It’s hard to imagine what life must have been like for Queen Elizabeth II, but one woman has had a taste. Ella Slack acted as the Queen’s stand-in for more than 30 years, playing the role of the monarch at rehearsals for big events. Each engagement that the Queen took part in — from opening a hospital to the opening of Parliament — was rehearsed. The royal double, from the Isle of Man, stood in for the Queen over 50 times. She landed the prestigious role when she was a producer at the BBC. While producing the documentary about the Cenotaph, a war memorial in London, the Queen sent a message to say that when she stood at the memorial the sun was in her eyes and asking if they could do anything about it. Slack offered to stand in for the Queen to find the optimal shade, mainly because all the stage managers were 6-foot-tall men. That led to other things, and before Slack new it, she was the royal stand-in. She has never been allowed to sit on the throne in the House of Lords, but must lurk above it. Slack never accepted payment for her services, describing it as a “pleasure and an honor.” She worked perfectly as a stand-in because she is of the same height and build. While Slack may not have been a queen, she always dressed the part.
