Anne Glenconner's Memoir: My Extraordinary Life as a Lady in Waiting in the Royal Court

JT: Lady Glenconnor’s is an extraordinary life marked in almost equal measure by incredible highs borne of aristocratic privilege, and unimaginable lows that no person should have to endure. I appreciated her first-hand knowledge of Princess Margaret as her lady in waiting for over 25 years but which I found enlightening. Her book is well written, candid, and remarkably detailed. It is a treat that it is also narrated by the author and has the feel of an intimate conversation between friends. This book is hard to put down and I highly recommend it.

United States on Oct 24, 2023

Gaynor J.: Great book ,very interesting . .

United Kingdom on Oct 14, 2023

Jad: If you loved watching The Crown, this is must read and very personal account of her life as Lady in Waiting for Princess Margaret, as well as her own personal story.

United States on Oct 07, 2023

Ken: Well written, easy and excellent read. Lady Glenconner has an interesting life well lived and the story was well told. Greatly appreciated this book.

United States on Oct 01, 2023

RuthB: I really enjoyed reading this book, I fear that Anne’s life has had many more challenges than written here. She writes from the heart, with an eloquence we rarely see these days. I believe Anne’s story is far more interesting than just the Royal family connection .
I’m not usually a fan of non fiction books but I’m really pleased I decided to buy this book.

United Kingdom on Sep 23, 2023

Frances Macaulay Forde: Beautiful book. Only read a couple of chapters, but enjoying it emmensely. Quick delivery too.

Australia on Sep 15, 2023

Chesney Hoagland-Fuchs: Lady Glenconner has a pleasant style and has led an incredible, interesting life. Unfortunately, much of the really interesting things about that life are glossed over or merely hinted at while the tedious details of court protocol are given much more attention and detail.
For instance:
* A minor detail about Prince Philip being permitted to have 17 year old Lady Glenconner and her 15 year old sister dress as maids to perform as photo models for himself. He claimed to be working on a game inspired by Battleship. Really. Battleship does not involve photos of any kind. These were very pretty blond aristocratic teens.
* Compare that entry with the pages and pages on how to hold the queen's train for Coronation.
*That's when I started to think that Harry has been trying to communicate with a public that has not been allowed to see the full picture.

Reflecting further on the game of smoke and mirrors played by the British Royal Family I can absolutely believe everything Harry wrote about them in Spare.
Lovely as she seems, and she's elderly so literally from another century, Lady Glenconner strikes me as the exact embodiment of the "sources" quoted constantly in...

United States on Jul 11, 2023

Siltone: In all fairness, I really wasn't the target audience for this memoir. I only gave it my time and patience because it was put forward by a fellow member of our local reading group. In the opening chapters we get to find out about her early life, and despite Anne Glenconner being born into an aristocratic family, she wasn't exactly pampered as a child. In fact, her father gave her a very hard time from the very beginning, outwardly demonstrating his disappointment that she was a girl - and not the male heir he sought. However, her father's lack of affection, and the way females were treated at the time (they had their place as it were) didn't cause Anne to resort to self-pity. She was (and is) a strong-willed person, and has managed to have a fair few exciting adventures in her life.

Truthfully though, it was only the first part of the book, where she relates her childhood, and early work experiences that held any real interest for me. Once she got to the section where she wrote about the part she played in Queen Elizabeth's Coronation Day my eyes started to glaze over. Not long after that experience she falls in love with a gent who she became engaged to - he was later to...

United Kingdom on Jan 29, 2021

Andrew Fitzgerald: What a life this wonderful lady has had, my thoughts were of a blessed life every thing easy for this Royal friend but know. Lady Anne had a fascinating life she was from a family of girls so was unable to inherit the vast estate of the family , thank god that idea has been kicked in to touch this lady was more than capable of running an estate. Her friendship with the royal family as a child ,she played with the princesses . Even then making mental notes about the differences between princess Elizabeth and Margaret Rose as they got older they became estranged . She became the lady in waiting to Princess Margaret after been one of the Ladies in waiting at the Queens Coronation after a request by Buckingham Palace. She went through the turbulent times of Princess Margaret's early love life and the doomed marriage to Snowdon she has no bad things to say about any of them she was there at the beginning of the Roddy Llewellyn affair she knew that princess Margaret was unhappily married while Snowdon lived with his girlfriend she was to remain unhappy. The travel taken with the Royal Court around the world Princess Margaret triumphed in the USA she was there for it all. Meanwhile her...

United Kingdom on Aug 23, 2020

John D. Cofield: Anne, Lady Glenconner has led a life that is decidedly uncommon. The eldest daughter of an Earl, she was born and brought up in a stately home where she was neighbors to and freely mixed with the Royal Family. Although her childhood, teenage, and early adulthood were spent during the Great Depression, World War II, and post-war Austerity, she was largely unaffected by them beyond having to put up with inferior materials for her debutante dresses. She was one of the Queen's trainbearers at the Coronation in 1953, was courted by a number of wealthy and titled men, and eventually married a flamboyant, mercurial, and highly talented member of the aristocracy by whom she had five children. She was a lady in waiting and close friend to Princess Margaret for three decades, and in her later years continues to enjoy a rich life, traveling widely and mixing with the Great and the Good.

So what can Anne Glenconner's memoir of her life possibly tell the great majority of her readers, the ones who aren't wealthy aristocrats? Quite a bit, actually. As we are so often reminded, wealth and fame aren't all that they are cracked up to be. Anne's early family life was often dysfunctional with...

United States on Jul 14, 2020