book review lady in waiting

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Anne Glenconner leaves church with husband Colin Tennant in April 1956

Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner review – fascinating portrait of English repression

The marriage and social milieu of Princess Margaret’s childhood friend reveals a vanished era of upper-class eccentricity

B eing very common, I have something of a mania for aristo-lit: a passion for stories about big houses and the wanton eccentrics who inhabit them that began in childhood with Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden , continued into my teenage years with all things Mitford, and now finds ongoing sustenance mostly in diaries ( Chips Channon , I salute you, and all who sailed in you). Nevertheless, I have to admit to being somewhat unprepared for Lady in Waiting , in which Anne Glenconner muses on her stiff upper lip and how it saw her through a marriage lasting 54 years to a man whose idea of a honeymoon treat was to take her – a girl who had been a virgin only hours before – to a fleapit of a hotel to watch two strangers having sex (“That’s very kind, but no thank you,” she said when invited to join in). Is her memoir a horror show or a delightful entertainment? A manual for how to live, or how not to live? In truth, I’m not sure even she would know the answer to these questions.

The eldest child of the fifth Earl of Leicester, Glenconner was maid of honour at the Queen’s coronation and lady-in-waiting to her childhood friend Princess Margaret. She grew up at Holkham Hall in Norfolk – a house so huge that if the footmen put raw eggs in a bain-marie as they walked from kitchen to nursery, they’d be boiled on arrival – and, aged 23, married Colin Tennant, later Lord Glenconner, the owner of a Scottish castle called Glen and of the Caribbean island of Mustique. Tennant was, she tells us repeatedly, great fun and so generous. But it can’t have been too much fun when he deliberately trapped her in the fold-up bed in their cabin on a train, or when he took her to a cock fight (one of the cocks attached itself to her head, causing it to bleed; far from being sympathetic, he was furious that she’d ruined the betting).

What of his generosity? Well, there were certainly lots of parties, attended by Bianca Jagger et al. My favourite story, however, involves the visit to Glen of his aesthete kinsman, Stephen Tennant. Uncle Stephen being not at all keen on the purple of the heather, Colin kindly sprinkled the moors with blue paper flowers. “Oh, darling!” said Uncle Stephen. “That’s much better, isn’t it?”

Glenconner knows that she’s privileged, and if the staff, the houses and the holidays come with a price in the form of a man who lies in the foetal position when he cannot get his own way, and who wears paper knickers (in order to be able to eat them for a party trick), so be it. She can cope. She has a Gypsy caravan into which she can escape when it gets too much – and later, she takes refuge in her duties for Princess Margaret, that great lover of prawn cocktail and Antiques Roadshow . (HRH, incidentally, is another of those she insists was great fun, in spite of all evidence to the contrary.) Additionally, she has her stoicism – which is where it all gets interesting. Much as I loved reading about the way, say, that she and her mother, the countess, would gather jackdaw eggs using a ladle attached to a walking stick (apparently, they’re as delicious as plover’s eggs, though since I’ve tasted neither, I can’t possibly comment), after a while there’s no ignoring the painful and widening disjunction between the outward whirl of her life and the repeated tragedies that befall her family.

Her first son, Charlie, a heroin addict, dies of hepatitis C. Her second son, Henry, dies of an Aids-related illness at just 29 (as a photo caption helpfully reminds us, her husband informed her that Henry was ill just moments before the couple donned fancy dress for the Peacock Ball they were throwing to celebrate his birthday). Her third son, Christopher, following an accident during his gap year, ends up in a coma for four months; it takes him years to learn to walk again. These are unimaginably terrible events, and it’s impossible not to admire her fortitude as she deals with her fear and her grief; as she patiently sits by Christopher’s bedside, refusing to believe he will never wake up. But as she admits, her two older boys were also the victims of a system, cold and inflexible, that insists on nannies, boarding schools and a certain emotional distance on the part of their parents (“There I was, immersed in royal life, while my eldest son was running wild,” as she understatedly puts it).

As a girl, Glenconner spent years away from her mother and father, having been evacuated during the war; they left her with a nanny who tied her by the wrists to her bed every night before she went to sleep. But though she remembers vividly the pain this caused her, somehow she cannot avoid visiting on her own children a similar fate. When they cry as she drops them at boarding school, she weeps too – and yet still she drives away. In the end, her book isn’t only a record, funny and sometimes dazzling, of a way of life now almost disappeared. It’s an unwitting examination of English repression: both of how it gets you through and of how it can slay you.

Autobiography and memoir
Observer book of the week

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Best Biographies » The Best Memoirs and Autobiographies

Lady in waiting: my extraordinary life in the shadow of the crown, by anne glenconner.

Anne Glenconner, former lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret, tells the story of her life.

Five Books review

This is a gem of a book. Glenconner grew up in a stately home in Norfolk and the royal family were close neighbours at Sandringham. She was a childhood friend of Princess Margaret. Later on she became her lady in waiting, travelling with the princess on official duties. In between she was a maid of honour at the Queen’s coronation. Glenconner is the soul of discretion about the royal family, but she is much more open about her own family. The tale she tells is a very interesting one. Her husband, the late Lord Glenconner, who bought the island of Mustique and turned it into a playground for the rich and famous, emerges as something of a monster. Their three sons all suffered terrible tragedies in their lives (drug addiction, AIDS, and a paralysing motorbike accident) and two died young as a result. Lady Glenconner tells the story of her glamorous, but sometimes tragic, life with understatement and without self-pity. It’s a fascinating story entertainingly and movingly told. As royalty and rock stars flit across the pages, she emerges as a great trooper.

Recommendations from our site

The audiobook of Lady in Waiting, narrated by Anne Glenconner herself, is enchanting. Narrating audiobooks is hard work and the fact that she took it on in her 90s is a measure of the woman, who was lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret and had a fascinating, glamorous, tragic life.

Narrator: Anne Glenconner

Length: 9 hours and 8 minutes

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LADY IN WAITING

My extraordinary life in the shadow of the crown.

by Anne Glenconner ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 24, 2020

A must-have for loyal royal fans.

An insider's look at the world of palaces, princesses, and the pressure of public life.

