'Angela Kelly knows so much... and revenge is a dish best served cold': Queen Elizabeth's dresser 'could make a fortune with big US interviews' after losing grace-and-favour Windsor home, claims PHIL DAMPIER

She was the Queen's confidante, right-hand woman and personal dresser, the keeper of royal secrets with the keys to the palace safe. Always in the background, yet somehow omniscient.

Now rumours are swirling that Angela Kelly, who served the late monarch for almost 30 years until her death in 2022, could be preparing to make a documentary about the royals.

Her rise from Liverpool-born dockworker's daughter to royal power player, followed by her fall from prominence after the Queen's death, would certainly make riveting television.

But having signed a confidentiality agreement with the Palace, not to mention her steadfast devotion to the late Queen, it might seem unlikely that Ms Kelly would contemplate such an indiscretion.

The prospect of a palace servant spilling the secrets of the Crown inevitably brings to mind the extraordinary saga of Wendy Berry, the housekeeper at Highgrove during the most troubled years of Charles and Diana's marriage.

Ms Berry, who worked for the couple from 1985 to 1992, took her memoir to America after encountering difficulties getting it published in Britain. The Housekeeper's Diary became a best-seller, but the legal headache that followed might make any would-be royal tell-all think twice.

The Palace obtained a High Court injunction preventing publication in Britain but the book did appear overseas. Berry subsequently spent time abroad and was eventually embroiled in a lengthy legal battle over the publication.

The Queen rewarded Angela Kelly's loyalty and service with a Royal Victorian Order honour and a personal order

Queen Elizabeth II was accompanied by Ms Kelly when she made a surprise visit to Richard Quinn's runway show in 2018

She ultimately receded from the spotlight, leaving behind a cautionary tale for anyone tempted to break the royal code of silence.

But times have changed. We live in an age of confession, where royal insiders can turn their proximity to the Crown into lucrative books, interviews and television programmes.

Royal commentator Phil Dampier believes a tell-all documentary from Ms Kelly would therefore be entirely consistent with the way the royal world now operates. And with the imminent publication of Earl Spencer's book and the Sussexes return to the UK, the King may be too distracted by family drama to care.

'These things blow up and are then used to make documentaries. It's becoming the norm.'

Mr Dampier explains that Ms Kelly has already written two rather bland accounts of her life in service, but a few spicy details angered the King.

'Angela Kelly was given permission to write three books and she has written two,' he tells the Daily Mail. 'The King was unhappy because in one of the books she started giving intimate details about the Queen, such as after Philip's death, sitting on her bed and staring into space. Charles thought that was intrusive and unfair on the late Queen.'

'Angela knows so much. As I understood it, although she was moved out of her grace-and-favour apartment, she was given a property in the north of England. I understood that was partly to buy her silence and she seemed to have settled down to a quiet life.

'Obviously, it isn't going to go down very well with the King and other members of the Royal Family. But with everything else going on with the family at the moment, she might well be able to get away with it.'

The Highgrove housekeeper, Wendy Berry, worked for Charles and Diana from 1985 to 1992

The Housekeeper's Diary became a bestseller but the legal headache that followed might make any would-be royal tell-all think twice

Ms Kelly, who has been married and divorced three times and has three children, is 68 and potentially has many years ahead of her. The prospect of lucrative opportunities, books, television and speaking engagements offering an insider's view of royal life, could therefore be tempting.

'She could make a fortune on the lecture circuit,' says Mr Dampier. 'She could make a fortune doing big interviews, like Oprah Winfrey. She could do big interviews and charge a lot of money because she knows so much.'

And while she may have appeared to blur into the background behind the Queen, Ms Kelly was said to have had a fearsome reputation behind the scenes.

Indeed, in his 2007 book The Queen's Handbag, Mr Dampier wrote that Ms Kelly was once found 'rolling around on the ground having a fight with a maid 20 years her junior'.

Ms Kelly was also known for falling out with colleagues and, according to Prince Harry's memoir Spare, was nicknamed 'AK-47' by some members of the Royal Household.

Harry identified her as a central figure in the so-called 'tiaragate' row surrounding his wedding in 2018, after the Queen lent Meghan the Queen Mary Diamond Bandeau. According to Harry's account, Ms Kelly proved difficult to deal with when Meghan wanted access to the tiara for a hair trial.

Yet Ms Kelly's position was ultimately protected by the Queen because she was, by all accounts, exceptionally good at her job.

She transformed the monarch's image, taking her from the sometimes frumpy, old-fashioned look of the early 1990s towards the brighter colours, bold silhouettes and instantly recognisable style that became her trademark.

'Angela totally transformed the Queen's style,' says Mr Dampier. 'Before she took over in the early 1990s, the Queen sometimes looked a bit frumpy and wore outfits that didn't really work.

'Angela did a complete overhaul of her wardrobe and was very good at her job. She delivered on what she was supposed to do. She then started designing for her, was promoted and eventually ended up in charge of her jewellery and much more.'

The Queen rewarded her loyalty and service with a Royal Victorian Order honour and a personal order.

Prince Harry identified Ms Kelly as a central figure in the so-called 'tiaragate' row surrounding his wedding in 2018, after the Queen lent Meghan the Queen Mary Diamond Bandeau

Given Ms Kelly's extraordinary knowledge of the royal wardrobe and jewellery collection, as well as her intimate working relationship with the late Queen, it might have been expected that a role could be found for her after the monarch's death.

But it was not, nor was she allowed to remain in her grace-and-favour home in Windsor.

Some might regard her eventual relocation to a property in the north as a limp handshake to a woman who had devoted much of her working life to the Crown.

And if Ms Kelly feels she was treated unfairly, Mr Dampier believes the Palace would be wise not to underestimate the value of what she knows.

'Revenge is a dish best served cold, as we are now seeing with Earl Spencer's book,' he says. 'Angela worshipped the Queen and has an extraordinary knowledge because they were very close. They would watch television together when Philip was away at Sandringham.'

So, could she really do a documentary?

For the right price, perhaps. The history of royal service is littered with former insiders who eventually broke their silence, from Paul Burrell and Ken Wharfe to Berry herself.

And perhaps there is a simple reason why: money.

Once a former servant is out of grace and favour and finds themselves on the wrong side of the red rope, life can be cold outside palace walls.

For someone approaching their later years, the prospect of a substantial payday for the secrets accumulated over decades in royal service may prove difficult to resist.

After all, there may be no way back once the royal shove has been administered.