She was the late Queen's most trusted member of staff, who struck up an unlikely yet close and cosy bond with the former monarch.
But in a swift change of fortune, Angela Kelly has left her grace-and-favour Windsor home and has reportedly been banned from spilling any more royal secrets by her friend's oldest son King Charles.
The 65-year-old, who had "extraordinary permission" to release two books about life behind the Buckingham Palace walls, enjoyed such a special bond with Elizabeth II that the late Queen even once reportedly remarked "we could be sisters".