Readers who've already binge-watched the third season of The Crown needn't fret. Glenconner's meticulously detailed memoir of her life in service to the crown will whet the appetite of anyone hungering for more tales of Britain's royals. Opening with her childhood on the fifth-largest estate in England, the author chronicles her personal and professional life as lady-in-waiting and confidante to her childhood friend Princess Margaret. In Glenconner’s capable hands, we learn about a motley cast of characters including her horse- and Harley Davidson–riding mother, a Scottish great-aunt who was a Christian Scientist, and the formidable Queen Mary, who intimidated her grandchildren but gave the author good life advice. A pleasing blend of detail and balance, the book provides sufficient glimpses into sumptuous palaces and shooting parties to inspire awe and keen insight into the people who inhabit them. Glenconner's candor about wealth and privilege enables readers to sympathize as she describes the emotional coldness of her parents and her father's undisguised disappointment at her not being born a boy. The fun of racing with the princesses Elizabeth and Margaret through her family's palatial estate and various royal residences could not make up for the fact that the author's worth—or lack thereof—was predicated on her sex and marriage. The poor-little-rich-girl story is hardly new, but what makes this account fresh and poignant is Glenconner’s use of affluent characters to demonstrate the extent to which class trumps power; even those at the top seem helpless to challenge tradition. By unflinchingly examining everything from her troubled marriage and her fraught relationship with her children to the solace she found in service, the author emerges as a flawed yet steely woman worthy of respect. In laying her life bare, she demonstrates the limitations of being a woman in the British class system, showing that privilege is no insulation from suffering or pain.

Pub Date: March 24, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-306-84636-6

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Hachette

Review Posted Online: Dec. 8, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020

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BOOK REVIEW

by Anne Glenconner

by Elie Wiesel & translated by Marion Wiesel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 16, 2006

The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...

Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.

He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.

Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006

ISBN: 0374500010

Page Count: 120

Publisher: Hill & Wang

Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006

BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | HOLOCAUST | HISTORY | GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | GENERAL HISTORY

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by Elie Wiesel ; edited by Alan Rosen

by Elie Wiesel ; illustrated by Mark Podwal

by Elie Wiesel ; translated by Marion Wiesel

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Kirkus Reviews' Best Books Of 2016

New York Times Bestseller

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WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR

by Paul Kalanithi ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 19, 2016

A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...

A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.

Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”

Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6

Page Count: 248

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015

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Books on the 7:47

Book review blog / author interviews / all things bookish, review: lady in waiting by anne glenconner.

by Jen | Books on the 7:47
Posted on January 3, 2021 December 27, 2020

There are fascinating lives and then there are Lady Anne Glenconner levels of fascinating lives. In her memoir, Lady in Waiting she tells us about her 30-years working as a Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret (Queen Elizabeth II’s younger sister), and that is just a small part of the incredible things that have happened in her life.

Opening sentence: One morning at the beginning of 2019, when I was in my London flat, the telephone rang.

Lady in Waiting was an unexpected roller-coaster of a read. Every page seemed to reveal a new snippet or story of celebrity, royalty or excess that had me engrossed and thinking, ‘whaaat? ‘ and then her personal tragedies had me crying as I read.

Who is Anne Glenconner?

Anne Coke was born into an aristocratic family – her father was the 5th Earl of Leicester – and she grew up in the stunning Holkham Hall in North Norfolk. She was also childhood friends with Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret.

However, she didn’t necessarily do things you would expect – for example, she took to the road as a travelling pottery sales-woman and didn’t just marry the first man her father wanted her to. There were echoes of Pride & Prejudice when she talks about her ‘coming out’ ball and the pressure to find a husband – it’s nuts that not much changed in those circles! (At least in the 1950s when Anne was husband-hunting.)

To say that Anne Glenconner has been through a lot in her life is an understatement. She’s seen and experienced things that many other people haven’t and never will: whether that’s the inner workings of the Royal Family, owning an island in the West Indies (her husband somewhat-questionably bought Mustique in 1958) or the true horror of having to bury two of her five children, her life story is enthralling.

Lady-in-Waiting

What is a Lady-in-Waiting? Well, you are essentially a PA to a Princess (or female member of the Royal Family). Rather than hiring a random person, they hire a friend who is from aristocratic circles, a very well-bred assistant.

Before becoming her Lady-in-Waiting in 1971 (a role she remained in until Princess Margaret died in 2002), Anne was great friends with Princess Margaret, so gives us tantalising insights into life with a Royal and confirms my suspicions that Princess Margaret is my favourite Royal (followed closely by Prince Harry, then the Queen).

Exclusive: Lady Anne Glenconner on her friend Princess Margaret... from partying in Mustique to their husbands' affairs

A strange marriage

Anne’s marriage was confusing to read about. In 1956 she married Colin Tennant, 3rd Baron Glenconner and although enraptured by her eccentric husband when they got married, love features less and less in her commitment to him through the years.

By the end, they live in different parts of the world, Colin with a younger ‘right hand man’ that did everything for him… This is also the man Colin left everything to in his will, completely cutting out his loyal wife and family.

There are also multiple stories of Colin’s famed temper tantrums; Anne really did put up with so much. Divorce, however, just really wasn’t an option for her. This all made me feel so sad for her.

The eighty-seven years I’ve lived on this earth have been many things, good and bad, but above all, extraordinary.

Anne’s thoughts on motherhood were interesting too – she acknowledges the mistakes she made due to convention and not being around as much as she should have been for her older boys, but she is dedicated and loving mother, who was always there when her children needed her.

Another thing I loved was Anne’s super-resilient outlook on life. Something she acknowledges carried her through the rough times, it is very ‘British upper lip, show no emotion’ but at the same time, it’s what worked for her:

My mother taught me many things, above all that I should stay strong for my family, reminding me always to give an air of absolute resolve, just as she had done.

Now in her 80s, Anne is living the life she wants, just for her. For a glimpse into a whole different world – an aristocratic life full of incredible stories and a woman whose take-things-head-on attitude got her through everything life threw at her, Lady in Waiting is a must-read.

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Published by Hodder & Stoughton 2019;

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Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner review — Princess Margaret, Mustique and me

Challenge yourself with today’s puzzles.

“Cowardy custard,” the young Coke sisters, Anne and Carey, used to shout as a friendly taunt. As children of the Earl of Leicester they learnt early that fortitude was the most prized aristocratic virtue. That Lady Anne’s mother chose the forenames “Anne Veronica”, after the heroine of a novel by HG Wells, signalled what was expected.

Lady Anne was born in 1932. Her father rebuffed her because she was not a son and heir. She grew up on the Coke estate at Holkham with its monumental Palladian house set in a flat windswept landscape on the North Sea coast. The descriptions in her memoir, Lady in Waiting , of her Norfolk life sound blissful. She sailed dinghies on her own from the age of five

Margaret helped me from beyond the grave, says Bonham Carter

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Lady in Waiting: Book Review & Summary

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In Lady in Waiting (2019), Lady Anne Glenconner draws back the curtain on royal life in Britain. Glenconner was lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret for over 30 years. As companion and confidante to the princess, she gleaned a unique perspective on Margaret’s glamorous, scandalous, and secretive life.

What’s in it for me? Get a peek into life as a princess.

When Helena Bonham Carter won the role of Princess Margaret in the hit Netflix series The Crown , she went straight to Anne Glenconner. Anne had served as lady-in-waiting to the princess for over 30 years. During that time, she had a front-row seat to all the drama and excitement of the princess’s life. From galas and royal tours to thwarted love affairs and tragedies, from the pristine beaches of Mustique to picnics on the grounds of Kensington Palace, Anne was at Margaret’s side through it all.

