I went into Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown with great expectations, having even seen the witty Lady Anne on The Graham Norton Show telling him all about her honeymoon.
Lady Anne was the daughter of Thomas Coke, 5th Earl of Leicester and Lady Elizabeth Yorke. She was a playmate of a young Queen Elizabeth II and her sister Princess Margaret as her parents were acquainted with King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. She married Colin Tennant, the future 3rd Baron Glenconner in 1956. They went on to have five children together – three sons and twin girls.
It was Colin who bought Mustique, later made famous by the presence of Princess Margaret. In 1971, Anne became an Extra Lady-in-Waiting to Princess Margaret.
Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown is not just about Anne’s time as Princess Margaret’s lady-in-waiting and we are taken through Anne’s entire life as an aristocrat mingling with royalty. Her married life with the eccentric Colin left me feeling a bit like, “why didn’t you get the hell out of there?” but perhaps that was simply not done. Her attitude towards her son’s addiction also left me slightly baffled. The stories about Princess Margaret were wonderful though and it’s lovely to get this point-of-view.
Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown by Anne Glenconner is available now in both the UK and the US.
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