Amber Petty has been best friends with Queen Mary for over 20 years.
When the former Tasmanian married the now King of Denmark in 2004, Amber was a bridesmaid alongside Mary’s two sisters, Patricia and Jane.
Scroll on to find out everything we know about the woman who has watched her best friend become a Queen.
Who is Amber Petty?
Amber Petty is a former columnist and radio host.
From 2002 until 2006, Amber worked for this very publication as New Idea’s Celebrity Insider. As part of this role, she wrote a weekly column covering celebrity events and parties.
After leaving New Idea, Amber moved into radio and became the co-host of The Rabbit & Amber Show on SAFM.
She then went on to write a weekly column for The Advertiser before returning to PR and marketing in 2015.
In April 2021, she released a memoir about mental health and love titled This Is Not a Love Song.
Now residing in Melbourne, Amber works in PR and continues to build a career as an author and broadcaster.
“I describe myself solely as a ‘storyteller’ which ultimately includes my success and skills in publicity, marketing, podcasting, writing, radio broadcasting, and brand building,” her LinkedIn reads.
“I am a storyteller who understands how to explore many platforms to get a story heard and to cut through the noise. If you’d like to tell me your story and who you’re hoping might hear it one day, let’s chat.”
She has also continued to create and host a range of podcasts, including Instrumental, The Wise Guides, The Silent Generation, and Meet Me At The Barre.
She’s also working as a tarot card reader and offers energy healing through her business, The Tarot Tea House.
How did Amber Petty and Queen Mary meet?
Amber and Mary first met when they were both working in media and advertising in Melbourne.
Speaking of those early days of their friendship, Amber told 9Honey that her bond with Mary was “indescribable”.
”There was just so much love and kindness in one friendship,” she said.
”I look back on my friendship with Mary and so many other loving relationships and think, every bad thing aside, that’s why my life has been a success.”
They had both moved to Sydney when Mary met her now husband.
”I look back on my friendship with Mary and so many other loving relationships and think, every bad thing aside, that’s why my life has been a success,” Amber told 9Honey.
Are Queen Mary and Amber Petty still friends?
Amber Petty and Queen Mary are still very close, despite the geographical distance in their friendship. In her memoir, Amber opened up about how difficult it can be to navigate a long-distance friendship.
”I was losing a big love, and I didn’t know what the future held for either of us. It was a big loss and a big goodbye for me,” she wrote. ”It took me many years to understand what I was feeling. Under her spotlight was grief.”
In 2022, when Mary visited Australia for her 50th birthday, the pair were photographed catching up in Melbourne’s Brighton Beach. They were also spotted together during Queen Mary’s secret visit to Sydney in October 2024.
”For a long time, one of my coping mechanisms with the surreal side of where that friendship went was simply to anchor it down to the basic human elements of what it was, and is, which is actually just a story of two people falling in love and choosing to do life together,” Amber said in an interview with Stellar in 2021.
She then described Mary as her platonic ”soulmate”.
”Distance has always been hard, and not knowing when you’ll see and hug the people you love again is perhaps harder than ever,” she said.
”But I’ve learnt that we just need to be patient and grateful that we are still alive and healthy, and future memories are still there to be had.”
