Daniel Schumann, Lee Dean, and The Arts Theatre Cambridge today announce Laura Main (BBC Call the Midwife) to join as The Dresser in the new UK tour of By Royal Appointment, following Samantha Womack withdrawing from the production due to personal reasons. This is the debut play of Daisy Goodwin, creator of hit ITV historical drama Victoria – directed by Anthony Banks.
Laura joins Jane Asher as The Queen, David Robb as The Designer and Matthew Cottle as The Milliner, Laura Matthews as The Curator with Jeremy Drakes as Footman and understudy for The Designer and The Millner and Fiona Tong as Footman and understudy for The Queen, her Dresser and The Curator. The play explores The Queen and her Dresser’s relationship and how the pair created the public image of the world’s longest reigning monarch.
By Royal Appointment plays at the Theatre Royal Nottingham from Tuesday 6 to Saturday 10 October 2026. Tickets are on sale at www.trch.co.uk Box Office 0115 989 5555.
The late Queen Elizabeth II was famous for her discretion. She never said anything in public that could ruffle the lightest of feathers. But she had one way of expressing what she really thought – through her wardrobe.
By Royal Appointment is a funny, poignant and celebratory new play about the kind of power that only a Queen can wield – she charms the world through coats and admonishes her family through a carefully chosen hat. But the Queen herself is uninterested in fashion, her look is managed by her Designer, her Milliner and most powerful of all, her Dresser who was a working-class girl who goes from advising the Queen on the colour of her lipsticks to the real power behind the throne. But the Dresser, like all royal favourites is living on borrowed time.
By Royal Appointment is a behind the scenes peek into the world of our most popular monarch and the image she presented to the world.
The new tour of By Royal Appointment is written by Daisy Goodwin, directed by Anthony Banks, designed by Jonathan Fensom, with lighting design by Richard Howell, sound design by Sarah Weltman and composition by Ben Ringham.
Posted on 09 September 2026
