Queen Camilla is always going to look out for her own family, ahead of everyone else. Camilla appointed herself gatekeeper to the royal family, and she’s spent the past two weeks throwing tantrums over the Sussex family’s return. Meanwhile, Camilla’s children profit from their connections to the Crown, and Camilla’s sister Annabel Elliot is still getting paid by King Charles. A few years ago, we learned that Charles had put Annabel on the Duchy of Cornwall’s payroll, as an interior designer and consultant. When Prince William took over the duchy, he fired Annabel. Magically, it turns out that King Charles’ foundation needed a pricey interior designer consultant too.

The King’s flagship charity has quietly been paying the Queen’s sister after the Prince of Wales removed her from the payroll. The King’s Foundation pays Annabel Elliot, an interior designer and antiques dealer who is Queen Camilla’s younger sister, for “branding” and “retail” consultancy. The charity is paying for her “expertise and support on a range of projects” after William moved to remove Elliot, 77, from the payroll of the Duchy of Cornwall, which he oversees as Prince of Wales.

Elliot had received hundreds of thousands of pounds from the Duchy for advising Charles on design over 20 years, but her retainer stopped when Charles ascended to the throne and Prince William took over the Duchy. A source close to William said in July 2024 that the decision was “not a reflection on her work”.

Elliot, who served as Camilla’s lady-in-attendance at the coronation, studied fine art in Florence before creating her own eponymous interior design company in Dorset. She helped oversee the renovation of cottages and other properties owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. In the Noughties, she furnished Dumfries House, Charles’s 18th-century Palladian country house in Ayrshire, southwest Scotland, which is now the charity’s headquarters.

Known to be the Queen’s “rock”, Elliot is also close to Charles and once praised her brother-in-law’s “quite extraordinary” eye for detail. Her son, Ben, a former Conservative Party chairman, has been described as the royal couple’s favourite nephew.

The Duchy had previously revealed the existence, and value, of its work with Elliot in the “related party transactions” section of its annual accounts. This is a standard form of disclosure used by professional accountants. It is designed to ensure transparency in cases where there may be a conflict of interest.

However, the King’s charity — which faced years of police, regulatory and media scrutiny of its financial arrangements — has disclosed no such information in the equivalent section. The charity would not say why. A senior trustee also said they were never told about the arrangement, which they said was a surprise as it was their job to know.

The foundation said: “Whilst we would not comment on the detail of individual consultancy agreements, we can confirm that Mrs Elliot provides design expertise to our retail and brand team across product and commercial partnerships. This arrangement is not secret.” It declined to comment on the process by which she was awarded the work.

The charity has often said that it operates “independently” of the monarch. Behind the scenes, however, the King remains involved at the most minute level, down to the location of specific exotic flowers on its premises.

[From The Times]

I’m not surprised that Camilla found another way for her sister to get paid. This is sort of a confirmation that Prince William was trying to draw attention to the situation with Annabel several years ago. I think William and his newly-installed duchy administrators were actually surprised to see that Annabel was getting paid from duchy money. They made a big, loud deal about letting her go. I wonder how long she’s been getting paid from the king’s foundation – was she collecting paychecks from the foundation and the duchy at the same time for years? It feels likely, doesn’t it? Even Saudi royals would balk at this kind of corruption and favoritism.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.