Queen Camilla‘s interior designer sister is no longer on the Duchy of Cornwall payroll after it was taken over by Prince William, its latest accounts revealed today.
Annabel Elliot, 75, was employed as chief estates designer by King Charles, when he was the Prince of Wales, after his marriage to her elder sister Camilla in 2005.
She was paid hundreds of thousands of pounds over two decades to decorate and update the Duchy’s period holiday cottages in Cornwall, Wales and the Isles of Scilly.
But the latest Duchy accounts showed Mrs Elliot was not paid for her services during 2023/24. Sources have now confirmed to the Daily Telegraph that William will no longer employ Mrs Elliot, but insisted this was not a reflection on her work.
In addition, MailOnline understands that hers was always a ‘temporary contract’ and that it had now ‘come to an end and the Duchy team have learnt from her’.
Queen Camilla and Annabel Elliot at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships on July 10
Prince William during a visit to the Duchy of Cornwall nursery in Cornwall in July 2023
King Charles, Queen Camilla and Annabel Elliot on the day of the Coronation on May 6, 2023
In a section in the accounts under ‘related party transactions’, Mrs Elliot was noted to have been paid ‘in the normal course of business and on an arm’s length basis’.
It also revealed how she was previously paid for ‘fees and commission’ and separately reimbursed for the ‘purchase of furniture, furnishings and retail stock’.
There was some controversy when Mrs Elliot was employed by the Duchy, given her familial links and that her contract was never put out to commercial tender.
But royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams said it made ‘perfect sense’ to employ her on the Duchy payroll, and this is ‘considered to have been a success’.
He told MailOnline today: ‘She did extremely significant work as chief designer, working extensively on interiors and updating period properties on the estate.’
Mr Fitzwilliams described Mrs Elliot as being ‘highly respected’, but added: ‘It is only natural for Prince William, now he has inherited the Duchy, to want to put his own stamp on the estate.
Annabel Elliot with her husband Simon Elliot in 2011. Mr Elliot died in March last year
Annabel Elliot greets then-Prince Charles in Poundbury, Dorset, in November 2004
‘His priorities include building social rented homes and ensuring properties are earmarked for the homeless as well as environmental issues.
‘His removal of the Queen’s sister, who has had the job for two decades and who is 75, means it will be easier for him to implement a new approach and this will undoubtedly be understood by the King and Queen.’
Last December, the Daily Mail reported that Mrs Elliot had been recently employed to undertake work on the King’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk as well as ‘refreshing’ several commercial properties at Balmoral, including a major expansion of the castle gift shop.
The latest Duchy accounts said: ‘During the period to September 8, 2022 the Duchy paid Mrs Annabel Elliot, the 24th Duke of Cornwall’s sister-in-law, in the normal course of business and on an arm’s length basis £19,625 for fees and commission and £12,316 for the purchase of furniture, furnishings and retail stock for the Duchy of Cornwall holiday accommodation, Duchy offices and Duchy Nursery.
Camilla and Annabel Elliot together in 1952 when they were aged four and two respectively
Camilla and Annabel Elliot at Highgrove for Prince Charles’s 50th birthday celebrations in 1998
‘At March 31, 2024 there was £nil (2023: £nil) remaining payable to Mrs Elliot in respect of these.’
This line was an adapted repeat of a similar section under the same heading in last year’s Duchy accounts.
The entry last year said: ‘During the period to September 8, 2022, the Duchy paid Mrs Annabel Elliot, the 24th Duke of Cornwall’s sister-in-law, in the normal course of business and on an arm’s length basis £19,625 (2022: £32,920) for fees and commission and £12,316 (2022: £30,373) for the purchase of furniture, furnishings and retail stock for the Duchy of Cornwall holiday accommodation, Duchy offices and Duchy Nursery.
‘At March 31, 2023 there was £nil (2022: £5,376) remaining payable to Mrs Elliot in respect of these.’
Camilla and Annabel Elliot with Camilla’s son Tom Parker Bowles in London in March 2014
Annabel Elliot and Camilla watch Andy Murray in action at Wimbledon in July 2015
Camilla and Mrs Elliot were born 18 months apart and are known to speak to each other every day. The Queen’s sister is a regular at palace functions – and accompanied her to Wimbledon a fortnight ago on July 10.
She was one of just a handful of people Buckingham Palace gave permission to speak about their relationship and the Coronation for BBC One’s documentary on Boxing Day 2023 about the King’s first year.
Mrs Elliot was seen driving her sister away from waiting photographers when John Major announced the separation of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1992.
And it was at her 50th birthday celebrations at the Ritz in 1999 where Charles and Camilla first formalised their relationship, posing for their first public pictures together on the hotel steps.
Mrs Elliot and her husband, businessman and landowner Simon Elliot, even joined the newlyweds when they honeymooned in Scotland following their 2005 wedding.
Opening the Duchess of Cornwall pub in Poundbury with her sister Annabel Elliot in 2016
Camilla and Annabel Elliot attend the Chelsea Flower Show together in London in 2007
During the pandemic the two women even joined the briefly-lived House Party app so they could keep in touch whilst in lockdown, sources told the Mail at the time.
But Mrs Elliot suffered immense heartache as she tragically lost her husband of 50 years after a long illness in March last year, just weeks before the Coronation.
The King was among the mourners at the funeral in Dorset, but Mrs Elliot was still by her sister’s side for the Coronation in May, wiping a tear from her cheek as she watched Camilla drive off in her golden coach.
Many had expected Mrs Elliot to become a Queen’s Companion, Camilla’s six close friends who have replaced the more traditional Ladies-in-Waiting at Buckingham Palace as her helpers and gatekeepers.
But a source previously told the Mail that they decided against this ‘because neither of them wanted the balance of their relationship to be impacted by a formal role.’
A spokesman for Mrs Elliot’s company Annabel Elliot told MailOnline today that she would not be commenting.
