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Constance Green celebrates her 100th with niece Sheila Newman-Coburn and her birthday card from the Queen |
Hair to the throne: Royal wig-maker’s 100th
IF you want to know the secret of long life, don’t ask Constance Green, the centenarian and wigmaker to the Queen who celebrated her 100th birthday yesterday (Wednesday).
“If I told you, perhaps they’d stop it,” joked the lively pensioner as she sipped her champagne, looking back on what had kept her healthy and happy. “It’s evidently a secret!”
Mrs Green lived with her army husband Reg in Well Walk in Hampstead for 45 years before moving nearby to the Branch Hill care home last year, following his death eight years ago.
During a career that spanned 70 years at Emile, a hair salon in Mayfair that held the royal warrant as coiffure to Her Majesty, she made hairpieces and wigs for the Royal family.
Too energetic to slow down, while she was still making hairpieces at home in her 70s, she also began to make cakes for The Buttery restaurant in Burgh House in the early 1980s.
Speaking of the Royal sisters when they were children, her niece Sheila Newman-Coburn said: “Elizabeth and Margaret used to be running around the salon – but Connie always said Margaret was just so naughty.”
Mrs Green remained tight-lipped on the items of hair she made for Britain’s most famous family, but said she was chuffed to receive a birthday card from Her Majesty. “I’ve always known the Queen – not personally though, we don’t have cups of tea – but I know her and she knows me,” she said.
Florrie Burton, 89, who met Mrs Green when she joined Emile in 1933, paid tribute to her warmth, sense of humour and singing.
She said: “When I joined Emile at 14, she said, ‘I’ll take care of you’, and she did.
“She took me out to lunch and we’ve never had an argument. She’s always been a happy person and always enjoyed life.” |
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Your comments:
I AM very pleased to read your article as I have been trying to see if Florrie Burton was in good health. Mrs Burton, as I knew her, was my wig making tutor at what was then Lewes Techincal College in 1981. I always look back with very fond memories of this very kind hearted and patient lady who gave me such encouragement and inspiration. Lucky for me 'Google' found your article. Thank you very much.
P. Bodsworth
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