The Queen has an ingenious way to break in her new shoes

HRH goes to bold lengths to make sure she doesn’t encounter painful blisters
The Queen has a nifty trick for keeping blisters at bay
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Liz Connor19 April 2017

There’s nothing worse than wearing a new pair of leather shoes and suffering through that initial period where your feet feel like they’re being rubbed to shreds.

While there are plenty of DIY home hacks that can help you to avoid this excruciating dilemma, the Queen has found a rather more ingenious method to make sure she never has to endure the indignity of popping in to H&M to buy some emergency flats.

According to a royal insider, the Queen has hired a member of staff whose job it is to simply break in her shoes before she wears them.

That’s right, there is a person in Buckingham Palace whose job it is to stomp around the grounds in the Queen’s new shoes until they’ve softened out of that awkward blister-inducing stage.

Stewart Parvin, who has designed the Queen’s wardrobe for 11 years, revealed that the staff member wears a pair of beige cotton ankle socks while doing so, and must only walk on the carpet during the ‘breaking in' period.

He said: “The shoes have to be immediately comfortable … she does get someone to wear them. The Queen can never say ‘I’m uncomfortable, I can’t walk any more.

“She has the right to have someone wear them in.”

The Queen's Anello & Davide shoes
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Her Majesty famously wears a black pair of patent shoes by shoemaker Anello & Davide that are known as her 'work' shoes, costing £1,000 each.

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Each pair is rigorously broken in before they end up on Her Majesty's feet - although it is not known how long the breaking in period lasts.

Either way, don’t expect to see her making a royal detour to Boots for plasters anytime soon.

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