Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner

After seeing Lady Anne Glenconner on the Graham Norton Show, I had to read her book, I loved her sparky personality and I’ve also always been really interested in Princess Margaret.

From Maid of Honour at the Queen’s Coronation to Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret, Lady Glenconner is able to lift the curtain and give us a unique insight into royal history. I found the chapter about the Queen’s Coronation absolutely mesmerising, she brought it to life and I could feel the anxiety and excitement that she felt leaping off the page.

Her marriage to the charismatic but highly volatile Colin Tennant, Lord Glenconner was particularly interesting to read about. To say the man was eccentric would be an understatement, for their honeymoon he took his young, and innocent bride, to a Parisian brothel not quite what she has in mind! Later he went on to buy the island of Mustique which became the party paradise for the rich and famous.

But is hasn’t all been glitz and glamour, as the mother of five children, Lady Glenconner endured what no mother should. She lost two of her sons, one battled with a heroin addiction for many years, before he died of hepatitis C. Her second son died of an AIDS related illness when he was just 29. While her third son was left in a coma for months following an accident while on his gap year.

Later, Lady Glenconner would suffer a final blow. When Lord Glenconner died in 2010, she discovered at the reading of his Will that he had left his entire fortune to a former employee.

This memoir is written with so much warmth and wit. At first glance you could be forgiven for thinking her life as been all about privilege and parties but it so much more. I love the way she writes about Princess Margaret. She was her Lady in Waiting for three decades and they had a very special friendship.

Lady in Waiting is a such a great read, it is funny and eye opening and I couldn’t help but be inspired by this brilliant and resilient woman. Absolutely one I’d recommend.