Grace author Peter James on his mum fixing the Queen's gloves

Peter James, best known for his detective series of books behind the ITV drama Grace, has reflected on his mother Cornelia James, the Queen’s official glovemaker, sitting in front of the television working on the royal’s well-worn gloves.

The Queen wears a pair of the Cornelia James gloves on a tour to Canada in the 1950s (Image: Newsquest)

“My family business, Cornelia James, originally based in Brighton, hold the royal warrant as Glovemaker to Her Majesty, supplying her with gloves ever since her wedding in 1947,” he said.

“Her dresser for very many years was a frugal lady and would regularly send gloves for repair to my mother, Cornelia. 

“The gloves, particularly the right-hand ones, went through heavy duty with all HM’s handshaking - she was in the Guinness Book of Records as having shaken the most number of hands in one day - and of course in our gloves! 

“But one of my abiding memories of childhood was on a Sunday evening, my mother sitting in front of the television with a pair of the Queen’s gloves that had been returned for repair work and working on them herself with a needle and thread. 

“She was an ardent royalist so, grateful to England for giving her a home when she fled Nazi persecution in her native Austria, she was so proud of making the Queen’s gloves that she would not let anyone else in our factory touch them!”

Cornelia James at the glove making company's factory (Image: Newsquest)

Read more: What happens to the 14 Sussex businesses who supplied goods to the Queen?

Mr James last met the Queen in 2012 and said she always asked how his mother was and was “always so charming” to him.

He described the late monarch as “a very great human being”.

“The last time I met Her Majesty was in 2012, when she hosted a function at Buckingham Palace to celebrate the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens,” he said.

“She was always so charming to me, would always ask how my mother was and comment on her gloves, and then I asked her who her favourite authors were. 

“She replied, quite ruefully, by saying she really had little time to read for pleasure because she was constantly inundated with official papers to wade through. 

“But she said she had always loved Kipling and would often read his work when she had a chance.

“Physically she was much smaller than people imagine, but she radiated enormous quiet charm and energy, and what I remember most of my encounters with her was her endearing curiosity - she seemed to me to be passionately interested in everything, however small or large. 

“At the same time, she was utterly regal.  You knew you were in the presence of a very great human being.”