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"We share the same shoe size it makes the most sense this way," Angela Kelly says

Queen Elizabeth Has Someone on Staff Break in Her Shoes Before Wearing Them

Before Queen Elizabeth puts on any pair of shoes, her dressmaker and close confidant, Angela Kelly, breaks them in herself.

In Hello!‘s excerpts from her new book, The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, Kelly reveals that she personally wears in the 93-year-old monarch’s shoes before any engagement.

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“As has been reported a lot in the press, a flunky wears in Her Majesty’s shoes to ensure that they are comfortable and that she is always good to go,” she writes. “And yes, I am that flunky.”

Kelly adds, “The Queen has very little time to herself and not time to wear in her own shoes, and as we share the same shoe size it makes the most sense this way.”

Image zoom Barry Jeffery

In 2017, Stewart Parvin, who has designed the Queen’s wardrobe for 11 years, told the Evening Standard that a staff member walks the Buckingham Palace grounds in the monarch’s new shoes to break them in.

“The shoes have to be immediately comfortable,“ Parvin said. “She does get someone to wear them. The Queen can never say, ’I’m uncomfortable, I can’t walk anymore.’ She has the right to have someone wear them in.“

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Image zoom Jack Hill - WPA Pool/Getty

In 2016, the biggest collection of the Queen’s fashion to ever go on public display, Fashioning a Reign: 90 Years of Style from the Queen’s Wardrobe, showcased her outfits across 10 decades.

It included the Queen’s wedding and coronation dresses, which were displayed together for the first time. Both designed by British couturier Norman Hartnell, and worn in 1947 and 1953 respectively, the pieces were described by Caroline de Guitaut, curator of the much-anticipated exhibition at Buckingham Palace, as a “tour de force of craftsmanship.” Hartnell sent nine sketches of the coronation gown to the Queen before she approved the final design. (Among her requests: More color in the intricate embroidery.)