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  • I think people say I look a bit like a queen in this outfit, yeah.

  • And people call me Your Majesty.

  • People come up and they curtsy.

  • It's almost like living two lives, really.

  • Let's commence.

  • I'm Ella Slack, and I'm the Queen's stand-in.

  • I've done it for over 30 years now.

  • Anything that the Queen does is rehearsed.

  • If it's just going to a town hall or opening a hospital, I've probably been a stand-in Queen, definitely more than 50 times.

  • A stand-in is not a look-alike.

  • I don't look like the Queen.

  • But I'm the same sort of stature and height.

  • I'm about, virtually five foot.

  • The Queen's about five foot two, but I live at Royal Court on Queens Promenade, in Royal Ramsey in the Isle of Man.

  • And the Queen lives in Buckingham Palace, in London.

  • I drive a Ford gear automatic car.

  • The Queen has been seen to drive Range Rovers, and most of the time, she's in a chauffeur-driven car or in a carriage.

  • Well, it started because I was at the BBC, and the producer who was doing The Cenotaph came to see me and said that the Queen had sent a message to say, when she stood at the Cenotaph, the sun was in her eyes, and so could we do anything about it?

  • Well, I said to him, would you like me to come and stand in the position for you, because all the stage managers were six foot men.

  • And then that led on to other things.

  • I went in her royal carriage and rode on the boat up to the Tower of London.

  • And then there will be the state opening of Parliament.

  • I've never been allowed to sit on the throne in the House of Lords.

  • I have to lurk above it.

  • It's a very strict rule.

  • If I'm in a carriage or a car, I will wave.

  • You know, do like that, like that.

  • The events that I've been helping with are events that are transmitted worldwide, and millions of people are going to watch.

  • I look afterwards, and watch the programs going out, and I'll see her there, and think, I did it for you.

I think people say I look a bit like a queen in this outfit, yeah.

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