Queen Camilla's Sister Annabel Elliot Could Be Her Twin
Camilla, Queen Consort, is one of the most famous names on the planet, and that hasn't always been a good thing. Camilla's love triangle with King Charles III and Princess Diana and all the mess that came with certainly wasn't a walk in the park; for years, the future queen consort was the most-hated woman in the country. Fortunately, she had her sister, Annabel Elliot, to lean on. Throughout all the drama, media attention, and "tampongate," Elliot remained an unwavering source of support for Camilla. As a source once told the Daily Mail, "I'm not sure she [Camilla] would ever have been able to get through what she has over the years without Annabel by her side." The tipster also called Elliot Camilla's "rock."
Born in 1949, Elliot is two years Camilla's junior. Unlike her royal sister, Elliot maintains something of a low profile, evidently uninterested in receiving royal titles or public attention. That said, she has certainly been spotted at a number of royal events over the years, including Charles' coronation. Clad in a resplendent white dress that matched Camilla, Elliot stood beside her sister and attended to her every need as one of two Ladies in Attendance. She is also one of just six women who act as the queen's companions.
When Elliot accompanied Camilla at the coronation, their family resemblance was impossible to ignore; if one didn't know better, they might assume the sisters were twins. So, who is Camilla's lookalike sibling? Get to know Annabel Elliot.
Annabel Elliott was the middle of three siblings
While it's quite obvious that Camilla, Queen Consort, and her sister Annabel Elliot look almost identical, they are vastly different when it comes to their personalities. The pair were both debutantes and while Camilla apparently loved this, Elliot was not so keen. According to Hello!, she once said of her sister, "[Camilla] was a great success, but I certainly wasn't. I probably wasn't quite as confident as her." Elliot was in the middle of the three Shand siblings.
Camilla, Queen Consort, is the oldest sibling, and she and Elliot shared a younger brother named Mark Shand who died after a fall in 2014. After the death of their brother, Elliot told Vanity Fair, "Unlike a lot of our generation, we had this incredibly warm, easy relationship with our parents. We didn't have nannies. All our friends growing up would immediately be drawn to my mother. She was completely straightforward, and one of the warmest, kindest people."
Per the Daily Mail, it's been said that the role of a duchess might have suited Elliot much more than Camilla. A friend even told the outlet she would have been "perfect" for the role. The friend stated, "[Elliot], with her style and good taste, is the one who should have been a duchess." Alas, according to the source, the title is of little interest to Elliot. The whole thing echoes what's been said about Princes William and Harry.
Her husband died in 2023
In 2023, Camilla, Queen Consort's family experienced a great loss. In March of that year, Annabel Elliot's husband, Simon Elliot, died at the age of 82, after prolonged illness. The pair married in 1972 when Annabel was just 23, and were so close to Camilla and King Charles III that they were invited to Scotland to visit them during their honeymoon in 2005, and had a wedding night dinner together. According to The Independent, multiple sources only had good things to say about the businessman, including the fact that he was very generous, a real family man, and seemed to get along with everyone who crossed his path.
A close friend told the same outlet, "He was beyond courageous in his last few months, his family and friends are devastated to lose a man whose middle name was loyalty. He was a fount of common sense and wisdom and it is a great sadness that he has gone so early." Clearly, with their close relationship, Annabel would likely have leaned quite heavily on her sister, who attended Simon's funeral along with Charles.
Charles was said to be close to Annabel and her husband as well. He reportedly even met up with Camilla at their country house in the Dorset village of Stourpaine while he was still married to Princess Diana.
One of her three kids was co-chairman of the Conservative Party
Annabel Elliot has three children: Alice Elliot, Catherine Elliot, and Ben Elliot. While Alice and Catherine appear to be private citizens who keep their lives out of the public eye, Ben's spent a fair amount of time in the spotlight. For starters, served as Conservative Party co-chairman from 2019 to 2022.
And that's only one piece of Annabel's son's colorful resume. Per Tatler, Camilla, Queen Consort's nephew built an exclusive concierge service called Quintessentially, witnessed Prince William take his first drink, was formerly the director of YouGov, acted as a board member at the Centre for Policy Studies think tank, was a partner at Hawthorn Advisors — the list goes on. In 2016, The Standard named him one of the top "business brains" in London. Plus, he also found time to date a string of famously très cool women from Jade Jagger to Sophie Dahl before marrying his wife, Mary-Clare Winwood, daughter of Steve Winwood.
In November 2023, Ben was made a Knight Bachelor for political and public service, as part of Boris Johnson's resignation honors (so, no nepotism here). He celebrated his new title of Sir Ben Elliot with a party at Oswald's, a private members club. Annabel and Camilla attended the event. The guest list also included Camilla's own children, Tom Parker Bowles and Laura Lopes.
