We chat to the Queen’s bra fitter!
Former market trader June Kenton worked her way up to become the Queen’s bra fitter and boss of her own global lingerie empire – but it doesn’t beat simply being a gran
Whenever June Kenton’s three grown-up granddaughters need a new bra, they head straight to their gran’s door. June, who is now semiretired, knows better than anyone the importance of a well-fitting bra – she is corsetière to The Queen. It’s June, now 81, who heads to the royal apartment at Buckingham Palace when the Queen needs a new bra. “Everyone is nervous when they meet the Queen,” admits the businesswoman and bra fitter, who’s behind the global luxury lingerie brand and Royal warrant holder Rigby & Peller. “There are no words to describe the terror I felt the first time,” she recalls of their first meeting back in 1982. When it comes to revealing trade secrets about any of her rich, royal and famous clients, however, her lips are firmly sealed. “I have seen some unbelievable sights and heard some extraordinary stories but, when it comes to confidentiality, being a corsetière is a little like being a doctor.” “Would I tell? Never,” she warns at the start of her new autobiography Storm in a D-Cup. Nevertheless, June still manages to provide a few subtle insights into some of the women she’s served over the years… The Queen Mother was “great fun and lovely to serve”, while Princess Margaret, she reveals, “did not suffer fools gladly – or otherwise – and was very aware of her status.” She was also “very supportive” of Princess Diana, who June describes as “very thoughtful” and a “genuinely warm person.”
Comedian Dawn French is “every bit as much fun as you think she will be,” while Joan Collins would enter the Mayfair shop and “stand by the door as if to say ‘I’m here!’” Irrespective of status or money, June insists that she’s never felt the need to treat any particular client differently from anyone else who walked through the shop door. “Everybody is a person. You just have to embrace it and think ‘she’s lovely for what she is’,” she adds. The first to admit that she has indeed been “a very lucky woman”, June’s success in building up a multi-million pound global empire with her beloved husband Harold hasn’t come without hard work and incredible resilience. After leaving school at 16, she trained as a corset fitter and started out as a market trader. Her ‘just do it’ attitude helped the couple transform Rigby & Peller – the bespoke UK corsetry business they bought for £20,000 in 1982 – into a multimillion pound brand within 30 years. Today, June believes as strongly as ever that a good, well-fitting bra is “life-changing”, good service is the key to success and good staff are like gold dust. The couple have now sold the majority of their shares and when June is not attending to the Queen, her own granddaughters or carrying out the charity work she loves, they spend most of their days at home. Sadly, Harold has dementia and can no longer communicate, but the two spend every evening together holding hands in front of the TV. “I keep myself busy. I wish I had my Harold but I have not. I just get on with it.” It is the same attitude she’s adopted throughout her life, whether that’s been abseiling down a cliff for charity or facing life’s traumas – including her inability to have her own children and her battle with breast cancer. “When something happens there’s no point thinking ‘why?’. What’s the point? You just have to get on with it. You just have to adjust what you can do with what you have got.” “It was horrific for me being told I can’t have children. But I adopted the two most wonderful children. “You can stand there crying, or just get on with it.” Despite being unable to have her own children, June is an attentive nana to her three granddaughters Hannah (21) Rachel (18) and Emily (17), who are the offspring of adopted daughter Jill. “Being a grandma is one of the most important roles in my life. You can ask anybody who’s got grandchildren. There is a certain love you have for them that you cannot describe unless it’s happened to you. “It is almost a deeper love than you have for your children because it’s your wonderful children that have produced them,” she says. June sees less of the girls now they are gaining their independence, but she’s found two new willing sleepover guests – Jill’s dogs Max and Roxy. “I never thought a dog would sleep on my bed. It is absolute madness!” laughs June.