Thursday 11 January 2018

The Queen and the Corsetiere


There's a word you don't get to write every day. Corsetiere. And so much more sophisticated than bra supplier even though they have both been used to describe a lady who has just fallen foul of the Queen of England. To much fanfare, and headlines around the world, Rigby & Peller has lost its royal warrant because one of its leading ladies wrote a book about bras and Buckingham Palace.




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Royal warrants are pretty special. They are handed out to those who regularly supply the Monarch with goods. The company itself has to apply for it and they must have been a regular supplier for five of the past seven years. Then it's up to one of three people to decide if a royal warrant is forthcoming - the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales. And they are the ones who take away the warrants, too. This time round, it's the Queen who is far from amused and she's removed the warrant that has been held by Rigby & Peller for 58 years....you can see it in the archive photo above.




It all comes down to a book. June Kenton, who took over the firm in 1982 before selling her majority stake in 2011, released her autobiography in 2017. Storm in a D Cup covers every aspect of her career including her many visits to Buckingham Palace as an official corsetiere to the Queen, the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret. June Kenton, who is 82 and still on the board of Rigby & Peller, says no details of her many visits are revealed but she told the BBC that Buckingham Palace had been in touch to say they weren't happy about the book not long after its release. The royal warrant has now been removed.




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Rigby & Peller said it was ''deeply saddened'' by the move. Buckingham Palace has made no comment. But the royal crests which once stood above the door are gone. The firm remains one of the most exclusive around - just no longer by royal appointment.


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