Now, Anne Glenconner has lifted the lid on her life with the princess. With unprecedented openness, she has shared her memories of Margaret and of her own life as a courtier to the British royal family. In these blinks, you’ll get all the juicy details on life as a lady-in-waiting.

Read on to find out

which courtier Margaret had a secret love affair with;
how Ronald Reagan offended the princess; and
the secret code the royals used at dinnertime toasts.

Courtiers hold prestigious positions and are generally selected from an exclusive group of noble British families.

Can you remember a moment your life changed forever? Lady Anne Glenconner can.

In November 1952, at nineteen, the British debutante Lady Anne Glenconner set sail from London to New York. Stateside, she moved in exclusive social circles, rubbing shoulders with movie execs and film stars like Bette Davis and Bob Hope. But early one morning in February 1953, she received a telegram that would change the course of her life. Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation , the ceremony in which she was formally crowned, would be held in a few months. Elizabeth had named Anne as one of her maids of honor , which meant she would act as one of Elizabeth’s attendants during the ceremony.

The key message here is: Courtiers hold prestigious positions and are generally selected from an exclusive group of noble British families.

Conventionally, members of the British royal family employ a personal staff of courtiers. These courtiers include equerries , senior attendants drawn from the armed forces; grooms of the robes , who are responsible for handling ceremonial royal clothing; and ladies-in-waiting , who are female attendants to female royals. While these might sound like roles for servants, they actually confer prestige. The royals usually bestow them upon trusted friends from noble families, and the titles are often passed down from one generation to the next.

So, while Anne was pleasantly surprised by this assignment, it wasn’t wholly unexpected. After all, her father had been equerry to King George. Soon thereafter, she returned to England to fulfill her royal duty.

Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation was held on June 2, 1953, at Westminster Abbey, before an audience of eight thousand people. It was the first coronation to be fully televised, and millions more watched at home.

During the coronation, Anne helped Elizabeth with her enormous train, which was over twenty-one feet long and embroidered with the emblems of all the countries in the British commonwealth. Anne also kept vials of smelling salts tucked into her gloves, just in case Elizabeth felt faint.

Though Anne remembers the post-coronation celebrations at Buckingham Palace as a cheerful affair, there was one exception. Princess Margaret, the Queen’s younger sister, appeared gloomy. Later, Margaret would tell Anne that she had felt depressed that day. After all, her father had just died. Now, she felt she was losing her sister, too. And it was true. Soon Elizabeth was consumed with the duties and responsibilities of being queen.

Margaret was left to adjust to life in the shadow of her sister, the Queen.

Princess Margaret was a tastemaker, who set trends even outside of aristocratic circles.

Sometimes it can feel hard to step out from the shadow of an older sibling. Now, imagine if your sibling was the Queen of England!

In contrast to her dutiful elder sister, Margaret soon developed a reputation for being wayward and rebellious. During the swinging sixties, both Princess Margaret and Lady Anne Glenconner moved in a circle of decadently bohemian aristocrats and artists. Their set included the photographer Cecil Beaton, the painter Lucian Freud, and the director Harold Pinter.

And, while the bohemians of the belle epoque had the Left Bank of Paris, and the beatniks of the fifties had downtown Manhattan, Margaret and her circle of friends had Mustique.

When Anne and her husband Colin bought the Caribbean island in 1958 for £45,000, it had no running water or electricity. Today, it’s one of the world’s most exclusive getaways. Why did it become so popular? The answer is simple: where Margaret went, others followed.

The key message in this blink is: Princess Margaret was a tastemaker, who set trends even outside of aristocratic circles.

Let’s talk about how she came to love the island in the first place. In 1960, Margaret married the photographer Anthony Armstrong Jones. On their honeymoon, the couple sailed around the world in the royal yacht, Britannia , and anchored at Mustique.

Margaret was enchanted by the island’s simple beauty, so Anne’s husband, Colin, gifted her a plot of land there as a wedding present. Anthony hated the island and never returned. But, as their marriage soured, for Margaret, this soon became part of the island’s appeal. She returned, alone, regularly.

On Mustique, Margaret could swim and indulge her passion for shell collecting without being disturbed by the press. She could also escape from the formality of life in the royal family. In fact, before there was running water on the island, she happily showered with a bucket! Despite the island’s laidback charm, Margaret’s sense of royal propriety didn’t completely desert her. She insisted on being greeted with a curtsey and the honorific “Ma’am” wherever she went.

Margaret certainly liked the good life, and she soon commissioned prominent designer Oliver Messel to build her a luxurious villa on the island. And, where Margaret went, her peers soon followed. Aristocrats and rock royalty also commissioned villas from Messel, including Mick Jagger, David Bowie, and aristocrats like the Viscountess Royston.

By the late 1960s, the rustic island the Glenconners bought in 1958 was a bonafide bohemian hotspot. Today, it’s frequented by the likes of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Obamas. All thanks to Princess Margaret’s magic touch.

Royal life isn’t always as exciting as you expect.

Lady Anne Glenconner was delighted to be maid-of-honor at Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. Later, Princess Margaret would ask Anne to fill an even more prestigious royal role.

The invitation came after Anne had her three sons, followed by twin daughters. At her daughters’ christening in 1971, Princess Margaret enquired if Anne planned on having any more. Anne replied that she didn’t. In that case, said the princess, would you like to be my lady-in-waiting?

Anne was happy to accept. She became one of a group of Margaret’s ladies-in-waiting, who were all close friends and confidantes of the princess. The ladies-in-waiting operated on a roster system, taking turns to perform their official duties. As Anne would soon find out, though, despite the glamorous title of lady-in-waiting, many of her duties were mundane.

The key message here is: Royal life isn’t always as exciting as you expect.

So what did Anne have to do as lady-in-waiting? Her main role was to accompany Princess Margaret on official visits, where she made sure everything ran smoothly, and anticipated the princess’s needs as best she could.

While the events themselves were often glittering galas, Anne’s duties were purely practical. For example, as soon as she arrived at an event, Anne would always find out where the toilet was located and stand outside when Princess Margaret was inside – to avert any embarrassing incidents, of course.

Then there was Margaret’s drink order. The princess was fussy about her drink, so Anne needed to make sure she was served the right drink at the right time: whiskey and water at lunch, gin and tonic in the evening, to be exact.

The larger the event, the trickier Anne’s role became. Grand royal events could be very crowded, and Princess Margaret, at just over five foot, was quite short. Anne sometimes lost her in the crowd! She remembers frantically searching for the princess on many occasions, though she never let her worry show. Like the princess herself, Margaret’s ladies-in-waiting were expected to outwardly project regal calm at all times.

