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

The Crown, is a Netflix television series, about Queen Elizabeth and her reign, that most of us enjoy. Lady Anne Glenconner, the author, was asked to assist several of the stars as they played the parts of Princess Margaret and her Lady In Waiting. She loved every minute of it.Living life in a great manor, the Holkham Hall, with servants and some wealth was not the best of times. Father, Earl of Leicester and a mother who showed little emotion, except ‘keep a stiff upper lip’ to see you through the bad times, and the good times if there were any. Veronica Coke, now known as Lady Anne Glenconner, tells us the story of her life, and quite a story it is.As a child her hands were tied to the head of the bedstead at night by her nanny. Her parents did not know since they were seldom around. Somehow she managed to grow up with the British reserve, but also with naivitivity In life.Anne and Princess Margaret had been childhood friends, and as young women they took up their friendship again. Anne was one of Queen Elizabeth’s six Maids of Honor at her coronation, which was the thrill of a lifetime As a young woman,Anne fell in love with a young man who broke their engagement to run off with another woman. That man turned out to be the father of Diana, Princess of Wales. Broken hearted she instead married an older man, full of eccentricities, Colin Tennant, who eventually became Lord Glenconner. He was a millionaire with a castle in Scotland, and all to the good. Anne thought him very handsome and endearing. His kind of behaviors would be enough to turn off most of us today, but Anne grinned as she was taught.In the 1970’s, Anne was made Princess Margaret’s Lady in Waiting. She loved Margaret, and even though Margaret had her down days, Anne was certainly used to that kind of behavior. 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. Her chapter of the last months of Princess Margaret’s life is extremely well written and poignant.Anne and her husband went on to have five children, three of whom had terrible deaths, and how Anne was able to carry on is questionable. Certainly there were good times and many humorous moments that Anne writes about, but the miseries seem to be major. Anne shows some insight into her life, and her time with her children are her joy. The real shock is that Anne’s husband died and left his estate to someone else. Her entire life was gone, practically penniless what was she to do? She rose to the occasion, as always.Recommended. prisrob 03-25-2020

Anne Glenconner started life as Anne Veronica Coke, daughter of The Honorable Thomas Coke (son of Viscount Thomas Coke) and Lady Elizabeth (daughter of Charles Yorke, the 8th Earl of Hardwicke). Ultimately her father became the 5th Earl of Leicester. With their main estate, Holkham, being less than 20 miles from royal estate Sandringham House, the royal children Elizabeth and Margaret were playmates, their father an equerry, their mother a lady of the bedchamber.With this book, we get a little window into the life of the British aristocracy - the boarding schools, the shooting parties, the debuts, the rounds of parties. The pressure to make a good match and competently run a household. The need to produce a male heir promptly.And, fundamentally, the need to be the supportive wife. Anne married the erratic, and from the book's description certainly narcissistic, Honorable Colin Christopher Paget Tennant, ultimately the second Baron Glenconner. Although delightfully amusing, and leading her on a round of social engagements that were front-page news, her life was one of service to him, to his crowd-gathering tantrums, and to the guests and projects he dropped on her; of service as a Lady in Waiting for multiple decades to Princess Margaret; and of service to her own children - it's a wonder she managed it all. Not much room for her own life there.With that in mind, I found the book interesting, but dated in its views. It's very chatty and seemingly open, but much is glossed over. We know, today, for example, that the introduction of Roddy Llewellyn and Mustique to Princess Margaret, both performed by the Glenconners, were public relations nightmares for the royal family, but the author shares little of the negative, commenting instead on the reassurance offered her by the Queen Mother at the Princess's funeral. We miss a frank sharing of the contemporary press coverage at the time. It's very much a book of feelings, rather than frank admissions and actions.But perhaps, by the time you're 87 years old, that's how you see things. And it's extremely interesting nonetheless. I wish there had been more photos. My Hachette softcover was 321 pages.

I didn’t know what to expect when I selected this title but I wasn’t at all disappointed; with subtle passion Lady Glenconner shares her life story thus far. She is witty, open, fresh in her approach but most importantly honest in her commitment to sharing the ups and downs of being part of a legacy, being born in a time that is now long long gone, and being accepting of consequences and what she has no control over. I frequently had to pause (listening to her voice almost breaking when describing moments of loss) to take in the breadth of what she was sharing with the reader.What is important to me in her story telling, is that being a member of the landed gentry doesn’t come with an open cheque or an open door to all and sundry privilege as we of the working class would envisage. In my view with a large estate, passed down from generations, whilst doesn’t come with income, it does mean that you are obligated to support those who provided your family with that permanent but grand roof over your heads and water to drink so to speak.Her mother’s parenting is very similar to my mother’s very distant but caring, after all, you can only do the best with what experience you have. I loved the book, sometimes wanting to weep when the hands of fate deals yet another challenging card to play. Thank you Lady Glenconner for your showing us that life is what you make of it, for good or ill and for giving me the insight to appreciate that marriage and parenting is a challenge for all of us women and just because you have been exposed to a certain lifestyle doesn’t spare you from the harsh realities that the universe doles out to us all.

I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did! I found it thoroughly interesting, a piece of history written by someone who was actually part of history and did not expect to be writing about it in her later years. Her perspective is unique and you feel like you are hearing the stories from a good friend. She doesn't pass a lot of judgement, which is refreshing. She writes about her own tragedies clearly. A keeper for my bookshelf.

It shows how extraordinary and yet painful the life of a certain english class can be. Not all what the higher echelons have is desireable.

Absolutely stunning read. Although born into a life of total privilege and a supreme confidence of what the world holds for the aristocracy, Lady Anne writes with humour, a deep compassion, and gently revealing tact that transports the reader into a bygone era. A time when debutante’s still "Came Out” when finding a like minded landowner preferably with a title and money was paramount. Someone who was on “the club” who went to the right schools, knew the same people, spoke the same language and above all knew the rules that people still play to this day.Of course Super Models have taken the place of “the right type of Gel” with modern aristocratic men preferring looks over brains. Having married American heiresses like their grandfather’s did snd thus securing the family fortunes young men can now be at liberty to choose looks over breeding. Something that would have been unthinkable 150 to 100 years ago. Lady Anne comes across as a person I’d like to meet someone that had a sense of humour and enormous emotional strength. While I couldn’t Kow Tow to Princesses, Queen’s etc. I suppose someone has to or they just become ordinary and I can’t foresee that. I suppose being on the receiving end must be fabulous. I digressThis is a wonderful book written with love of her family, the heartache suffered but it’s not gossipy nor too sycophantic. Yes the slightly biased praise of one of the most difficult, spoilt and obnoxious members of the Royal Family recorded by hundreds of people is a bit hard to take. It’s a great read and worth buying.

Lo termine al poco tiempo de recibirlo, una lectura bastante entretenida con notas y detalles que jamás me hubiera imaginado.Es definitivamente para personas con mente abierta.

Muito bem redigido e interessante