- 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.
(royal music)
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.
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.