Exclusive: Queen Camilla's hairstylist reveals royal's secret wedding 'nerves' the world didn't see
Jo Hansford has been hairdresser to the Queen for 35 years, preparing her for some of the biggest events of her life and becoming a trusted confidante along the way.
She was among the first people to find out when Her Majesty became engaged to the then Prince of Wales 20 years ago, when she tinted Camilla's hair ahead of the official announcement, and was also on hand before the royal wedding at St George's Chapel in Windsor in April 2005.
Now, the Queen has rewarded Jo – dubbed "the best tinter on the planet" by US Vogue – with a prestigious Royal Warrant, one of only seven issued by Her Majesty and the first one ever awarded to a hair salon.
"It's a great honour," Jo tells HELLO! as she joins us for this exclusive interview and photoshoot at home in Hertfordshire alongside her daughter Joanna – the business's managing director – and granddaughters Tierney, 16, who works for her as a Saturday girl, and Elsie, 18.
"When we started the business in 1993, the industry gave me three months because I was a woman. And I think: 'Well, here we are, and this is what we've achieved.' It's amazing."
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Jo's eponymous hair salons have been a celebrity destination since she started her business in Mayfair more than three decades ago, with her client list reading like a who's who of Hollywood and high society.
Famous visitors have included Adele, Elizabeth Hurley, Dame Joanna Lumley, Dido, Georgia Jagger and Yasmin le Bon, many of them going unrecognised because of the clever layout, which is designed to ensure that clients don't sit directly next to one another.
"Quite often a client will say: 'I never see anyone famous when I come in,' and we say: 'Well, actually, you were just sitting next to so-and-so,'" Joanna says.
Claudia Winkleman is "a bundle of energy and fun", according to Jo, while Angelina Jolie was "unpretentious and lovely" when she was asked to lighten the actress's dyed black hair for a Tomb Raider film.
Hugh Jackman, who came in for a perm for his role in stage musical Oklahoma, "made all the ladies swoon – he was very gorgeous", she adds.
Meanwhile, an amorous Melanie Griffiths and Antonio Banderas had to be prised apart when they came to the salon before their wedding in London in 1996.
"We couldn't separate them on the doorstep," Jo laughs. "We had to say: 'Can you come in, please?' They were really lovely."
Dame Joanna Lumley, meanwhile, cuts and colours her own hair between appointments.
"She's so busy and is away so much, so she does it herself," Jo says. "She's really good fun. She's the sort of person who will go to the wholesalers and just grab a tube of tint and say: 'That'll do, darling.'"
Clients fly in from around the world, but Jo insists that everyone is treated the same, rich and famous or not.
She has certainly come a long way from Greenford, north-west London, where she left school at 15 with no qualifications and did a paper round to scrape together the train fare when she started as an apprentice at Vidal Sassoon.
"I had a very happy childhood, but my parents didn't have any money and even when I got the apprenticeship, my mother was terrified because she couldn't afford the train fare for me to come in to work every day," she recalls.
"She let me have the front room so I could practise on friends and neighbours, who paid five shillings each."
Today, it's a very different story, with a cut and blow-dry at Jo's salons starting at £150 and colouring ranging from £140 to £600.
Her relationship with the Queen goes back to when Jo was a partner at another salon, and the two have bonded over their love of gardening and shared experience of being mothers and grandmothers.
"Our children are the same age, so we had our heartaches when our kids were travelling at the same time, with no mobile phones or emails, and we were terrified of where they were and what they were doing," she says.
Recalling the day in February 2005 when Prince Charles announced his engagement to Camilla Parker Bowles, Jo says: "She was supposed to come to the salon that day, and then I got a call asking me to go to Clarence House instead.
"I thought: 'What's all that about?' When I got there, she said it was because they were announcing the engagement that day.
"I had been doing her hair for years, but I was very nervous about doing it for the wedding," she continues. "She looked amazing, thank God. She was so nervous. The whole world was watching, and it must have been terrifying, the same as the coronation. But I think she handled it really well.
"I got an invitation to the wedding, but my husband had just died and I didn't feel very comfortable going on my own, so I didn't go, but I still have a slice of wedding cake."
Asked if Camilla has changed, Jo says: "No, not really. She has adapted incredibly well, because it's not easy for an older person to come into 'The Firm', as they call it. It's hard work, and your whole life is programmed for the year.
"I admire them both," she continues. "I think the King is amazing; he is definitely his mother's son. He's a stalwart – absolutely incredible. I think she supports him incredibly well, and I think he's very lucky.
"It's just a shame they didn't do it before, but the most important thing is that they're happy together and they're both right for each other."
Jo says she has softened Camilla's hair colour as she has grown older, moving from white blonde towards warm honey shades to suit her skin tone.
"We've changed the colour gradually, so it isn't noticed, and I think it really suits her," she says. "It's not quite as long as it used to be, and not as flicky.
"I think it looks really good, and she manages it well. She isn't dependent on people all the time, unless she has to style it for a special occasion. She's very low-maintenance."
Jo, who prefers not to share her age because she doesn't want to be defined by a number, now works three days a week, with years of standing up having taken a toll on her back. But she says she loves her job too much to retire.
"I've met the most amazing people and have heard the most amazing stories. I love talking to people about what they're doing in their life. I'm not leaving unless they take me out in a box. But I haven't got time to die yet."
To read the full exclusive interview, pick up the latest issue of HELLO! on sale in the UK on Monday. You can subscribe to HELLO! to get the magazine delivered free to your door every week or purchase the digital edition online via our Apple or Google apps.
