Queen Camilla’s inner circle will support her oncoronationday.
The Queen Consort, 75, will have two coronation attendants at the crowning ceremony at Westminster Abbey on May 6, the palace announced on Friday. The attendants will be Camilla’s sister,Annabel Elliot, and Fiona Mary Petty-Fitzmaurice, one of the sixQueen’s Companions.
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Queen Camilla.Chris Jackson/Getty
Years later, Glenconner told the BBC the job made the six women “the Spice Girls of their time,” and she recently told PEOPLE thatQueen Elizabeth, then 27, was steady as ever on her coronation morning.
“She was very, very calm,” says the author ofWhatever Next?Lessons from an Unexpected Life, adding that the sovereign “didn’t say anything to us” as they stepped into action.
Queen Elizabeth and her maids of honor at her coronation.The Print Collector/Getty
“We had the dress train rippling over our hands. And then she just turned around and she said, ‘Ready, girls,’ and off we went,” Glenconner tells PEOPLE.
Annabel, 74, has stepped out with her sister Queen Camilla for social events before, from the Wimbledon Tennis Championships to charity auctions and the Chelsea Flower Show. Though she stays mostly outside of the royal spotlight, she’s been there for her sibling at major events like her wedding toPrince Charlesin 2005.
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In November, theBBCreported that Queen Camilla was doing away withQueen Elizabeth’s traditional ladies-in-waiting position and would welcome six “Queen’s Companions” instead.
According to the outlet, the companion position would be more informal with reduced responsibilities compared to the lady-in-waiting posts. While ladies-in-waiting traditionally assisted with the Queen’s correspondence and communications, the companions will simply support Camilla at official engagements.
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“Replacing the role of lady-in-waiting will end a feature of court life going back to the middle ages, with such close personal helpers of a Queen often coming from aristocratic families and, over the centuries, sometimes caught up in court intrigue,” the BBC said of the “slimmed-down” position.
The six women said to be tapped for the job are Lady Lansdowne, Jane von Westenholz, Lady Katharine Brooke, Sarah Troughton, Lady Sarah Keswick and Baroness Chisholm. The BBC added that while the Queen’s Companions will not be paid, their expenses will be covered.
source: people.com
