There’s been a rash of royal stories in recent weeks about “royal warrants.” This is the Windsors’ version of endorsements – when they give a company, fashion house or particular person a royal warrant, that company gets to use some kind of fancy seal and tell everyone that they provide lotions, chocolate or buttons to the royal household. In the Carolean era, it’s taken this long for new warrants to be issued (and various QEII-era warrants to be removed). Well, Queen Camilla issued a slew of royal warrants in 2025: warrants for three of her dressmakers, Roy Allen, Fiona Clare and Anna Valentine; one for her hairdresser Jo Hansford; one for her milliner Philip Treacy, and one for Camilla’s facialist Deborah Mitchell. I know for a fact that Jo Hansford is a petty B who loves to gossip (remember this interview?), but I didn’t know that Camilla would also give her facialist the green light to give interviews. That’s what happened – Mitchell gave an exclusive to People Magazine, and I was laughing out loud at some of these sycophantic quotes. Did Camilla write these talking points herself?
Camilla is a beautiful person: “The Queen is just amazing,” Deborah Mitchell, the British facialist and skincare expert whose healing hands are regularly called upon at the palace, tells PEOPLE. “I’ve known for 18 years what a beautiful person she is. She’s beautiful on both the inside and outside and always has been.”
Receiving her new royal warrant: “It’s just such a wonderful feeling, and to have it for both my products and my treatments, it’s so special,” says the 59-year-old businesswoman, who started her company as an 18-year-old beautician making beauty products from her kitchen table because she couldn’t afford the premium brands. “I’m flying high!” Mitchell exclaims.
Camilla loves a bee venom product: “When I first met the Queen, I couldn’t even tell my Mum! I would go off to Clarence House and all these other places in secret,” she says. “She thought I was doing another celebrity! Nobody knew, I couldn’t say a word, but occasionally she would say how much she loved my bee venom products, and eventually the palace confirmed it to the press.” In fact, Camilla was one of Mitchell’s first ever clients to try her signature anti-aging bee venom products, which combine honey and her patented ingredient — organic Abeetoxin, derived from milking bees to extract their healing venom.
Camilla loves the Bee Venom Facial: “When she first had my Bee Venom Facial, she absolutely loved it, and it’s still her favorite,” Mitchell says. “She buys everything from the range!” Camilla’s ultimate favorite is the Gold Bee Venom Mask (which is made in limited supplies of 500 pots per country), which contains rare venom from the Queen bee. “There’s a little tingle when it goes onto the skin, but it doesn’t hurt and it doesn’t harm the bees,” Mitchell says. “It’s an incredible ingredient as it’s smooths your face, even the static lines, something even Botox can’t do. It’s pretty astounding.”
Camilla spends a fortune for her skin to look like that: In between appointments — which Mitchell reveals occur “more than once a month” — she says Camilla has an impressive at-home beauty routine, using her entire range of products. “I can do a treatment and so many weeks later, I’ll go back and just go ‘Wow’ because she really looks after her skin,” she says. “I honestly think she is going back in time! She has incredibly young skin.”
Mitchell has other royal clients: In addition to Camilla, the beauty expert says she does have other clients within the royal family. “I do see the King, and when I get a royal warrant from him, I’ll be allowed to say more!”
For some of this, I was doing a double-take… like, we’re talking about CAMILLA, right? Not QEII, who had lovely skin well into her 90s? The same Camilla who has notoriously bad skin and does not look like she spends a fortune on her skincare? I’m as shocked as everyone else that Camilla even has a permanent facialist on retainer. Like… that’s a royal warrant which might come back to bite poor Deborah Mitchell on the ass. “You’re a royal facialist to whom? CAMILLA?? Oh, that’s your work? Nevermind.”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
