SHE was the little girl who made the Queen laugh by refusing to hand over flowers she was supposed to present to Her Majesty.

Janice Layden made headlines in 1983, at the official opening of Glasgow’s world-famous Burrell Collection, by bursting into tears at just the wrong moment.

Glasgow Times: The Queen opening the Burrell Collection

Yesterday, however, she was all smiles and delighted to be back at the museum as part of a special event to announce its re-opening on March 29, following a £68m refurbishment programme.

The 42-year-old, her mum June, 74, and cousin Marina Milligan were among the guests of honour at the event.

Glasgow Times: Janice with her mum June and the Queen

Janice, who remembers very little of her royal ‘snub’, said: “I was only three, so I only know about it through all the newspaper cuttings and photos I have seen over the years.

“It’s lovely to be back though - I remember my dad bring me here when I was young, and even walking through the archways brings back little memories.”

READ MORE: Burrell Collection public opening date revealed

She added: “It’s beautiful, and even though it has changed a lot, it still feels like the Burrell.”

Glasgow Times: Janice with her mum and dad, June and Frank

June was also impressed. “It’s lovely,” she said. “It brings back memories of that day 39 years ago. I couldn’t believe it when Janice wouldn’t give the flowers. My husband was cringing. But we had been waiting for ages because the Queen had spent so long outside talking to people, so Janice was really fed up.

“I remember saying sorry to the Queen and adding, ‘well, you know what it’s like, you’re a mother yourself, and you have young grandchildren too,’ and she just smiled.

“And she did get her posy in the end.”

Glasgow Times: Janice Layden

June’s husband Frank, who died 13 years ago, became a storeman at the Burrell after being made redundant from his job as a framemaker.

“He started at the Transport Museum when it was in Albert Drive and he moved to the Burrell when it opened,” said June.

“He loved his job and told us lots of great stories. My favourite was the time a visitor sneezed so hard his false teeth flew out his mouth and hit one of the glass display cabinets, and it set off all the alarms.”

She laughed: “The security doors all closed down, and people were running about, shouting ‘it’s a false alarm, don’t panic!’”

June and Janice, who is now a sales assistant at Morrison’s, live in the high flats overlooking Pollok Park, and have watched the progress of the renovations with interest.

“We have seen all the building works going on and it has been really interesting,” said Janice. “It’s great to be inside. It looks fantastic.”

Marina, whose dad Jamie, used to be a Pollok Park gardener, agreed.

“Our family have so many connections to this place,” she said. “I remember my dad bringing me here when I was little, and our grandad, Frank, used to come to the park to pick berries to make his own wine.”

Sir William Burrell and his wife Lady Constance amassed one of the world’s greatest personal art collections, renowned for its quality of Chinese art, exquisite stained glass, intricate tapestries and breadth of fine art, and the couple donated it to the city of Glasgow in 1944.

At the time, Sir Hector Hetherington, then Principal of Glasgow University, described it as “one of the greatest gifts ever made to any city in the world.”

READ MORE: When did the Burrell Collection open?

Exhibits include the Wagner garden carpet, one of the earliest surviving Persian garden carpets in the world, which has rarely been on public display since The Burrell Collection first opened.

The museum’s refurbishment means the priceless carpet will now be on permanent display, accompanied by a digital film which recreates it as a ‘pop-up’, taking viewers into the heart of the garden design.

Other highlights include Chinese pottery and porcelain produced over a 5000-year period, making it one of the most significant collections of Chinese art in Europe; paintings by renowned French artists including Manet, Cézanne and Degas; medieval treasures including stained glass, arms and armour and more than 200 tapestries and carpets.

Nearly half of the funding for the £68.25 million project was committed by Glasgow City Council with more than a quarter coming from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and significant donations from the Scottish Government, the UK Government and from many generous trusts and private donors.

Caroline Clark, Director for Scotland, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “This exciting re-imagining of the Burrell Collection will begin a new chapter in its story, with strengthened connections to the beautiful parkland in which it sits and with the communities nearby, as well as to visitors from across the world.”

For Janice and June Layden, one of the highlights of their visit yesterday was seeing their favourite object still in place.

“We love the Warwick Vase,” said June, referring to the ancient marble vase which has pride of place in the Burrell’s courtyard “It is fantastic. I’ve always said they should sell miniatures of it - they’d make a fortune.”