As lady-in-waiting, Anne didn’t just accompany Margaret on official events. She was also the princess’s private companion. The two spent many quiet days together at Margaret’s private residence in Kensington Palace. At home, Margaret was a creature of habit, particularly when it came to eating. She enjoyed a three-course meal every lunchtime and always started with a prawn cocktail. At five o’clock, precisely, she had a cup of Earl Grey tea and a Leibniz cookie.

Rather than finding this routine boring, Margaret treasured it. It must have been a welcome respite from her exhausting round of royal duties. While Margaret had a reputation as a vivacious fashion plate, Anne often felt her friend preferred the quiet of home.

Throughout Margaret’s life, strict royal protocol hampered her romantic relationships.

Relationships are hard. Imagine how much harder they must be when they’re played out in the spotlight of the British royal family.

In fact, Margaret’s marriage to Anthony Armstrong Jones was not a particularly happy one. In some senses, it was doomed from the start; Anthony was far from Margaret’s first choice of husband.

The key message here is: Throughout Margaret’s life, strict royal protocol hampered her romantic relationships.

Long before her 1960 marriage to Anthony, Margaret fell deeply in love with another man. In 1947, Margaret had toured South Africa on the Royal Train, a luxe train reserved specifically for the royal family’s use, with her parents and sister. The train carried live horses, cared for by King George’s equerry, Peter Townsend. Every morning and evening, Margaret would go for a horse ride, accompanied by Peter. Against the romantic backdrop of the African landscape, the pair fell in love.

But Townsend was divorced. Royal protocol at the time meant that Margaret was forbidden from marrying a divorcé.

Margaret’s friends believed she never got over her first, forbidden love. Perhaps that was one of the reasons why her marriage was so troubled. Anthony was reportedly unkind and hot-tempered. He was certainly an adulterer who had numerous affairs. In 1978, his mistress Lucy Lindsay Hogg got pregnant.

So Margaret did something unprecedented. She applied for a divorce. Her divorce was widely regarded as scandalous, and it caused a splash in the press. But throughout this difficult time, she found comfort in her long-term companion, Roddy Llewellyn. Roddy was an athlete and also seventeen years Margaret’s junior. Quite the scandal as well.

The two met in 1973 at a weekend party at the Glenconners’ Scottish estate. In fact, they hit it off even before they arrived at their host’s, bumping into each other on the train to the Scottish highlands. According to Margaret’s private secretary, the pair chatted incessantly throughout the journey. When they reached their destination, the cheeky princess delayed the waiting chauffeur and took Roddy shopping for a very tight pair of swimming trunks!

Their instant rapport wasn’t a flash in the pan, either. The two remained discreet lovers for almost a decade, weathering the pain of Margaret’s divorce and the ensuing press scandal together.

Who knows how much happier Margaret’s life would have been if she were able to divorce Anthony sooner – or if she had been permitted to marry Peter in the first place? But royal protocol would never allow it.

When it comes to royal tours, it’s best to expect the unexpected!

Imagine having Imelda Marcos show you her shoe collection, or attending the King of Swaziland’s eightieth birthday – as part of your job! For Lady Anne Glenconner, one of the biggest perks of her lady-in-waiting role was the opportunity to accompany Princess Margaret on a range of international royal tours.

But these royal tours also presented Anne with out-of-the-ordinary professional challenges.

The key message here is: When it comes to royal tours, it’s best to expect the unexpected!

Let’s use Princess Margaret’s 1975 Australia tour as an example. During this tour, Margaret charmed the locals with her easy, friendly manner. The press, on the other hand, was on the attack. Margaret’s marriage to Anthony was on the rocks, and it was all over the news. That is, until Margaret held a cocktail party for the press on the Royal Train. This was her way of winning over the journalists, and she was soon enjoying far nicer headlines!

Then, there was the time Margaret fell ill during the Asia-Pacific tour in 1978. So she asked Anne to finish the tour in her place. Anne remembers that Imelda Marcos, wife of the Filipino president, Ferdinand Marcos, was miffed that Margaret hadn’t come personally. Luckily, she cheered up after giving Anne a tour of her very extensive collection of over a thousand shoes.

On a tour of the United States in the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan committed a serious faux pas – he got the two ladies mixed up, and greeted Anne as the princess. Later, after learning of Reagan’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Anne and Margaret wondered if the president’s memory had already been affected that day.

Often, Anne troubleshooted fashion problems on tour as well. When Margaret’s shoes got wet on a rainy day at the Melbourne races, she had to quickly dry them in a microwave. To celebrate the eightieth birthday of King Sobuzha II, Margaret planned to pin a medal on the king’s chest during a 1981 tour of Swaziland. However, on arrival, Margaret and Anne realized the local formal dress didn’t include a shirt of any kind. Anne had to quickly relay a message that the king should wear something across his chest, so that Margaret could award his medal.

All in a day’s work, when you’re touring the world with a royal!

Outside the spotlight, Margaret and her family enjoyed relaxing together in an informal manner.

What are the essential ingredients for a laid-back summer picnic? If you’re Princess Margaret, they include a thermos of tea, a selection of cold cuts in sensible Tupperware containers, and a butler, naturally! When Princess Margaret was off-duty, she was just like the rest of us – well, almost.

The key message here is: Outside the spotlight, Margaret and her family enjoyed relaxing together in an informal manner.

When she was working as a senior royal, Margaret had a full schedule of official engagements. But when she was on vacation, she and the rest of the royal family enjoyed their downtime together. Though, because each member of the family brought along their staff, vacations at their favored private residence, called the Royal Lodge in Windsor, were often very crowded!

In summer, the family enjoyed walking and swimming. In winter, large parties would be invited to participate in traditional pheasant hunts.

Whichever the season, in the evenings, the party would convene in the apartment of Margaret and Elizabeth’s mother, the Queen Mother. In private, Margaret and Elizabeth both deferred to their mother – and everyone else did, too. For example, every night, the Queen Mother drank a dry martini and watched her favorite television show, Dad’s Army , while standing up. The only problem here? Royal protocol dictates that no one must sit while the Queen Mother stands. So, even after a long day of walking or shooting, guests to the Lodge would be unable to sit back and relax!

At dinner, the Queen Mother had a habit of making toasts to the people she knew – with a twist! If she liked the person, she would say their name and raise her glass above the table. If she didn’t like them, she would say their name and raise her glass below the table. Apparently, these toasts could go on for hours!

Vacationing with Princess Margaret wasn’t always humdrum. Lady-in-waiting Anne Glenconner recalls that Margaret would often organize extravagant entertainments on impulse. Once, Margaret flew a small group of staff with her to the Isle of Wight, where they enjoyed a lavish lunch at Osborne House, formerly Queen Victoria’s summer palace. On another occasion, she took a party to dinner in the Tower of London and arranged for the crown jewels to be brought out on display.

Whether she was walking in the fields of Windsor or dining among the crown jewels, Margaret made the most of her time off!

