Queen Elizabeth is mourning the loss of her cousin and close friend Lady Elizabeth Shakerley, who passed away on Sunday, Nov. 1, at the age of 79, while surrounded by her family.
According to reports, Queen Elizabeth last honored her cousin in April, when she appointed Lady Shakerley as the Commander of the Royal Victorian Order. The Queen recognized her cousin's professional work as one of the founders of Party Planners, the group behind many of the high-profile events in Buckingham Palace including the Queen's 90th birthday in 2016 and Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding in 2011.
In the 1960s, Lady Shakerley staged a bash for both teenage Prince Charles and Princess Anne. They allegedly asked for a DJ who knew how to work gramophone records, which she conceded was actually a great art form.
She also planned the parties of the Queen as she hosted dignitaries like presidents and other world leaders.
Lady Shakerley was born in Windsor Castle in 1941 to Viscount Thomas Anson and Anne Bowes-Lyon, who was the niece of the Queen Mother. Queen Elizabeth's father, King George VI, was her godfather.
The noble grew up surrounded by British royalty but she said she didn't realize her Uncle Bertie was the King of England until she was older. Lady Shakerley shared in a previous interview that the King and Queen of England would often let them play and indulge at the gardens of Frogmore.
Her mother would eventually divorce her father and remarry Prince George Valdemar of Denmark in the 1950s, making the Queen's cousin the stepdaughter of a Danish prince. Lady Shakerley would then frequently travel to Europe with her family.
As they got older, Queen Elizabeth and her cousin, whom she fondly called Liza, usually have get-togethers and dinners once a month at the Shakerley's house in Notting Hill. While the Queen was older by at least 15 years, they apparently had the same mindset. According to royal journalist Richard Kay, the two Elizabeths were so close that "they could finish each other's sentences."
Lady Shakerley is perhaps the one person the Queen is closest to who isn't a member of the immediate royal family. When she got married to Sir Geoffrey Shakerley in 1972, she had Princess Anne as one of the bridesmaids.
During the turbulent Diana years, Lady Shakerley remained loyal to Queen Elizabeth and disapproved of the princess' behavior. However, she saw a lot of similarities between herself and the first wife of Prince Charles because they both grew up around royalty and were products of a broken family.
