Report: Queen Camilla’s Sister Annabel Elliot H...

Queen Camilla has had a difficult year, between her husband King Charles’ cancer diagnosis, her own health issues — including a battle with pneumonia — and the loss of her dog, Beth

Published Time: 30.12.2024 - 22:31:07 Modified Time: 30.12.2024 - 22:31:07

Queen Camilla has had a difficult year, between her husband King Charles’ cancer diagnosis, her own health issues — including a battle with pneumonia — and the loss of her dog, Beth.

Among her fiercest supporters is her sister Annabel Elliot, who The Sun reported has been the Queen’s “rock” when she needed it the most.

Elliot — who is 18 months her sister’s junior — is one of Queen Camilla’s “companions,” a more modernized term for “lady-in-waiting.” The sisters’ close bond was on display in behind-the-scenes footage from King Charles’ coronation in the BBC documentary Charles III: The Coronation Year, where in one scene Elliot, who was one of Camilla’s coronation attendants, got emotional as she watched her older sister head to Westminster Abbey to be crowned queen.

“When I thought back to being 2 years old and watching the Queen’s Elizabeth coronation on a tiny black and white television, and there goes this golden coach with my sister in it,” she said.

“I can’t explain the feeling, because it’s so surreal. This cannot be happening. It was quite a moment,” Elliot added.

Of the King and Queen’s May 6, 2023 coronation, “Going into the Abbey, I think I had that nervousness all the time,” Elliot said. “She’s quite a bit smaller than I am. I’m feeling, ‘Is she going to be alright?’ ”

As children, the two sisters did everything together, “from going to the same schools to attending the same Pony Club events,” The Sun reported. As they grew older, the sisters attended the same parties and married within a year of one another, going on to welcome children at the same time.

After Camilla’s marriage to her first husband, Andrew Parker Bowles, ended in 1994, the sisters took a trip to Venice, Italy, where they enjoyed painting and other bonding activities. The Sun reported that both sisters share an artistic streak, and that Elliot had a successful career as an interior designer, with one of her major clients being Charles and Camilla themselves.

The former Prince Charles brought Elliot on as chief designer of his estates following his marriage to Camilla in 2005. Elliot was paid through the Duchy of Cornwall, which Charles controlled until he became King in September 2022 following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth. Elliot was reportedly paid several hundred thousand dollars for her work over the years, including decorating and updating properties across the Duchy’s luxury rental cottages in Cornwall, Wales and the Isles of Scilly. When Prince William took over the Duchy of Cornwall — the royal family’s 700-year-old estate designed to provide income for the heir to the throne — th -

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e Prince of Wales, 42, opted to not bring Elliot back for her design services in the 2023-2024 year.

“Sources confirmed that Prince William would no longer employ Ms. Elliot, although it was no reflection on her work," The Telegraph reported. Sources added that Elliot’s work was considered complete and staff had learned sufficiently from her.

Elliot was part of a crucial moment in the relationship between the former Prince of Wales and the former Camilla Parker Bowles — after knowing one another for over 25 years, it was at Elliot’s 50th birthday party at The Ritz in 1999 where Charles and Camilla finally appeared together as a couple in public.

The sisters have lost their mother, Rosalind Shand, in 1994, their father, Bruce Shand, in 2006 and their younger brother Mark in 2014. Elliot had just lost her husband of over 50 years, Simon, in the leadup to Charles and Camilla’s coronation. “This meant that Annabel was arranging the funeral of her dear late husband at the same time she was preparing for the grand occasion at the Abbey,” according to The Sun.

Of her sister, Elliot said, “She’s somebody who is completely loyal,” adding Camilla, 77, “isn’t somebody who has huge highs and lows.”

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Camilla’s year began with her husband Charles, now 76, undergoing a procedure for a benign enlarged prostate; cancer was detected during the procedure, and on Feb. 5 the King announced his diagnosis publicly. His exact type and stage of cancer remain unknown to the public, though the palace did confirm earlier this year that it is not prostate cancer.

Camilla’s workload upped as her husband primarily worked from home until his first front-facing duty since announcing his cancer diagnosis on April 30. Her stepdaughter-in-law Kate Middleton was also diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, and the rollercoaster year that was 2024 also included Camilla’s own health battle — hers with a viral chest infection that caused her to miss many Remembrance events in November, as well as the Royal Variety Performance at the end of the month. The death of one of her Jack Russell Terriers, Beth, capped off a difficult year that did end on a positive note — her son, Tom Parker Bowles, said that he would be spending Christmas at Sandringham with his mother for the first time, where the royal family typically spend the Dec. 25 holiday.