In their public and personal lives, the British royal family has fought to destigmatize AIDS.

It’s easy to imagine that the royal family, and the aristocrats who serve as their courtiers, live charmed lives. But no amount of wealth or privilege can prevent sadness and misfortune from falling into a life, as Lady Anne Glenconner knows all too well.

In public, Anne was the trusted companion of the glamorous Princess Margaret. In private, her life was marked by tragedy. Her eldest son, Charlie, was a heroin addict who died at the age of 40 in 1996. Another son, Henry, was diagnosed with AIDS in 1986.

The key message here is: In their public and personal lives, the British royal family has fought to destigmatize AIDS.

At the time of her son’s diagnosis, AIDS was little understood and carried a stigma. Many people refused to come into contact with sufferers, for fear that it was contagious. As a result, many people living with early AIDS experienced isolation and terrible loneliness. But Anne, and Henry, found support and comfort from the royal family.

Princess Diana has deservedly gained a reputation as one of the first public figures to destigmatize AIDS. In 1989, Diana toured the London Lighthouse in Notting Hill, the first care center and hospice for AIDS sufferers in the UK. On this visit, the princess was pictured embracing AIDS sufferers. In doing so, she dispelled the incorrect assumption that AIDS could be transmitted through skin-to-skin contact.

In fact, Diana wasn’t the only royal who was ahead of her time when it came to AIDS. In 1988, Margaret had helped establish the London Lighthouse that Diana would later visit. Margaret, too, was a regular visitor to the Lighthouse, and she went on to become a patron of the Terrence Higgins Trust, a sexual-health charity. This was at a time when AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases weren’t discussed in “polite circles.” But both princesses were instrumental in changing the public conversation around sexual health.

But what Anne Glenconner remembers most about both princesses is the kindness each showed to Henry in private. Both Diana and Margaret made personal visits to Henry in the last weeks of his life. Sadly, not all the Glenconners’ social circle were so open-minded. Many of their friends pulled away following Henry’s diagnosis.

For Anne, Princess Margaret and Princess Diana weren’t just public advocates for AIDS sufferers. They each showed personal compassion when her own son was affected by the disease.

Princess Margaret’s difficulties later in life didn’t diminish her legacy – or her sense of humor.

It’s not easy to watch a friend’s health decline. For Lady Anne Glenconner, the later years of Princess Margaret’s life were sometimes difficult. Margaret battled ill health and suffered a series of strokes that left her increasingly weakened. But the princess never lost her distinctive personality.

The key message here is: Princess Margaret’s difficulties later in life didn’t diminish her legacy – or her sense of humor.

Princess Margaret wasn’t exactly known for clean-living. She was a lifelong smoker, and, though she kept a relatively small household staff, she always employed two chambermaids. One of their chief duties? Emptying all of her overflowing ashtrays.

In 1985, the habit caught up with her. She began to suffer chest pains and subsequently had part of her lung removed. Then, in 1994, she suffered the first of a series of strokes. She was at a dinner party in Mustique with the Glenconners when suddenly she slumped over the table. Shortly after, she suffered another stroke while running a bath, which left her feet so badly scalded that she became temporarily immobile.

Following these strokes, she was too ill to fly back to England. And, though the palace reported she was in “high spirits,” this was far from the truth. She fell into a depression and demanded the curtains at her Mustique villa stay drawn shut.

At last, she returned to Britain, where she continued her recovery at Balmoral castle. As it happened, Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife, Cherie, were also visiting Balmoral. The sight of the Blairs jogging around the grounds each morning in bright lycra outfits was, to Margaret, hilarious. She watched the pair each morning, and soon returned to her usual high spirits.

Sadly, her health continued to decline. After a final stroke on February 8, 2002, the princess passed away on February 9, 2002, at the age of 71.

In the days after her death, she was remembered by the British public as Elizabeth’s glamorous, sometimes scandal-prone, but always charming younger sister. Anne Glenconner remembered her as all that, and also as a loyal, good-humored friend.

Final summary

The key message in these blinks:

Life as a royal has its ups and downs. Princess Margaret lived a jet-set lifestyle, moving between bohemian London and luxurious Mustique with ease. Yet despite her reputation as a modern princess, Margaret’s life was limited by royal protocol. A tastemaker, a fashionista, and an unconventional royal: it’s no wonder Margaret’s life continues to fascinate.

Actionable advice:

Style your space like a princess.

Princess Margaret had a reputation as an interior stylist, who decorated with flair. The key to her style was her signature high-low mix. In her Mustique villa, Margaret accentuated her luxe furnishings with her simple shell collection. Don’t be afraid to mix it up like Princess Margaret!

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What to read next: This Blessed Plot: Britain and Europe from Churchill to Blair by Hugo Young

Princess Margaret rubbed shoulders with some of the most influential British politicians of the twentieth century, from Winston Churchill to Tony Blair. Get a deeper insight into the lives and policies of these parliamentary powerhouses in the blinks to Hugo Young’s comprehensive study of British politics and politicians – This Blessed Plot . In these blinks, you’ll glean insight into how the British political landscape has shifted from the end of the second world war and how Britain’s complicated relationship with continental Europe evolved over the course of the last century. You’ll also get up close and personal with iconic UK politicians, like Margaret Thatcher, John Major, and more.

About the author

Lady Anne Glenconner was born in 1932, the eldest daughter of the fifth Earl of Leicester. She was a Maid of Honour at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953. She served as lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret from 1971 until the princess’s death in 2002.

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Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown

Anne glenconner. hachette, $28 (336p) isbn 978-0-306-84636-6.

