Docker's daughter Angela Kelly misses out on top gong in King's special honours ... trends now
The late Queen's right-hand woman, Angela Kelly, has been recognised by the King in a special honours awards marking the former monarch's death.
But there was surprise in royal circles that the straight-talking Liverpudlian, who was so close to Queen Elizabeth that she wore in her shoes and was given the title of Personal Assistant, Adviser and Curator to Her Majesty, did not get a top honour.
Miss Kelly was among many of the Queen's closest and longest-serving aides who were recognised in a 'Demise' honours list. So too were hundreds of people who played an important role during her funeral.
They include members of the RAF flight crew who brought her coffin down to London from Scotland, as well as military coffin bearers and those who organised her state funeral.
Instead of being made a DCVO – Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (RVO) – like the Queen's long-serving diary secretary, Helen Cross, Miss Kelly has been upgraded only to a CVO, or Commander.
The late Queen's right-hand woman, Angela Kelly (right), has been recognised by the King in a special honours awards marking the former monarch's death
Royal Navy saliors take the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in a Royal Standard and adorned with the Imperial State Crown
The move led one insider to ponder whether 'scores were being settled'. Many in the royal household were suspicious, and possibly jealous, of Miss Kelly's hold over the Queen.
Last year the Daily Mail revealed that days after her death in September the locks were even changed on the late monarch's apartments so Miss Kelly, 65, the daughter of a dock worker, could not gain access, although she has retained her home on the Windsor estate at Her Majesty's request.
There is also concern that Miss Kelly, nicknamed 'AK-47' for her fiery personality, had been given permission by the late Queen to bring out a book after her death and may go on the talk show circuit in the US.
Membership of the RVO is in the King's gift and bestowed independently of the Government to people who have served the monarch or the Royal Family in a personal way. The Demise awards would have been decided by a committee of five senior officials and then 'signed off' by the King.
The most distinguished honour – a Knight Grand Cross – has gone to the Marquess of Cholmondeley, formerly the late Queen's Lord
