The real power behind the throne

REVIEW: By Royal Appointment – Malvern Theatres (Tuesday, July 1 to Saturday, July 5).

Showtime! stars rating: * * * * *

IN much the same way that the first Elizabeth had her rock in the form of the dashing Robert Dudley, it would seem that the second Gloriana also needed an ever-present shoulder to lean on.

And while dresser to the Queen, Angela Kelly might not have sported the elegantly padded shoulders of her predecessor’s favourite nobleman, Kelly’s working-class Scouser, daughter of a Liverpool docker directness clearly not only intrigued, but arguably also earned the genuine affections of the long-reigning monarch.

Caroline Quentin’s portrayal of a woman blessed with the basic nous to know what outfits suited her royal mistress in constantly changing times, fashions and national moods is utterly convincing and at times deeply moving.

Despite the obligatory deference and cultural chasm that theoretically separated the two women, one was left with the clear impression that regardless of the ever-present regal etiquette, Ms Quentin’s character was at times plainly the boss.

The verbal exchanges may well have been peppered with the regulation ‘Ma’am’ but we are frequently left with the impression that this could have been two old friends and neighbours swapping fashion notes before a night out on the lash at the local Wetherspoons.

Whether the setting was Buckingham Palace or a high-rise flat on a Speke housing estate might well be total irrelevancies. All right, the notion of the two striding out down the Saturday night High Street, arm-in-arm with handbags a-swinging could be a bridge too far, but you get the drift.

This compelling story is eased along courtesy of a backdrop that pinpoints momentous or significant years during the decades of the Queen’s reign, starting from the end of the 1960s up to her death in September 2022.

Angela Kelly’s talent was clearly to somehow match her royal mistress’s garments with the shifting sands of the times. Occasionally, the clothes would perhaps hint at the monarch’s secret - and never to be expressed - thoughts about an issue.

For example, did the blue and yellow hat indicate support for the European Union in the wake of the Brexit vote?

Anne Reid as the Queen was utterly, completely, deliriously magnificent. She captured every nuance of the late monarch to such an extent that at times one felt as if they really were in the royal presence.

The grace, warmth and basic humanity that was the relaxed style of Elizabeth II all shone through, thanks to this veteran actor’s consummate skills.

For some reason, writer Daisy Goodwin doesn’t identify the other key characters in this story, labelling them simply as ‘the Milliner’ and ‘the Designer’.

However, they are of course Freddie Fox and Hardy Amies, respectively played by James Dreyfus and James Wilby. Permanently at loggerheads and both prisoners of their taut, fiddle string emotions, there are some brilliantly bitchy exchanges as these two old queens of a different sort snap and snarl over an endless procession of regally discarded hats, dresses and fascinators.

Meanwhile, the occasionally cantankerous Kelly referees the warring factions, never afraid of restoring order by puncturing male upper-class egos bigger than the grounds of the Balmoral estate, Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse combined.

By Royal Appointment never falters for a single moment with Dominic Dromgoole’s keen direction maintaining a constant energy right up until the final curtain. Buy those tickets without further delay.