The Queen is resilient, stoical and rarely known to betray any kind of emotion in public. One of the only times she has been seen to shed a tear was at the decommissioning of the royal yacht Britannia.
In the coming weeks and months, however, she will be able to draw on the emotional support from a close-knit group of friends and family. The Queen, who takes her Christian faith very seriously, is also likely to look to support from two members of the clergy who she sees regularly.
However, while all are important to her, those who have observed the Queen over the decades believe that it is her inner strength that will play a crucial role in helping her through her grief. “She is quite strong,” said Hugo Vickers, the royal biographer. “And she must have known it was coming. She has been worried about him for quite a long time — which does not make it any easier when it does happen.
“She is very self-sufficient. You can never really tell what she is thinking. I remember seeing her at Princess Margaret’s funeral. She looked perfectly all right, although she must have minded bitterly. She minded much more about Princess Margaret than she did about the Queen Mother, because she was the companion of her childhood and somewhat younger than her.”
The full emotional impact of her loss may only come later, he suggested. “There will be so much to do,” he said. “There will be so many telegrams to answer, there will be so many plans to be made, decisions to be made, all those things will keep her busy all this week. It will be after that that it will be more difficult.”
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Over the years, the Countess of Wessex has become a close companion of the Queen, and has been to see her at least twice since Prince Philip’s death. Both the Earl of Wessex and the Duke of York have shown themselves keen to provide their mother with as much support as they can.
Although all the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting are important to her, one of the key figures is Lady Susan Hussey, who is a godmother to the Duke of Cambridge and is also close to the Prince of Wales. Insiders call her the “No 1 head girl”. Penny Junor, the royal author, said: “It is the older ladies-in-waiting who will remember Philip when he was younger. The memories will be there. At times like this, you just need a friendly face.”
The member of staff with whom the Queen enjoys the closest relationship is Angela Kelly, her dresser. “Angela Kelly is very important,” said Vickers.
The daughter of a Liverpool docks crane operator who has a reputation for straight talking, her nickname among staff is AK47. She enjoys a remarkably close bond with the Queen: once, when they were both looking in a mirror, the Queen said: “We could be sisters.”
Inevitably the Queen will also turn to the Dean of Windsor, David Conner, who is one of her domestic chaplains. Aged 74, he has been dean since 1998 and probably would have retired a while ago, but the Queen was anxious that he should stay on. “He is very good with her,” said a source.
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The Queen is also close to Canon Martin Poll, a former Royal Navy chaplain who is Canon Chaplain of St George’s Chapel. “The Queen sees a lot of him,” said the source.
