Meet Queen Camilla’s sister, Annabel Elliot: the interior designer and Queen’s Companion had an ‘enchanted childhood’ and was at King Charles’ coronation

Aug 2 , 2024

Annabel Elliot with her sister, Queen Camilla, in the Royal Box at Wimbledon, in July. Photo: EPA

Annabel Elliot, born Annabel Shand, enjoyed an idyllic childhood with her sister, the queen; the pair remain close, with Elliot an attendant at King Charles’ coronation last year

Elliot is a renowned interior designer who worked with former Prince Charles’ Duchy of Cornwall’s estate for 20 years; Prince William removed her from the payroll after inheriting the estate

Queen Camilla’s younger sister, Annabel Elliot (née Shand), has been the subject of much interest recently, after making headlines on several occasions. She was removed from her lucrative role as chief designer for the Duchy of Cornwall and was spotted sitting in the Royal Box at Wimbledon, alongside her sister the queen, last month.

Last year, Elliot appeared in the documentary Charles III: The Coronation Year, sharing some details about the king and queen’s marriage. “She is his rock, and I can’t actually emphasise that enough. She is somebody who is completely loyal, and she isn’t somebody who has huge highs and lows … They are their yin and yang really, they really are polar opposites, but it works brilliantly,” she told the BBC.

So, what else do we know about Annabel Elliot and her childhood with the queen?

Annabel Elliot is a renowned interior designer

Elliot is not just known for her royal connections. Now based in Dorset, she reportedly studied fine art in Florence, Italy, before becoming an accomplished interior designer and antiques dealer.

According to British media, she received recognition for her work on Bovey Castle in Devon – she designed the property’s 64 bedrooms – and, in 2014, was named the fifth most influential female designer by The Daily Telegraph.

For the past two decades, Elliot was also the chief interior designer for the Duchy of Cornwall. Per the same source, King Charles – then still Prince Charles and owner of the dukedom – paid Elliot thousands of pounds to oversee the interiors of the duchy’s holiday cottages, including properties in Cornwall, Wales and the Isles of Scilly. In July, she was removed from the duchy’s payroll by Prince William, who inherited the dukedom from his father. Sources said the move was “no reflection on her [Elliot’s] work”.

Queen Camilla and her sister are inseparable

Annabel Elliot, sister to Queen Camilla, attends the memorial service for Sir Chips Keswick in May. Photo: Getty Images

Elliot told Vanity Fair that she and the queen – along with their late brother, Mark Shand – enjoyed an “enchanted childhood”. They were very close to their parents and grew up without nannies. She also mentioned that while her sister was “a great success” in the debutante community, she wasn’t.

The remaining Shand siblings are still close. Elliot was Queen Camilla’s attendant at last year’s coronation ceremony and is also one of the Queen’s Companions, a modern take on the concept of ladies-in-waiting.

She lost her husband not long before her sister’s coronation

While supporting her sister at last year’s royal coronation, Elliot was also grieving the loss of her husband of 51 years. Just a few months before the ceremony, he had died at the age of 82 after a long illness. The pair married in April 1972.