Reviewed on: 04/06/2020

Genre: Nonfiction

Compact Disc - 978-1-5491-3163-9

Downloadable Audio - 978-1-5491-2718-2

Library Binding - 453 pages - 978-1-4328-8111-5

Paperback - 336 pages - 978-0-306-84637-3

Paperback - 260 pages - 978-1-5293-5910-7

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Lady in Waiting

My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown

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By Anne Glenconner

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Biography & Autobiography
"Anne Glenconner's life story is a combination of royal magic, personal tragedy and resilient survival. With humor, courage, and preternatural poise, Anne Glenconner triumphed over all of it and at last tells the story of her uniquely fascinating life." Tina Brown
"Exceptional." Andre Leon Talley
"A remarkable memoir--containing, at last, a genuine portrait of Princess Margaret from one who knew her well. But this book is poignant too, and through the pages shine [Anne's] courage and good-humored acceptance of her demons and tragedies." Hugo Vickers
"A smart, dishy, and truly touching autobiography." Town & Country
"Stalwart and disarmingly honest....Emotion resonates through this delightful memoir...candid, humorous." The Wall Street Journal
"I couldn't put it down. Funny and touching - like looking through a keyhole at a lost world." Rupert Everett
"Riveting...[Anne's] stiff upper lip never quivers." Oprah Magazine
"This memoir of consorting with Princess Margaret and the royal family is remarkable." The Sunday Times (UK)
"A startling, rare, beguiling insight into a lost world of royalty and celebrity with as many tears as there are titles... Anne's story - a breath-taking array of top-drawer gossip--is told with an endearing modesty and with an extraordinary sense of surprise that all these things happened to her... The book is a diamond-mine of glittering asides." Daily Express
"Extraordinary." Loose Women
"[An] upfront account of her life... [you'll] laugh out loud, exclaim in shock, and cry as [you] read it....An amazing read. There's so much humanity... as well as stories of glitz and glamour and royalty... it's a life fully lived." "Nightlife" ABC radio (AU)
"Gentle, wise, unpretentious, but above all inspiring." The Times (UK)
"A candid, witty and stylish memoir." Miranda Seymour, Financial Times
"Astounding memoir." India Knight
"Discretion and honor emerge as the hallmarks of Glenconner's career as a royal servant, culminating in this book which manages to be both candid and kind." The Guardian
"It's a total hoot - I can't put it down." Janet Street-Porter, Daily Mail
"A romp of an autobiography." The Times (UK)
"As her memoir makes clear, her capacity 'to get on with life and not dwell,' even in the most extreme circumstances, is heroic. There is, nevertheless, a vein of quiet anger. The book is a retaliation as much as a reminiscence. It is also a finely drawn double portrait. Margaret is in the foreground, spotlit, while behind her Glenconner's life plays out with such self-effacing matter-of-factness that it takes time for the reader to realise that of these two intertwined biographies Glenconner's is by far the more remarkable....Glenconner has an eye for detail, and if her picture of Princess Margaret dwells on the positives, it makes no attempt to conceal the difficulties....Lady Anne brings out a touchingly naive side of Margaret's character, visible only to an insider familiar with the realities of royal life....Her book is partly a meditation on how much or how little she could have done differently. Although regret isn't in her emotional register, there is an unmistakable sadness when she remembers certain things, especially about her children, and her 'heart sinks.'" London Review of Books
"Marvelous book . . . one's eyes were on stalks." Jan Moir, Daily Mail
" Lady in Waiting ...will make you laugh and cry and gasp....At the heart is loss, grief, stoicism, and love." Airmail
"I hooted my way through Anne Glenconner's Lady in Waiting ... Glenconner's memoir of three decades as Princess Margaret's chief courtier is matter of fact about her bonkers life, making it all the more amusing" Marcus Field, Evening Standard
"A record, funny and sometimes dazzling, of a way of life now almost disappeared." Rachel Cooke, Observer
"Rollicking... a fascinating, anthropological portrait of the... privilege-soaked world of the British aristocracy... extraordinary anecdotes... Anne's book paints such a rich picture of the aristocracy it's impossible not to marvel at the institution, both in admiration and horror." Sydney Morning Herald
"One of the most enjoyable books of 2019." Alison Pearson, The Sunday Telegraph
"Royal obsessives and casual observers alike will devour this memoir by the confidante-a noble herself-of Princess Margaret. Glenconner candidly writes about the unimaginable tragedies she endured in her personal life, and of the gilded affairs she witnessed on the periphery of royal life." Newsweek
"It's an astonishing story and narrated with a deceptive simplicity. There isn't a boring sentence in the entire book." Daily Mail
"A must-read book of the year." Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday
"A page-turner, filled with humor and tragedy." Carleton Varney, Palm Beach Daily News
"Meticulously detailed....[W]hat makes this account fresh and poignant is Glenconner's use of affluent characters to demonstrate the extent to which class trumps power....By unflinchingly examining everything from her troubled marriage and her fraught relationship with her children to the solace she found in service, the author emerges as a flawed yet steely woman worthy of respect. In laying her life bare, she demonstrates the limitations of being a woman in the British class system, showing that privilege is no insulation from suffering or pain. A must-have for loyal royal fans." Kirkus Reviews
"In this genuine and candid work, Lady Anne recounts her story, offering some rare insight into the uniquely fascinating world of royal life." BookRiot
"Whether describing scenes of delicacy or debauchery, these insider accounts are fascinating. Glenconner is unfailingly perceptive, honest, and amazingly down-to-earth, a survivor who embodies the British trait of "getting on with it."" Booklist (starred review)
"Lady Glenconner provides an open and honest look into the private lives of England's royal family and the most elite members of society. The author's sense of humor shines through in her writing, bringing levity to some of the difficult times that peppered her life." Library Journal (starred review)

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Book Review: Lady in Waiting

It’s a dual story of two Janes. Jane Lindsay’s husband unexpectedly walks out on her, and she is stunned. They had been married twenty-two years, and she thought everything was fine. Giving him the space he says he wants, she occupies herself with her antique business, confiding in her friend, who urges her to see a counselor, yet trying to keep the situation from her meddlesome mother. She finds an unusual, very old ring in the binding of an old book, a ring that happens to have her name engraved inside it, along with a phrase in Latin. Intrigued, Jane tries to learn who her namesake might be.

Lucy Day becomes the new dressmaker to a very young Lady Jane Grey and assists her for the next several years, becoming as close a friend and confidant as their two different stations will allow. Lady Jane’s entire life seems to be under the control of others, and as events unfold and political forces begin to swirl, Lucy fears not only for her lady’s happiness, but for her life.

Both Janes seem to be victims of their circumstances and the choices of others, but both find, as the back of the book says, they each have “far more influence over her life than she once imagined. It all comes down to the choices each makes despite the realities they face.”

Lady Jane Grey is one whose circumstances I could never remember, though I thought she came to an untimely end. But I am sure that from now on I’ll remember her story. Though Lucy and the ring and Jane’s possible love interest are all fictional, Susan Meissner paints a realistic portrait of the kind of person Jane might have been.

I could empathize with Jane Lindsay’s situation as well and wanted to defend her against everyone else and cheered her on in her journey. Though I appreciated the way the author ended with a glimmer of the future rather than neatly tying the story up, I didn’t want my time with Jane to end: I wanted to see what happened down the road!

Susan Meissner did an excellent job weaving the two stories together and bringing out the theme. Different points or subtexts keep coming to mind from the story even after finishing it. This is the first of Meissner’s books that I’ve read, but it definitely will not be the last.

(This review will also be linked to Semicolon ‘s Saturday Review of Books .)

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Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown

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Lady in waiting: my extraordinary life in the shadow of the crown audible audiobook – unabridged.

Discover untold secrets with this extraordinary memoir of drama and tragedy by Anne Glenconner - a close member of the royal circle and lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret.

Anne Glenconner has been at the center of the royal circle from childhood, when she met and befriended the future Queen Elizabeth II and her sister, the Princess Margaret. Though the firstborn child of the fifth Earl of Leicester, who controlled one of the largest estates in England, as a daughter she was deemed "the greatest disappointment" and unable to inherit. Since then she has needed all her resilience to survive court life with her sense of humor intact.