Annabel Elliot has her own interior design business
Annabel Elliot owns her own interior design business called Annabel Elliot Interior Design and Antiques. The company, which is located in Dorset, has been open for more than thirty years. What's more, having a close relationship with King Charles III certainly comes with some advantages, as she has designed several properties for the Duchy of Cornwall estate, including homes on the Isles of Scilly and Restormel Manor in Cornwall. Alas, this hasn't always gone down well in the media, with outlets accusing the king of giving his sister-in-law jobs solely out of familial connection.
Back in 2016, per the Daily Mail, the Duchy of Cornwall annual accounts revealed Elliot had made £1.5 million by providing "goods and services" since Camilla married Charles in 2005. Also in 2016, Elliot was tasked with the design of a pub in Dorchester that was part of the Duchy of Cornwall estate, aptly named the Duchess of Cornwall. Apparently, locals noticed that it bore a striking resemblance to the Ritz Hotel in Mayfair, which is where Charles and Camilla were officially photographed together for the first time in January 1999 at Elliot's 50th birthday party. Many took issue with the fact that Elliot has seemingly made so much money off the Duchy of Cornwall over the years.
According to The Sun, this criticism did nothing to deter Charles, as he employed Elliot as the chief interior designer of his estates after he was made king. It's all about who you know, right?
Annabel Elliot had a front and center role at King Charles III's coronation
May 6, 2023, the day of King Charles III's coronation ceremony, was a historic moment for the royal family. Naturally, Annabel Elliot was there with bells on, cheering on Camilla, Queen Consort. At the king's coronation, Annabel was one of the Ladies in Attendance, matching her sister in long, floor-length gowns. Camilla and Annabel were also joined by Fiona Petty-Fitzmaurice, the Marchioness of Lansdowne.
However, despite the immensely huge and public role, she was dealing with her own personal grief while trying to put on a brave face. (Queen Elizabeth II, who rarely cried in public, almost certainly would have been so proud of her "stiff upper-lip" attitude.) As previously mentioned, Annabel's husband, Simon Elliot, died just two months earlier.
That said, it's not so surprising that Annabel would put aside her own emotions to be there for her sister. Per Tatler, the Marchioness of Lansdowne said at the time, "[Camilla] is fiercely loyal to friends and that will be reflected in who goes to the big day. She wants to be loyal to the people who've stood by her." Behind-the-scenes BBC footage showed Annabel clearly touched by the momentous occasion, saying, "When I thought back to being two years old and watching the Queen's Coronation on a tiny little black-and-white television, and there goes this golden coach with my sister in it."
Annabel Elliot has an extremely close relationship with her sister
The sisterly bond between Annabel Elliot and Camilla, Queen Consort, was no more obvious than on coronation day. If anything, standing just a few feet from Camilla during the ceremony was as much a metaphorical symbol as it was physical, and Elliot's support goes way back. Per The Mirror, the two sisters were said to have done everything together, from attending the same schools to pony club and marrying within a year of each other.
In 2018, royal author Penny Junor wrote a somewhat hilarious behind-the-scenes account of what happened on the morning of Charles and Camilla's 2005 wedding day for Vanity Fair. Camilla had apparently been suffering from sinusitis all week and refused to get out of bed — on the day of her wedding, no less. After multiple people tried and failed to get Camilla out of bed and start preparing for the day, Elliot "threatened" to wear her sister's wedding ensemble. "O.K., that's all right. I'm going to do it for you. I'm going to get into your clothes," she reportedly told Camilla.
Whether it was because she didn't want her sister getting into her wedding dress, or simply out of pure stubborn sibling energy, Camilla is said to have jumped out of bed and started getting ready. Basically, Camilla has her sister to thank for pushing her to get out of bed and get on with things, otherwise, who knows what would have transpired and changed the course of history.
Annabel Elliot has been supportive of Queen Camilla in a public capacity
The relationship between King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort, has been under scrutiny for decades. As previously noted, Camilla caught a lot of heat for her long-term affair with Charles. The public furor surrounding Charles and Camilla reached fever pitch in the wake of Princess Diana's infamous interview with Martin Bashir in which she stated there were three people in her marriage. For a while there, it seemed Camilla's reputation could not be revived.
But times have changed, people have moved on, and Camilla has done a great deal to generate approval for herself and her relationship with Charles; having public support for their marriage is hugely important for the pair. Though they aren't the most popular royals as of this writing, they seem to be in much better standing with the public nowadays.
Always the loyal sister, Annabel Elliot praised their relationship in the BBC documentary "Charles III: The Coronation Year." Per The Mirror, Elliot stated, "She is his rock, and I can't actually emphasize that enough." She added, "He brings to her everything, I'm not talking about all of this but you know 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 their yin and yang really, they really are polar opposites, but it works brilliantly."