Prince of Wales removes Queen’s sister as chief Duchy designer
THE Prince of Wales has removed the Queen’s interior designer sister from the payroll after taking over the Duchy of Cornwall.
Annabel Elliot, 75, has been paid several hundred thousand pounds for her services over the past two decades.
She was employed by the King, then Prince of Wales, as chief designer of his estates following his 2005 marriage to Queen Camilla, her elder sister.
Since then, she has enjoyed an annual cash injection for her work on the Duchy holiday cottage portfolio, decorating and updating its period properties in Cornwall, Wales and the Isles of Scilly. Sources confirmed Prince William would no longer employ Ms Elliot, but it was no reflection on her work.
The Duchy’s annual accounts detail how she had been paid “in the normal course of business and on an arm’s length basis” varying amounts ranging between £19,625 and £82,272 to maintain its rental properties as well as the Duchy offices and its plant nursery.
She was reimbursed additional amounts each year, ranging from £7,160 to £90,285, for the purchase of furniture, furnishings and retail stock.
Ms Elliot was also employed to oversee the refurbishment of a 20-bedroom pub at the King’s Poundbury development in Dorset and to help convert two cottages and a lodge for guests at Dumfries House in Ayrshire.
The Elliot touch, it was once said, had “proved to be extremely successful”.
However, the latest Duchy of Cornwall accounts, detailing the incomings and outgoings of Prince William’s first full year as Duke of Cornwall, reveal that for the first time in almost two decades, Ms Elliot was not paid for her services during 2023-2024.
The report simply repeats a line from the previous year’s accounts, which concerned Charles’s last six months at the helm and then his eldest son’s first six months, after he inherited the estate on the death of Elizabeth II.
It says: “During the period to Sept 8 2022 the Duchy paid Mrs Annabel Elliot, the 24th Duke of Cornwall’s sister-inlaw, 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.”
Her extensive interiors work across the estate is considered complete and the current staff have learnt sufficiently from her, sources said.
The Duchy has previously admitted that the contracts for its design work were not put out to tender.
It reflects a gradual shift in approach as the heir to the throne manages the vast property portfolio in his own way.
He has already ensured 24 properties on his Nansledan development in Cornwall are earmarked for the homeless and the Duchy has committed to building more than 400 social rented homes on its new development of South East Faversham in Kent.
However, Ms Elliot still enjoys some professional benefits from her relationship with the King and Queen.
She was recently employed to oversee significant improvements to the visitor centre and restaurant at Balmoral ahead of its opening to the public this summer. Buckingham Palace sources confirmed she would continue to be involved with the household when there are “appropriate opportunities”.
Annabel Elliot Ltd has been contacted for comment.