Inside Queen Camilla's relationship with Annabel Elliot as Prince William drops her from Duchy of Cornwall payroll

There is nothing like a sisters’ bond – even if you’re the Queen. And for Camilla, that has proven to be nothing but true with her sibling Annabel Elliot, 74, loyally standing by her side for decades.

Over their years in the spotlight, the royal, 76, has been supported by her little sister  in everything from her marriage to her household.

Annabel has over the past 20 years served as her brother-in-law King Charles’s chief designer of his estates – but now that his son Prince William has taken over the Duchy of Cornwall, she is reportedly being removed from the payroll.

She was employed by the King, then Prince of Wales, as chief designer of his estates following his 2005 marriage to Queen Camilla, her elder sister.

According to The Telegraph, Annabel has gotten ‘several hundred thousand pounds for her services’ for her work on properties including the Duchy’s holiday cottages, which are scattered across Cornwall, Wales and the Isles of Scilly.

Over their years in the spotlight, the royal, 76, has been supported by her little sister in everything from her marriage to her household. Pictured at Wimbledon this month

The outlet says sources have stressed that William’s choice to remove Annabel as a designer are ‘no reflection on her work’. 

It also reports that annual accounts detailed Annabel as receiving anywhere between £19,625 and £82,272 ‘in the normal course of business and on an arm’s length basis’ for her work, as well as receiving an additional £7,160 to £90,285 each year for stock and furniture. But as of 2023 to 2024, she allegedly was not paid for her services. 

In addition, MailOnline understands that hers was always a ‘temporary contract’ and that it had now ‘come to an end and the Duchy team have learnt from her’. 

Charles and Camilla have been advocates of Annabel’s interior design business, reportedly paying her £1.5million for goods and design services since the pair married in 2005.

Annabel was paid for refurbishing the Duchy’s holiday cottages in Cornwall, the Scilly Isles and Wales as well as the Duchy’s office in Restormel, Cornwall, and Penlyne Nursery, also in Cornwall.

She was also employed to oversee a huge interior design commission from the Duchy of Cornwall — a 20-bedroom pub in the centre of Dorset model village Poundbury. 

The Duchy admitted that the contract for the work was not put out to tender.

But a spokeswoman said that Elliot understood the Duchy’s commitment to environmental sustainability and to sympathetic design which is in-keeping with the local area.

As reported by the Daily Express, Charles and Annabel have also bonded over their taste for aesthetics over the years.

Annabel has over the past 20 years served as her brother-in-law King Charles ‘s chief designer of his estates – but now that his son Prince William has taken over the Duchy of Cornwall, she is reportedly being removed from the payroll. Pictured: Restormel Cottage

In 2012, she told Royal Restoration, an ITV documentary, that ‘he always likes to be completely involved and know what’s being suggested’.

‘He’s looking at every piece of material “What’s this for?”, “Is that for a chair?”, “Where’s that sourced from?” “Has it got nylon in it?” He doesn’t like duvets,’ the Queen’s sister recounted.

Annabel added that they will ‘argue’ and enjoy a ‘good, healthy debate’ – as her brother-in-law ‘doesn’t just agree or disagree’.

It is perhaps not surprising that the duo are being spotted together more since Annabel’s key role in the Coronation as her sister’s companion last year – with also proving to be a pillar of support for her recently widowed younger sibling.

Just earlier this month, the pair were spotted giggling and enjoying Wimbledon in the royal box together.

Here, FEMAIL looks at their incredibly close bond over the years…

OPPOSITES IN THEIR YOUTH

Annabel – an interior designer and antiques dealer – has been described as her sister’s quieter counterpart.

The pair previously recalled spending their childhood rolling down hills, catching butterflies and dressing correctly for their strict grandmother while staying at their grandparents’ Hampshire home.

As young women, Camilla loved the debutante circuit while Annabel was rather more serious and preferred a quieter life — ‘not the kind of girl to throw her knickers on the table’, as it has been put. 

Annabel has said that Camilla, who was a debutante a year ahead of her, ‘was a great success, but I certainly wasn’t. I probably wasn’t quite as confident as her.’

At the same time, Annabel was seen as the more intelligent sister with ‘taste’, who eschewed the London party scene. Instead, she went to Florence to study art.

One friend asserted that Annabel, ‘with her style and good taste, is the one who should have been a duchess’. 

