I just finished The Other Side of the Coin and I give it ✩✩✩✩✩ !
This score reflects: 1. I love the Queen 2. I love behind-the-scenes-at-royal-palaces stuff 3. I love hats and 4. I love stodgy British clothes. If you love none of these, this is not a book for you (plus, I got it for free with Kindle Unlimited and I can't see any version of my life where I would pay more than $2.99 for this).
Angela Kelly was the Queen' head dresser for the last twenty or so years of the Queen's life, and she also designed quite a few of the Queen's (stodgy, British) clothes. This book is her own account of an average 'royal year' and how she, as a dresser, took care of the Queen's clothes during all the public events. She travelled whenever the Queen travelled, and was responsible for making sure the Queen looked great. She and the Queen were reportedly very close friends, and the book is filled with her love, admiration and respect for the Queen. She talks about how she picks out several choices for the Queen to wear, and how she packs everything up for travel, and how she gets regalia on and off the Queen (there's a lot of detail). She also talked about how she kept track of everything the Queen wore so that she didn't repeat colors and outfits too quickly.
Given the amount of detail, it's not a long book and it doesn't have a whole lot of 'anecdotes' (read: juicy gossip) and I got the feeling that just isn't Angela Kelly's style. She writes a bit about her inspiration (apparently there's a huge fabric stash at Windsor or Buckingham Palace, I don't recall which) that I would love to see but that will probably never happen.
There are lovely photos of the Queen, most of which I have seen before (although the publisher said that many of these are 'never before seen', but the book came out in 2019 so maybe they've been made public more recently?).
Anyway, if you love lots of detail on the Queen's ceremonial outfits (opening of Parliament, Order of the Garter, etc.), this is a book you should track down.
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