince William has taken over as Duke of Cornwall, he has taken her off the payroll. So that’s caused a few ripples in a few headlines, but I don’t think there’s anything untoward about it.”
She continued: “She obviously has worked depending on what the King and Queen have asked her to do, but Prince William’s coming at it afresh. He might have different plans. The understanding is that people working on the estate already understand now how things should look.
“They’ve learned a great deal from her, but she is actually still working for the King and Queen, privately on their private estates up at Balmoral and Sandringham, so it’s not really a firing!”
Speaking about the Duchy of Cornwall report, she added: “I think it’s one of those things that people tend to pick up when you go through the finer detail of these reports, which is why it’s always worth really reading the fine print on them.
“I think it just marks the changing of the guard. Nothing more dramatic. She is still helping to refurbish parts of the private estate. I know she oversaw the development of a new restaurant up at Balmoral recently.”
Camilla and Annabel are close, and her sister opened up about the couple in a recent documentary, Charles III: The Coronation Year. She explained: “She is his rock, and I can’t actually emphasize that enough. She is somebody who is completely loyal, and she isn’t somebody who has huge highs and lows.
“He brings to her everything. I’m not talking about all of this, but you know he has such knowledge and interest in so many different things which she wouldn’t really have been open to if she hadn’t met him. They are their yin and yang really, they really are polar opposites, but it works brilliantly.”