A unique witness to landmark moments in royal history, Maid of Honor at Queen Elizabeth's coronation, and a lady in waiting to Princess Margaret until her death in 2002, Anne's life has encompassed extraordinary drama and tragedy. In Lady in Waiting , she will share many intimate royal stories from her time as Princess Margaret's closest confidante as well as her own battle for survival: her broken-off first engagement on the basis of her "mad blood"; her 54-year marriage to the volatile, unfaithful Colin Tennant, Lord Glenconner, who left his fortune to a former servant; the death in adulthood of two of her sons; a third son she nursed back from a six-month coma following a horrific motorcycle accident. Through it all, Anne has carried on, traveling the world with the royal family, including visiting the White House, and developing the Caribbean island of Mustique as a safe harbor for the rich and famous-hosting Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Raquel Welch, and many other politicians, aristocrats, and celebrities.

With unprecedented insight into the royal family, Lady in Waiting is a witty, candid, dramatic, at times heart-breaking personal story capturing life in a golden cage for a woman with no inheritance.

New York Times best seller

USA Today best seller

The Sunday Times best seller

The Globe and Mail best seller

ABA Indie best seller

The Times (UK) Memoir of the Year

One of Newsweek 's Most Anticipated Books of 2020

Listening Length 9 hours and 9 minutes
Author Anne Glenconner
Narrator Anne Glenconner
Audible release date March 24, 2020
Language English
Publisher Hachette Books
ASIN B083YVR76N
Version Unabridged
Program Type Audiobook
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Lady in Waiting

Written by Kathryn Caskie Review by Audrey Braver

Jenny Penny is the Lady In Waiting, as madcap a heroine as ever graced the pages of a Regency romance. By day a lady’s maid, by night Jenny is Lady Eros, creator of a beauty cream that stimulates the skin with a tingle that produces a natural blush. Somehow the Ton discovers that Jenny’s cream also produces a stimulating tingle in another part of the body, and it becomes a runaway best seller. As if leading a double life is not complicated enough, Jenny’s employers, the feather-headed Featherton sisters, in a matchmaking effort, order her to impersonate a young lady of quality, Lady Genevieve, in her off hours. The man they have targeted as a suitor for her is a stalwart, larger-than-life Scots laird. This takeoff on the Cinderella theme has no evil stepsisters, but with two fairy godmothers like her well-intentioned employers, Jenny has enough to contend with.

Kathryn Caskie has created an endearing heroine and a knock-your-socks-off hero. The main plot theme is a romp. However, there are at least four too many subplots, which, at times, can leave the reader in a spin.

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Feeling up for something a little taboo? Come join these rich, misbehaving Angelenos on their latest art theft scam.

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LGBTQ+ themes

Love triangle

Immigration

One bright Los Angeles day, a young Polish émigré named Viva is driving along the freeway when she’s flagged down by a dazzling, disheveled woman in green chiffon. The woman is Bobby Sleeper, a fellow Eastern European and an erstwhile art gallerist with a mysterious background and even more mysterious filmmaker husband. Within days the couple hire Viva as their assistant, then enlist her as an accomplice in an improbable scheme involving a long-lost Vermeer masterwork, a multi-million-dollar reward, and several shadowy ex-husbands.

As Bobby and her husband weave her ever more tightly into their web, Viva is swept up in an escapade that’s one part art heist, one part love triangle, and one part education of a felon. Entranced by their lifestyle, alarmed by their ramshackle scam, Viva realizes she’s out of her depth—and that only luck, cunning, and her own hustler’s instinct can save her from disaster. Careening from the canyons of LA to the canals of Venice, The Lady Waiting is a page-turning caper, a cavalcade of twenty-first-century sins—rapacious capitalism, shameless fraud, and atrocious behavior—and a showcase for three of the biggest and most unforgettable characters in recent fiction.

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Free sample, los angeles.

A woman in green chiffon stood on an island on the 101. She held her arm aloft—her jewelry flashed—like someone proposing a toast. I don’t know why I stopped. I’d never picked up a hitchhiker before and never would again. She moved toward my slowing car, bizarrely fluttering her fingers. Here are some roles I would play for her in the coming months: her help, her thief, her lover, her lover’s lover.

“Well, hello. What time is it?” asked the evening-gowned hitchhiker as she flopped onto the seat. It was two p.m. “Just look at this.” She put her feet up on my dashboard—I didn’t mind, my car was old—and pointed at the brown stain on her stomach. “Is it coffee? Blood?”

Heat emanated from her, as if, after many hours in the sun, she now possessed the freeway’s qualities.

“What do you think?”

“Excuse me?”

“Blood or coffee?”

Was she drunk? Or injured? Yes. And maybe. But if so, not very badly. Cautiously, I pulled back into traffic.

“Take your pick. The bar’s wide open.” She opened the sun visor mirror and rubbed her eyes, smearing her already smeared mascara. Some of it got on her forehead. “Is today Ash Wednesday?”

“Umm, I think today is Monday, and not February.”

It was May 2018.

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Why I love it

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There’s something devilishly enchanting about rich people doing bad things in beautiful settings. Maybe it’s because we are living our darkest fantasies vicariously through them, or maybe it’s just because we love to hate it. Whatever it is, I know that I adored every sultry page of The Lady Waiting .

Viva is a recent immigrant from Poland and our conduit into the lives of the rich and misbehaving. We meet her after she picks up a well-to-do hitchhiker in LA. Said hitchhiker is Bobby: a fellow Eastern European and art gallerist who quickly decides to take Viva under her wing. She hires Viva as a personal assistant to her and her filmmaker husband. Viva falls into life with Bobby and her husband easily, finding the line between professional and personal to be blurred. Soon, Viva’s days spent lounging by the pool and cooking meals for her employers turn into full-blown art heist scheming, falling ever deeper into the lustful and gluttonous lifestyle of her employers. Viva may start as a naive immigrant, but as she learns the ropes of this chaotic world, she learns to play the game better than anyone.

Magdalena Zyzak’s sophomore novel is full of lush descriptions and sharp writing. Viva and Bobby’s relationship, one of kinship and stark class differences, is especially compelling. The Lady Waiting is a book that will seduce you.