Annabel – an interior designer and antiques dealer – has been described as her sister’s quieter counterpart. Both pictured in 1952

The pair have previously recalled spending their childhood rolling down hills, catching butterflies and dressing correctly for their strict grandmother. Pictured as children 

Annabel has said that Camilla, who was a debutante a year ahead of her, ‘was a great success, but I certainly wasn’t. I probably wasn’t quite as confident as her’

‘She’d have been perfect,’ said the friend, ‘but would never want to change places. As for Camilla, she pulls it off, in her own way.’

In 1972, Annabel married her first real boyfriend at 23 – Simon Elliot, and in 1973 Camilla, aged 25, married her first husband – dashing Army officer Andrew Parker Bowles.

Annabel and her husband, who died in March aged 82, inhabited a country house in the Dorset village of Stourpaine where Charles and Camilla would meet for discreet weekends as secret lovers.

STANDING BY HER SISTER 

Annabel continued to support her sister throughout the difficulties of the relationship, driving Camilla away and out of public view when John Major announced in the Commons the separation of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1992.

Annabel’s 40th birthday party was where Diana confronted Camilla over her relationship with Charles. 

It was her 50th birthday celebrations at the Ritz where Camilla came out as Charles’ partner, using the occasion to pose for their first public pictures together on the hotel steps.

More recently, Annabel described her sister as the King’s ‘rock’ for tonight’s BBC One royal documentary following Charles’s first year as monarch, Charles III: The Coronation Year.

‘I’ve known her a long time off and on. Her understanding of the role and how much difference it makes to the King has been absolutely outstanding,’ she said.

‘This role is not something that she’d be a natural for but she does it really well. She provides that change of speed and tone, that’s equally important.’

Annabel, who acted as one of her sister’s two Ladies in Attendance on the day of the Coronation, added: ‘She is his rock, and I can’t actually emphasise that enough.

When the pair were younger, Annabel was seen as the sister with ‘taste’, who eschewed the London party scene and went to Florence to study art . They are pictured together in 2016

Camilla’s younger sister, interior designer and antique dealer Annabel Elliot, has supported the Queen Consort throughout the difficulties of her relationship with Charles. Pictured in 2014

‘She’s somebody who is completely loyal and she isn’t somebody who has huge highs and lows.’

But she stressed that it wasn’t a one-sided relationship, explaining: ‘He brings to her everything. I’m not talking about all of this [she said, referring to Buckingham Palace], but… he has such a 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 yin and yang, really. They really are polar opposites. But I think it works brilliantly.’

She added, waving her hand upwards to indicate their work rate: ‘Most of us as we get to this sort of age are thinking yes, quiet times. But theirs is just going to go like that.’

SUPPORTIVE FAMILY DURING GRIEF 

In March last year, Charles and Camilla were among guests who flocked to the streets of Dorset to pay their respects to Camilla’s brother-in-law Simon Elliot.

The businessman was married to the royal’s younger sister Annabel for over 50 years and passed away at the age of 82.

The Queen was so close to her brother-in-law that she invited him and her sister Annabel to join her and Charles on their honeymoon in Scotland, Balmoral, after she wed the then Prince Charles in 2005.

The King and Queen frequently visited the couple in Stourpaine when they were dating. 

Grieving friends and family of the late businessman were pictured arriving at the service at Holy Trinity Church in Stourpaine, Dorset earlier in 2023. 

Police sealed off all roads to the church during the service to allow Simon’s coffin to be driven through the small village.

Following the service, guests were seen making their way to the local pub The White Horse Inn.

Although Charles and Camilla were not pictured arriving at the funeral, they are understood to have attended the service in a show of support to his widow Annabel.

The church in Stourpaine is where funerals of the Queen’s brother, Mark Shand, and her father Major Bruce Shand, had previously been held. 

Leading the mourners were Simon’s three children, former Conservative Party co-chairman Ben Elliot and his sisters, Alice and Catherine. 

HER FAVOURITE INTERIOR DESIGNER

Charles and Camilla have long supported Annabel’s interior design business, reportedly paying her £1.5million for goods and design services since the pair married in 2005.

Annabel was paid for refurbishing the Duchy’s holiday cottages in Cornwall, the Scilly Isles and Wales as well as the Duchy’s office in Restormel, Cornwall, and Penlyne Nursery, also in Cornwall.

She was also employed to oversee a huge interior design commission from the Duchy of Cornwall — a 20-bedroom pub in the centre of Dorset model village Poundbury. 

The Duchy admitted that the contract for the work was not put out to tender.

But a spokeswoman said that Elliot understood the Duchy’s commitment to environmental sustainability and to sympathetic design which is in-keeping with the local area.

There was some controversy when she was employed by the Duchy, given her familial links and that her contract was never put out to commercial tender.

But royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams said it made ‘perfect sense’ to employ her on the Duchy payroll, and this is ‘considered to have been a success’.

He told MailOnline today: ‘She did extremely significant work as chief designer, working extensively on interiors and updating period properties on the estate.’

Annabel was paid for refurbishing the Duchy’s holiday cottages in Cornwall, the Scilly Isles and Wales as well as the Duchy’s office in Restormel (pictured), Cornwall, and Penlyne Nursery, also in Cornwall

Mr Fitzwilliams described Mrs Elliot as being ‘highly respected’, but added: ‘It is only natural for Prince William, now he has inherited the Duchy, to want to put his own stamp on the estate.

‘His priorities include building social rented homes and ensuring properties are earmarked for the homeless as well as environmental issues.

‘His removal of the Queen’s sister, who has had the job for two decades and who is 75, means it will be easier for him to implement a new approach and this will undoubtedly be understood by the King and Queen.’

Last December, the Daily Mail reported that Mrs Elliot had been recently employed to undertake work on the King’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk as well as ‘refreshing’ several commercial properties at Balmoral, including a major expansion of the castle gift shop.

The latest Duchy accounts said: ‘During the period to September 8, 2022 the Duchy paid Mrs Annabel Elliot, the 24th Duke of Cornwall’s sister-in-law, in the normal course of business and on an arm’s length basis £19,625 for fees and commission and £12,316 for the purchase of furniture, furnishings and retail stock for the Duchy of Cornwall holiday accommodation, Duchy offices and Duchy Nursery.

‘At March 31, 2024 there was £nil (2023: £nil) remaining payable to Mrs Elliot in respect of these.’

This line was an adapted repeat of a similar section under the same heading in last year’s Duchy accounts.

The entry last year said: ‘During the period to September 8, 2022, the Duchy paid Mrs Annabel Elliot, the 24th Duke of Cornwall’s sister-in-law, in the normal course of business and on an arm’s length basis £19,625 (2022: £32,920) for fees and commission and £12,316 (2022: £30,373) for the purchase of furniture, furnishings and retail stock for the Duchy of Cornwall holiday accommodation, Duchy offices and Duchy Nursery.

‘At March 31, 2023 there was £nil (2022: £5,376) remaining payable to Mrs Elliot in respect of these.’

CAMILLA’S CORONATION COMPANIONS

Queen Camilla was joined by two elegant companions as she walked alongside her sister Annabel Elliot and close friend The Marchioness of Lansdowne during the historic Coronation ceremony earlier this year. Pictured left to right: Ralph Tollemache, Lord Oliver Cholmondeley, Nicholas Barclay, Prince George, the Marchioness of Lansdowne, King Charles III, Queen Camilla, the Queen’s sister Annabel Elliot, the Queen’s grandson Freddy Parker Bowles, the Queen’s great-nephew Arthur Elliot, and the Queen’s grandsons Gus Lopes and Louis Lopes

The royal, 75, axed the centuries-old tradition of having ladies-in-waiting as part of her retinue last September – instead opting to have a smaller number of ‘Queen’s companions’

Fiona Clare created two long, ivory dresses for Her Majesty’s Companions, designed to complement each other whilst retaining individual touches in terms of the embroidery and choice of fabric

Queen Camilla was joined by two elegant companions as she walked alongside her sister Annabel and close friend The Marchioness of Lansdowne during the historic Coronation ceremony last year.

The royal axed the centuries-old tradition of having ladies-in-waiting as part of her retinue last September – instead opting for a smaller number of ‘Queen’s companions’.

It’s evident that both have an eye for fashion and aesthetics –  having worked in interior design – as the two women struck the perfect chord between sophistication and glamour with their gowns.

Fiona Clare created two long, ivory dresses for Her Majesty’s Companions, designed to complement each other whilst retaining individual touches in terms of the embroidery and choice of fabric.

Silver edging features on The Marchioness’s, whilst Annabel’s has a standing collar and hand-embroidered detail.

The royal had her two confidantes by her side throughout in the festive ceremony.

ENJOYING SUMMER FESTIVITIES TOGETHER

The royal and Annabel thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company as they took in the action from the Royal Box

The sisters have over the last two years been pictured at key summer royal calendar events.

Earlier this month Camilla laughed and smiled as she chatted with her little sister – while the pair attended day ten of Wimbledon together.

The royal and Annabel thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company as they took in the action from the Royal Box.

The pair looked animated during the sporting event, leaning into one another and chuckling as they watched tennis.

Elsewhere, last month both were in attendance at the Royal Ascot.

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