The royal job was a dream come true for Andrews
The Duchess of York was involved in police efforts to track down former royal aide Jane Andrews who disappeared after murdering her boyfriend.
Details of the Duchess' role in the police investigation emerged after Andrews was sentenced to life imprisonment after a four-week Old Bailey trial.
Andrews, 34, went on the run after stabbing her lover, Tom Cressman, at the flat they shared in Fulham, south-west London, on 17 September last year.
Detectives, who had discovered Mr Cressman's body, contacted Andrews' family, friends and acquaintances, including the Duchess, to see if they could reach her by mobile phone.
The Duchess, who had employed Andrews for nine years, left two voicemail messages urging her to give herself up.
In one message she said: "You must come forward and help the police."
Andrews replied saying she did not know why people were trying to contact her as "everything was fine" when she left the house.
After four days on the run, Andrews told a friend she was in Cornwall after taking an overdose of pain-killers.
Dream job
The Duchess gave a witness statement to police - but it was not included in Andrews' four week trial at the Old Bailey.
Following the trial, the Duchess refused to comment on the verdict.
Andrews' job with the Duchess of York at Buckingham Palace was a dream come true for the joiner's daughter from Cleethorpes.
She had answered an anonymous advertisement in The Lady magazine for the £18,000-a-year post in 1988.
The former Grimsby College of Art fashion student was soon responsible for organising the Duchess' wardrobe and drawn into the extravagant world of the Queen's controversial daughter-in-law, known universally as Fergie.
Andrews obscured her northern roots with a refined accent, started to model herself on her royal employer and developed an active love life.
She took on such a courtly air as Royal dresser that the Duchess dubbed her "Lady Jane".
Her role was extended to include managing the Duchess's accounts, shopping for clothes and persuading stores such as Harrods and Harvey Nichols to offer discounts and lend outfits.
'Obsessive and jealous'
The close bond between Duchess and dresser meant that while Andrews was responsible for jewellery stolen from the royal luggage in 1995, she was not blamed.
Friends said Andrews was devoted to the Duchess to the point of obsession. So it came as a devastating blow when she lost her job in 1997.
Andrews stayed on good terms with the Duchess and worked for Chelsea jeweller Theo Fennell, exclusive Knightsbridge jeweller Annabel Jones and for the London Claridge's hotel.
Now aged 34 and said to be passionately in search of a husband, Andrews then met Mr Cressman, 39, who fitted the bill as the director of a number of companies with a £400,000 mews house in Fulham.
But the relationship turned sour, and eventually led to murder.