IMAGES

Book Review: Lady in Waiting
Lady in Waiting
Lady in Waiting
Lady in Waiting: Book Review & Summary
Lady in Waiting: a book review
Book Review: “Ladies-in-Waiting: Women Who Served Anne Boleyn” by

COMMENTS

Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner review
Lady in Waiting is published by Hodder & Stoughton (RRP £20) . To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com. Free UK p&p over £15. Explore more on these topics
The Sometimes Amusing, Sometimes Appalling Life of a Lady-in-Waiting
Alida Becker is a former editor at the Book Review. LADY IN WAITING My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown By Anne Glenconner 325 pp. Hachette Books. $28.
Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of…
An extraordinary memoir of drama, tragedy, and royal secrets by Anne Glenconner--a close member of the royal circle and lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret. As seen on Netflix's The Crown. Anne Glenconner has been at the center of the royal circle from childhood, when she met and befriended the future Queen Elizabeth II and her sister, the ...
Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner review
Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner is published by Hodder & Stoughton. To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com or call 020-3176 3837. Free UK p&p over £15, online orders only.
Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of ...
The audiobook of Lady in Waiting, narrated by Anne Glenconner herself, is enchanting. Narrating audiobooks is hard work and the fact that she took it on in her 90s is a measure of the woman, who was lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret and had a fascinating, glamorous, tragic life. Narrator: Anne Glenconner.
Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown
Anne Glenconner was appointed a Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret in 1971 and kept this role—accompanying her on many state occasions and foreign tours—until the Princess's death in 2002. Lord Glenconner died in 2010. Lady Glenconner now lives in a farmhouse in Norfolk.
LADY IN WAITING
To ask why this is so would be a far more useful project. If the authors are serious, this is a silly, distasteful book. If they are not, it's a brilliant satire. Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998. ISBN: -670-88146-5. Page Count: 430. Publisher: Viking. Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010. Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1998.
Review: Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner
My 2020 Bookish Review. There are fascinating lives and then there are Lady Anne Glenconner levels of fascinating lives. In her memoir, Lady in Waiting she tells us about her 30-years working as a Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret (Queen Elizabeth II's younger sister), and that is just a small part of the incredible things that have happened….
Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner book review
Anne Glenconner, now eighty-seven, daughter of an earl, wife of a millionaire, friend to royalty, has never believed in heart-to-heart confidences or making a fuss. As she says more than once here, the main thing, when trouble and tragedy strike, is not to "dwell". She follows her own advice throughout Lady in Waiting.
Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner review
BOOK OF THE WEEK. Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner review — Princess Margaret, Mustique and me. This disarmingly frank memoir is funny and tragic, says Richard Davenport-Hines.
Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown
In Lady in Waiting, she will share many intimate royal stories from her time as Princess Margaret's closest confidante as well as her own battle for survival: her broken-off first engagement on the basis of her "mad blood"; her 54-year marriage to the volatile, unfaithful Colin Tennant, Lord Glenconner, who left his fortune to a former servant ...
All Book Marks reviews for Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in
Given [Glenconnor's] proximity to the royals, I went into Lady In Waiting expecting juicy stories about Princess Margaret that would rival The Crown's revelations—and Lady Glenconner, with her tales of partying with Mick Jagger on Mustique and attending Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, delivered. What I didn't expect, however, was tearing up while I read them ...
Lady in Waiting: Book Review & Summary
Nov 4, 2021. 584k Views. In Lady in Waiting (2019), Lady Anne Glenconner draws back the curtain on royal life in Britain. Glenconner was lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret for over 30 years. As companion and confidante to the princess, she gleaned a unique perspective on Margaret's glamorous, scandalous, and secretive life.
Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown
Hachette, $28 (336p) ISBN 978--306-84636-6. Glenconner, former lady-in-waiting to England's Princess Margaret, provides a rare behind-the-scenes look at the British royal family in this ...
Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner
Shortlisted for the British Book Awards Non-Fiction Narrative Book of the Year 2020. The remarkable life of Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret who was also a Maid of Honour at the Queen's Coronation - and is a character in The Crown this autumn. Anne Glenconner reveals the real events behind The Crown as well as her own life of drama, tragedy and courage, with the wonderful wit and ...
Book Marks reviews of Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the
Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown by Anne Glenconner has an overall rating of Positive based on 12 book reviews. Features New Books
Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown
Buy Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown First Edition by Glenconner, Anne (ISBN: 9781529359060) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. ... There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. Suzanne Mead. 5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely stunning read ...
Amazon.com: Lady in Waiting: 9780306846373: Glenconner, Anne: Books
About the Author. Lady Glenconner was born Lady Anne Coke in 1932, the eldest daughter of the 5th Earl of Leicester, and grew up at their ancestral estate at Holkham Hall in Norfolk, England. A Maid of Honor at the Queen's coronation, she married Lord Glenconner in 1956. They had five children together, three of whom survive.
Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner
She was appointed Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret in 1971 and kept this role - accompanying her on many state occasions and foreign tours - until her death in 2002. Lord Glenconner died in 2010, leaving everything in his will to his former employee. Lady Glenconner now lives in a farmhouse near Kings Lynn in Norfolk.
Book Review: Lady in Waiting
Book Review: Lady in Waiting. Posted on May 24, 2011. Lady in Waiting by Susan Meissner caught my eye when both Susanne and Quilly highly recommended it. It's a dual story of two Janes. Jane Lindsay's husband unexpectedly walks out on her, and she is stunned. They had been married twenty-two years, and she thought everything was fine.
Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown
Anne's husband gave Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones a piece of land in Mustique where she built a villa, Les Jolies Eaux. Anne was Lady in Waiting for Margaret for thirty years. These years are the best part of the book, funny and sad, but with good insight into the life of this royal.
Lady in Waiting
Lady in Waiting. Written by Kathryn Caskie Review by Audrey Braver. Jenny Penny is the Lady In Waiting, as madcap a heroine as ever graced the pages of a Regency romance. By day a lady's maid, by night Jenny is Lady Eros, creator of a beauty cream that stimulates the skin with a tingle that produces a natural blush.
Lady in Waiting: Becoming God's Best While Waiting for
An excellent book for girls ages 9-40! Whether you are single and yearning for a boyfriend or to be married, or already married and having troubles, this book is great! It goes through each quality a "lady in waiting" needs to perfect before meeting her knight in shining armor. I highly recommend!
The Lady Waiting by Magdalena Zyzak
Careening from the canyons of LA to the canals of Venice, The Lady Waiting is a page-turning caper, a cavalcade of twenty-first-century sins—rapacious capitalism, shameless fraud, and atrocious behavior—and a showcase for three of the biggest and most unforgettable characters in recent fiction.

Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner review – fascinating portrait of English repression

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Lady in Waiting: Book Review & Summary

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What’s in it for me? Get a peek into life as a princess.

Courtiers hold prestigious positions and are generally selected from an exclusive group of noble British families.

Princess Margaret was a tastemaker, who set trends even outside of aristocratic circles.

Royal life isn’t always as exciting as you expect.

Throughout Margaret’s life, strict royal protocol hampered her romantic relationships.

When it comes to royal tours, it’s best to expect the unexpected!

Outside the spotlight, Margaret and her family enjoyed relaxing together in an informal manner.

In their public and personal lives, the British royal family has fought to destigmatize AIDS.

Princess Margaret’s difficulties later in life didn’t diminish her legacy – or her sense of humor.

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