Queen Elizabeth II.Photo: Tim Graham Photo Library/Getty
Queen Elizabeth’s personal glove maker is remember special moments with the monarch.
“I found out the news of the Queen’s passing whilst on holiday in Greece on a boat,” she recalled to the outlet. “I was in touch with a lady at home who helps me, who said that the Queen wasn’t very well and that doctors had been called.”
“Then about an hour later, she phoned and told me the Queen had died. It was so strange — two days before the prime minister was sworn in, and then suddenly she was gone,” she continued.
James also recalled a personal encounter with the Queen at a Buckingham Palace Christmas party, where she had the opportunity to sell goods to palace staff.
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“The Queen approached my stand, and I bowed and said, ‘Your Majesty, I’m your glove maker.’ She replied, ‘I know exactly who you are,’ and it was the best moment of my life,” she remembered. “I was nothing to her, but she made me feel like I was quite important.”
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“That’s the sort of knack that she had. She was so much a people’s person,” James toldHello!. “When you talked to her, she made you feel like you were the only that counted. I don’t think there will ever be a Queen like her again. I think we all thought that she was going to live forever. She was on the ball till the end.”
Queen Elizabeth II.Alastair Grant/WPA Pool/Getty
James also reflected on the Queen’s thoughtful nature during her mother’s final days, sharing, “I always remember that when my mother was dying (my mother had cancer and was in a hospice), the palace rang up and said the Queen wanted to know how my mother was.”
She added, “I thought that was really quite thoughtful. We were just making her gloves really, but she wanted to know how my mother was doing. She cared about people. She had no airs or graces; she was very humble.”
James said it was “quite an honor” for the Queen towear the company’s gloves.
Over the course of her 70-year reign,Queen Elizabethhad a few fashion staples, from her signature handbag and gloves to pearl jewelry and her brightly-hued ensembles — the monarch wore every color in the rainbow, and it was for a good reason.
In the documentary,The Queen at 90, the Queen’s daughter-in-law, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, said: “She needs to stand out for people to be able to say ‘I saw the Queen.’ Don’t forget that when she turns up somewhere, the crowds are two, three, four, 10, 15 deep, and someone wants to be able to say they saw a bit of the Queen’s hat as she went past.”
source: people.com
