The Queen returned to her private quarters at Windsor Castle in silence following the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral before shutting herself alone in her sitting room, it has emerged.

       Angela Kelly, the Queen’s dressmaker and close confidante, described how she waited for Her Majesty in her dressing room following the service at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, last April.

       “I helped her off with her coat and hat and no words were spoken,” she said.

       “The Queen then walked to her sitting room, closed the door behind her, and she was alone with her own thoughts.”

       The moment is recalled in a new chapter of Ms Kelly’s book, The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe, first published in October 2019, which is republished next month.

       The updated version includes details about how the royal household coped throughout lockdown and Prince Philip’s death.

       Ms Kelly was a member of “HMS Bubble”, the small coterie of staff who isolated alongside the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to protect them from Covid.

       She recalled the stress of having to style the Queen’s hair in the absence of her professional hairdresser and revealed how the monarch surprised staff by turning up at a “Bubble Olympics” organised in the grounds of Windsor Castle in March 2020 to hand out prizes to employees.

       She also described how the Queen’s puppies, Sandy and Muick, had proved a “godsend” during lockdown and had given Her Majesty “constant joy,” even taking their first royal flight to Balmoral last summer.

       Ms Kelly described the atmosphere at Windsor Castle on the day the Duke died, aged 99, on April 9, 2001.

       “The feeling among all the Royal staff in the bubble at Windsor Castle was sombre,” she said.

       “Only a few of us were told after the family had been informed.”

       On the day of his funeral, April 17, staff were allowed to stand outside the Augusta Tower door opposite St George’s Hall at the Castle as his coffin was placed onto the Land Rover that he had designed himself for the occasion.

       “You could see the expression of sadness on everyone’s faces to see such a great and well-respected man making his last journey,” she wrote in the new chapter, extracts of which are published in Hello!

       Of the late Duke’s pages and valets, who walked behind his coffin, she added: “We all felt their pain as they had worked with him for so long and we had worked alongside them. It was hard to watch our own friends saying goodbye to their amazing boss, His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh.

       “I’m sure some of the prayers that were offered were by those who had never prayed before. I think those prayers were offered to keep the Queen strong throughout the months to come, when she would be without her husband.”

       Ms Kelly described how stressful it was becoming the Queen’s personal hairdresser, not least as her boss proved a hard task master.

       “From March 2020 onwards I washed the Queen’s hair every week, set and styled it, and even trimmed it when needed,” she wrote.

       “My team named it Kelly’s Salon.

       “The Queen knew I was nervous, and during the first two weeks I was shaking. I had only done her hair once or twice before while on board the Royal Yacht Britannia. The Queen was so kind as she advised me on the very specific way to put the rollers in.”

       But she added: “As I grew in confidence I’m sure the Queen thought I was a professional and started shouting at me, ‘Don’t do that, do it this way. That’s right, you’ve got it, don’t change it’. I was thinking, goodness me, I need a gin and tonic.

       “So while the Queen was under the dryer I said to her, ‘I’m off for a stiff drink because this is so stressful, getting it just right for you’.

       “After a much-needed rest I returned to the dressing room to comb out the Queen’s hair ready to style. I must have used a whole can of hairspray to make sure it lasted the week.

       “The routine was then set, and Lucy had a gin and tonic ready and waiting for me each time I came back upstairs.”

       The Queen’s first high-profile appearance during lockdown was made on April 5 2020 when she told television viewers: “We will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again.”

       The “Bubble Olympics” was organised by staff to lift spirits during lockdown and included games such as relay and rounders.

       Ms Kelly revealed that the Queen watched proceedings discreetly from behind the bushes before stepping out to hand out the awards, much to their delight.

       Ms Kelly, a Liverpudlian docker’s daughter, first met the Queen in 1992, when she was working as a housekeeper at the British Ambassador’s residence in Berlin. Weeks later, she received a call asking if she would like to join the royal household as a dressmaker.

       She has since developed a warm friendship with the Queen and has become her closest confidante, illustrated by the fact that the monarch gave her book, which offers an unrivalled insight into life behind palace walls, her personal blessing.