The
upmarket underwear company that supplied lingerie to the Queen has had
its warrant scrapped after a tell-all book gave details of royal
fittings.
Rigby & Peller held the royal warrant for
57 years, but was stripped of support when June Kenton, who transformed
it into a world-leading retailer, wrote a book about her work.
The 82-year-old stayed on the firm’s board
and continued to fit the Queen’s bras at Buckingham Palace even when
Belgian company Van de Velde bought her majority stake in 2011.
Her professional relationship with Queen
Elizabeth II came to an end shortly after her book – title Storm in a
D-Cup – was published in March 2016, according to the Daily Express.
Mrs Kenton bought Rigby & Peller with her husband in 1982, paying £20,000, but sold her stake for £8million 29 years later.
It was revealed on Tuesday
her company lost the royal warrant that it had held since 1960 because
she wrote about fitting the Queen, detailing she was half-dressed at the
time and that the fitting was carried out in front of her corgis.
She also offered intimate details about fittings with Princess Diana, the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret.
June Kenton’s tell-all book on her
professional relationship with the Queen and other Royals offered
details of royal bra fittings
Mrs Kenton dubbed herself ‘the UK’s leading
boobologist’ in a bid to promote the book, adding that ‘even the
grandest ladies need to be well-supported’ and describing the first time
she fitted the 91-year-old monarch.
She also revealed the Queen Mother told her
that Princess Margaret enjoyed interfering in her choice of hats, but
that she always managed to get her own way.
‘Shall I tell you what I do?’ the Queen Mother asked Mrs Kenton. ‘I pretend to listen to Margaret and then, once she has gone, I order what I want.’
In interviews Mrs Kenton revealed that Diana
not only came for fittings, but ordered swimsuits designed in Israel and
accepted posters showing models in lingerie and swimwear for princes
William and Harry to display in their Eton studies.
Russell Tanguay, director of warrants at the
Royal Warrant Holders Association, confirmed yesterday that the
Knightsbridge-based retailer had lost its warrant.
Mr Tanguay said companies are granted a
window in which to remove the royal coat of arms, which is earned when a
firm has supplied the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, or Prince Charles
for five out of the last seven years.
The royal coat of arms must be removed from any promotional material and shop signs.
Mrs Kenton and her company have has also served Margaret Thatcher and Joan Collins.
A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said: ‘In respect of Royal Warrants, we never comment on individual companies.’
Rigby & Peller bras can cost more than £100, with briefs almost as expensive.