Double-take of the Queen

INLSA

A right royal Queen Elizabeth II lookalike (alias Barbie Hamilton) gets the red carpet treatment and meets hotel staff Gabi Ihrybauer, left, Patrick Zulu, second left, Tony Cele, second right, and Innocent Mbongeni. Picture: Sibisiso Ndlovu

Durban will help celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s diamond jubilee tomorrow when a VIP visitor is expected to put in a special appearance.

Guests are expected to do a double take when the Queen Elizabeth II lookalike walks in.

The Durban double – alias Barbie Hamilton – will be wearing a copycat outfit of the one the queen wore to her grandson’s wedding, right down to the same style of shoes, handbag and lipstick colour.

Hamilton has been asked to repeat her right royal role for a celebratory high tea at the Oyster Box Hotel in Umhlanga, which is a favourite with the Monaco royals.

The society event billed as being “fit for a queen” will be held in the Pearl Room and when Durban’s own queen arrives, she will be wearing a triple strand of pearls.

“It’s very difficult to get a triple strand of pearls,” she said when she popped into the hotel yesterday sporting the canary yellow dress and coat made by the local company that makes the hotel’s uniforms, and a matching hat with roses made by a Cape Town milliner.

“We spent two months getting everything just right. We could not find a bag that looked exactly the same, so now I am borrowing a Cape cobra bag from the hotel shop,” said Hamilton, the personal assistant to the Oyster Box’s general manager Wayne Coetzee.

“Wayne wanted someone to be the queen for the royal wedding last year and I was nominated. Luckily, I am a royalist through and through. I have shelves full of books about the queen and have plenty of videos and magazines, so I know a lot about her,” said Hamilton. To crown it all, she is the same height (1.63m) as the queen.

What does the queen carry in her bag, we asked?

“A pen, lozenges, a lipstick with a little mirror and a neatly-folded £5 or £10 note so that she can have a bet when she is at the races.”

Hotel guests were amazed when they saw the visitor on Sunday, prompting one to comment: “If I had not known that the queen was on the Thames right now, I would have thought I was seeing the real thing.” - Daily News