Dressing a queen may seem a little daunting but for one designer it is all in a day's work...

DURING the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations there will be a sudden flurry of activity at Madame Tussaud's museum.

A waxwork of the monarch, currently wearing a dark blue dress, will undergo a swift makeover.

And when the exhibit goes back on display, it will be clothed in an exact replica of a dress the Queen has just worn at an event to mark her 50 years on the throne.

The dress designer behind this silky-smooth costume change is a quietly-spoken Ringwood lady, who has been making sumptuous frocks for Her Majesty for years.

Maureen Rose ran up a copy of the jubilee dress when she made the original and it is now waiting in the wings at Madame Tussaud's for the moment when the Queen reveals the creation to the public.

And, until then, she's extremely secretive about what it looks like.

This is normal.

Because Maureen guards the latest look of her most prestigious client jealously until the appointed date for it to be unveiled.

The 64-year-old is now obviously completely at ease in the company of Her Majesty.

But this was not always the case.

Her first visit to the palace saw her arrive flustered and with a thumping heart after a night of tossing and turning, unable to sleep because she was so nervous.

Yet the Queen went out of her way to put the mother-of-two at her ease and they've got on famously ever since.

Maureen follows the monarch around the country so fittings can be slotted into the Queen's frenetic itinerary.

One week it's Buckingham Palace, the next she could be flitting up to Balmoral Castle.

During the fitting sessions, the Queen practises sitting down, waving and walking up and down stairs, studying herself from every angle.

The pair know each other well by now - and have exchanged tips on being a grandmother.

But there's an air of discretion about Maureen. She would never reveal anything which might cause her royal client embarrassment.

As well as the Queen she has made outfits for the Queen Mother, Princess Anne, Queen Beatrice and countless ladies-in-waiting.

She freely admits to having a client list "like Who's Who," saying this not in a boasting manner, but in a matter-of-fact sort of way.

The calibre of the outfits Maureen and her three staff produce at her base on the Somerley Estate is jaw-dropping.

One primrose silk number features a broad sweep of intricate beading which sweeps up its front.

Most of us would stencil in the pattern, wary of the price of the fabric. But not Maureen.

She drew the design freehand in pencil and then filled it in. Just like that.

"The Queen looks lovely in yellow," beams Maureen, then tuts: "Oh, they've pressed this at the palace and they haven't done it right."

And it's all a dream come true for Maureen.

As a ten-year-old girl she sat in front of a flickering black-and-white television screen in 1947, watching entranced as the then Princess Elizabeth processed up the aisle of Westminster Abbey to marry the Duke of Edinburgh, wearing a lavish ivory embroidered dress by Norman Hartnell.

It proved a pivotal moment in her life.

She learnt her trade at technical college and proved to have a brilliant talent for dressmaking.

Soon Maureen was working for the Queen both through Norman Hartnell and Ian Thomas, another eminent couture designer.

She swiftly rose through the ranks until the day she found herself at that first fitting with Her Majesty the Queen.

Later Buckingham Palace came to employ Maureen in her own right.

"Other people are afraid of her (the Queen).But you forget who you are speaking to if you are not careful. I frequently chunter on.

"I once said something I shouldn't and apologised immediately. The Queen just laughed.

"I think we are very lucky in this country to have her, personally."

But the highlight of Maureen Rose's career was when she was awarded the Royal Warrant - the first woman designer ever to receive the ultimate stamp of approval.

The crest is just inside the front door and the certificate on the wall, next to a signed picture.

She pauses, momentarily, to gaze at the inscription.

"I never dreamt of getting this. It's a real, real honour."

So you're at the top of your tree? "Yes, I suppose I am," she replies.

So is she a celebrity?

"No, I'm only me," she replies.