Is Camilla’s sister the ability behind the throne?

‘Sisters, sisters, There were never such devoted sisters….I’m right here to maintain my eye on her…All sorts of climate, We stick collectively…’ wrote Irving Berlin.

And by no means has it been extra applicable than in relation to Queen Camilla and her youthful sibling, Annabel Elliot.

Not solely do the sisters – born simply 18 months aside – bear a placing resemblance to one another, however they communicate to one another day-after-day.

Some liken their closeness to that of Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, whose bond was cast in distinctive of circumstances.

Or even Annabel to Charles’s Anne.

And it was no shock that Mrs Elliot was certainly one of only a handful of individuals given permission by Buckingham Palace to talk about their relationship and the coronation for BBC One’s Boxing Day documentary on the king’s first yr.

Their tightness was cemented by an idyllic Sussex childhood the place they’d spent their free time cantering ponies over the South Downs together with their charismatic brother Mark Shand, who tragically died in 2014 after a fall.

As younger girls, Camilla cherished the debutante circuit whereas Annabel was quite extra critical and most popular a quieter life. ‘She was an awesome success, however I actually wasn’t,’ she has mentioned of her sister. ‘I probably wasn’t quite as confident as her.’

After school she went to Florence to study art, followed by a successful career as an antiques dealer and interior designer, while Camilla threw herself into country life as the wife of her first husband, dashing Army officer Andrew Parker Bowles.

But the pair remained as close as any siblings could be, speaking to each other almost every day.

Annabel and her husband, businessman and landowner Simon Elliot, settled in a beautiful country house in the Dorset village of Stourpaine, where Charles and Camilla would meet for discreet weekends when they renewed their relationship following the breakdown of their respective marriages.

It was no co-incidence that Mrs Elliot was seen driving her sister away from the hordes of waiting photographers when John Major announced the separation of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1992.

And it was at her 50th birthday celebrations at the Ritz in 1999 where Charles and Camilla first formalised their relationship, posing for their first public pictures together on the hotel steps.

The Elliots even joined the newly-weds when they honeymooned in Scotland following their 2005 wedding.

During the Coronavirus pandemic the two women even joined the briefly-lived House Party app so they could keep in touch whilst in lockdown, sources told the Mail at the time.

Mrs Elliot suffered immense heartache as she tragically lost her husband of 50 years after a long illness in March, just weeks before her sister’s coronation.

King Charles was among the many mourners at Simon’s funeral in Dorset, with police serving to to close off street because the cortege made its means by way of the streets.

This was a break with the previous. Charles’s  late mom, Queen Elizabeth, would not often attend funerals in all however essentially the most distinctive circumstances – 

Despite the  loss, Annabel was nonetheless  by her sister’s facet for the coronation in May, wiping a tear from her cheek as she watched Camilla drive off from Buckingham Palace in her golden coach.

The two girls are so shut they even have the identical style in garments, whether or not or not it’s a day trip on the races or formal robes.

Indeed in the event you thought a white costume from couturier Fiona Clare (a designer Camilla was launched to by Annabel, naturally) sported by Her Majesty to the Diplomatic Corps Reception final month regarded strikingly acquainted, you’d be proper.

It was a carbon copy of the robe worn by 74-year outdated Mrs Elliot when she took a starring position as a Lady-in-Attendance for May’s coronation.

The non-public has occasional seeped over into the skilled, with Annabel controversially being employed by the Duchy of Cornwall when King Charles was Prince of Wales as an inside designer, engaged on dozens of economic properties and vacation leases, in addition to Dumfries House in Scotland.

Her contract was by no means put out to industrial tender.

The Mail understands that she has additionally been just lately employed to undertake work on the King’s Sandringham property in addition to ‘refreshing’ a number of industrial properties up at Balmoral, together with a significant enlargement of the citadel present store.

Many would have anticipated her to turn out to be a Queen’s Companion, Camilla’s six shut mates who’ve changed the extra conventional Ladies-in-Waiting at Buckingham Palace as her helpers and gatekeepers.

But there’s an excellent motive she hasn’t, based on one supply.

‘First and foremost she plays the part of being her sister. Which sounds a silly thing to say, but that’s precisely why she will not be a Queen’s Companion,’ they mentioned.

‘It was a very deliberate decision, because neither of them wanted the balance of their relationship to be impacted by a formal role.’

Another provides: ‘It’s humorous as a result of most individuals focus [their attention] on her mates nevertheless it’s Annabel who, over and above anybody, could be very a lot her rock. The Queen has good instincts, as does her sister, and she or he trusts and depends on her implicitly.

‘I’m undecided she [Camilla] would ever have been in a position to get by way of what she has through the years with out Annabel by her facet.’