The Queen is so attached to her trusty Barbour jacket she refused to part with it even when the heritage brand offered to replace it for FREE, reveals chairwoman 

  • Dame Margaret Barbour was a guest on BBC Woman's Hour on Monday
  • Businesswoman revealed the Queen was offered a free wax jacket worth £300 on her Diamond Jubilee - but said she'd prefer to have her old one spruced up
  • The mother-of-one took over the company when her husband died in 1968 

By Unity Blott For Mailonline

Published: 10:41 EST, 6 February 2017 | Updated: 11:09 EST, 6 February 2017

The boss of luxury clothing brand Barbour has revealed that the Queen refused to part with her old wax jacket - despite being sent a new one.

Speaking on Woman's Hour this morning, Dame Margaret Barbour told how she offered the monarch a new jacket, worth around £300, to mark her Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

The company famously offers a 're-waxing service' for its customers, but the Queen opted to have her old jacket spruced up instead.

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The Queen - pictured in Windsor 1990 - is famously attached to her trusty Barbour jacket. Dame Margaret said it had become 'very desirable to have a very well-worn Barbour jacket'

The Queen - pictured in Windsor 1990 - is famously attached to her trusty Barbour jacket. Dame Margaret said it had become 'very desirable to have a very well-worn Barbour jacket'

'It's very desirable to have a very well-worn Barbour jacket,' Dame Margaret said, admitting that the brand had something of a 'snob quality'.

The Queen is thought to have owned her wax jacket for more than 25 years. 

Dame Margaret added: '[She] wanted her long Barbour jacket re-waxing and we said, "We'd love to do this, Ma'am" - to her secretary, of course.

'They said, "Yes, but Her Majesty does want her old one re-waxed." She would accept a new one, but she wanted her old one back.' 

The businesswoman and mother-of-one appeared on the BBC Radio 4 show on Monday to speak about how she took over the company just months after her husband's death in June 1968.

Dame Margaret Barbour told how she offered the Queen a new jacket, worth £300, on her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 - but the monarch said she wanted her old one back

Dame Margaret Barbour told how she offered the Queen a new jacket, worth £300, on her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 - but the monarch said she wanted her old one back

LEFT IN THE POCKETS OF BARBOUR JACKETS

Dame Margaret said her staff have found a number of bizarre items in the pockets of Barbour jackets sent in for re-waxing, including:

. Rotting birds

. Dead mice 

. Knickers 

. Condoms 

Dame Margaret, a former teacher, admitted she knew 'very little' about business when she became chairwoman in 1972 but was determined to make a success of the brand, started by her late husband's great-grandfather in 1894.

'It was an absolute immediate decision,' she explained. 'I didn't think about it [for] more than a minute. I just knew immediately that I had to carry on the work that John had done, and his father had done, and his grandfather and his great-grandfather.'

Despite feeling 'desperate' in the wake of her husband's sudden death at the age of 29, she said that taking over the business was also a 'saviour' as it kept her busy. 

Barbour famously offers a 're-waxing service' for its customers, but the Queen (pictured in 1989) allegedly opted to have her old jacket spruced up instead

Barbour famously offers a 're-waxing service' for its customers, but the Queen (pictured in 1989) allegedly opted to have her old jacket spruced up instead

DAME MARGARET'S WOMAN'S FUND 

Dame Margaret receives her honour at an Investiture ceremony in 2002

Dame Margaret receives her honour at an Investiture ceremony in 2002

Along with her daughter, Helen, Dame Margaret established the Women's Fund in 1999 to encourage and support women within Tyne & Wear and Northumberland to develop their full potential.

With an initial donation of £250,000 from the Barbour trust, it aimed to serve as a 'collective pool for women to support other women in our region'.

In 2012, the Women’s Fund awarded £1,500 to Gateshead Crossroad Carers to assist with their Young Carer’s programme - allowing mothers of young carers to lead a more independent life and reduce their dependence on the family.

In recent years, they have awarded grants to Daybreak Hexham, Sunderland Women’s Centre, and Hindu Nari Sangh which offers dance classes for women and children in the area. 

Speaking about meeting the Queen during an Investiture ceremony in 2002, Margaret added: 'She said that she was delighted to be giving me my award, and that surely everybody must have a Barbour jacket in their closet - which I thought was very touching.'

The family-run business employed around 100 people when she took over, Margaret recalled, but it has since grown to 1,000.

Today, Barbour turns over £167million and sells in 40 countries all over the world while its famous wax jackets sell for between £199 and £299.

Dame Margaret is credited with turning the jackets - once synonymous with country pursuits - into a covetable fashion accessory popular with the Sloane set.

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