Anne Glenconner

Anne Tennant, Baroness Glenconner, is an amazing woman who has lived an extraordinary life. She was born at Holkham Hall, the daughter of the fifth Earl of Leicester, served as maid of honour at Queen Elizabeth's coronation and was a lady in waiting to Princess Margaret for thirty years, but don't let her aristocratic heritage or socialite lifestyle put anyone off! Lady Glenconner is also wonderfully down to earth with a self-deprecating sense of humour, and her life story - so far! - is show more both sympathetic and fascinating.

Anne Coke (pronounced 'Cook') was born the first of three daughters in 1932, ending her father's line at Holkham in Norfolk ('I had tried awfully hard to be a boy, even weighing eleven pounds at birth, but I was a girl and there was nothing to be done about it'). Her childhood and youth, spent on the family estate and with relations in Scotland during the war, reads like the lives of the Mitford sisters ('We had decided to make Hitler fall in love with us, which, when I think about it now, was rather like the Mitfords,' she muses. 'But, then, we were going to kill him – which, I suppose, was rather unlike the Mitfords'.) With Sandringham nearby, and her father an equerry of King George VI, Anne and her sisters were also friends with Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret from a young age. Anne's mother ('extremely capable and practical, and rather liberal') started a pottery at Holkham and Anne became a travelling saleswoman ('Not only was I the only aristocrat on the road, I was the only woman on the road'), toting samples of Holkham pottery around the country, staying in lodgings with the men, and even travelling to America and taking samples to Saks!

After being presented at court and being named 'debutante of the year', Anne was chosen to be one of Queen Elizabeth's maids of honour, which she plays down ('I just happened to be just the right height and size, as well as being an unmarried daughter of an earl, a duke or a marquess'), but recalls some lovely anecdotes about the day ('We sat with her, and when she kicked up her legs for total joy, we did the same. It was the happiest of moments.')

Anne's golden life story is tarnished by her marriage to Colin Tennant, the son of Baron Glenconner (whose grandfather invented industrial bleach), in 1956. Anne had been in love with Johnnie Althorp, later Princess Diana's father, but he dumped her because of family 'bad blood' (he claimed insanity ran in her family). Instead, she married Tennant, who was 'charming, angry, endearing, hilariously funny, manipulative, vulnerable, intelligent, spoilt, insightful and fun'. On their honeymoon, he took her to a brothel in Paris to watch another couple having sex! She calls him 'highly strung' and recalls his many tantrums, in private and in public, but they stayed married until his death in 2010 (when a recently drawn up will revealed that he had left the family fortune to his assistant in Saint Lucia!) Lord Glenconner bought and developed the island of Mustique, now famous as a private paradise for the rich and famous, where Princess Margaret was gifted a plot of land and had a villa designed by Oliver Messel. The Tennants' erratic early married life was divided between London, Mustique and the Glenconner estate in Scotland.

The real tragedy in Lady Glenconner's life was the fate of her three sons, Charlie, Henry and Christopher. Charlie, who suffered from undiagnosed OCD, became a drug addict and later died of hepatitis C, Henry came out as gay in the middle of the AIDS crisis and died from the condition, and Christopher suffered a near fatal motorbike accident and was in a coma for four months. My heart was in my mouth while reading the deeply personal and emotional chapters about her family!

Lady Glenconner writes about her life with Princess Margaret, from childhood friendship and shoe envy to her duties as a lady in waiting, including meeting with Imelda Marcos and nursing her friend and mistress through her last years. She wanted to set the record straight about the real woman and not the man-mad diva vilified by the press, which she has achieved admirably.

Anne Glenconner has also fictionalised her early years in a murder mystery set at Holkham, which I read first and also enjoyed, with a sequel set on Mustique. Just another string to this incredible woman's bow. Long may she continue! show less

I have to confess that I didn't make the connection between the author of this novel and the eponymous setting until part way through, when I looked up the Lords Leicester and the Coke (pronounced 'Cook') family and realised that Anne Glenconner has actually created a wonderful fictionalised version of her own biography (which I want to read next!) And I had even watched a documentary about Holkham Hall - part of a series with a certain famous television estate agent turned presenter - and show more the Coke family a few months earlier, yet still failed to link the first Earl of Leicester, Thomas Coke, with his great x 5 (I think) grand niece! Duh.

When I finally figured out that Baroness Glenconner is writing about her own childhood and coming of age at Holkham Hall during the 1940s, with a gothic murder mystery about missing family jewels and sadistic governesses thrown in for good measure, I really enjoyed this novel approach - pardon the pun - to family history. Young Anne is a plucky heroine, tackling ghosts of the spectral and emotional kind while also hunting her grandfather's killer, and the author's personal knowledge of Holkham shows in every loving and vivid description. The plot seemed obvious at first but I will admit to missing a link in solving the mystery thanks to great use of a red herring subplot!

Not sure I will continue with the author's next novel, set on Mustique, but I will definitely be reading her autobiography soon! show less

The memoir of Anne Glenconner, member of the British aristocracy, Maid of honor at Queen Elizabeth's coronation, Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret and wife of 53 years to the mercurial (to put it kindly) Collin Tennant, Lord Glenconner.

Born to a distinguished, but slightly down-at-the heels, aristocratic family, who sold pottery in order to afford upkeep on the family seat. She became engaged to Johnny Althorp (Princess Diana's father), but it was broken off when Lady Fermoy maneuvered show more her daughter Frances onto the scene.

She then embarked on a trip to the US to peddle the family's pottery line to American department stores. Traveling third class (steerage as she calls it), she still managed to glom onto some acquaintances in first class and eat all her meals with them. Once in New York, she had no idea how to go about selling to a large business concern, but once again, family friends gave her entre to all the major department stores. Rank does have its privilege. She also enjoyed traveling around the US via Greyhound bus proving she was quite the game girl.

Her US trip was cut short when she was called back to England to participate in Queen Elizabeth's coronation as a Maid of honor - apparently being chosen because of her height and hair color. That brush with fame led to her deepening friendship with Princess Margaret and her introduction to Colin Tennant who became her husband.

Tennant was handsome, enormously rich, but also rather eccentric - and that is putting it mildly. The living example of a sybarite, he loved doing everything in a big way. One of his biggest indulgences was purchasing the island of Mustique in the Caribbean, and turning it into a winter playground for the international jet set, and also gifting a house and land to Princess Margaret as a wedding gift. However, he also had a habit of throwing temper tantrums if he didn't get what he wanted, could be violent, and was none too discreet about his many affairs with other women (and men). Why did Anne stay with him for 54 years? As Collin said, "We were brought up not to throw in the towel but to bite bullets and fold towels neatly.” Perhaps an unhappy marriage was another thing that she and Princess Margaret shared as she remained her Lady in Waiting until her death in 2002.

Anne's children were largely ignored - as she was herself in childhood - and left in the care of nannies and servants. Her eldest son became a heroin addict, was disinherited, and then became rehabilitated only to die of Hepatitus C. Her second son, Henry, her favorite, was gay and died of AIDS, and her third son, Christopher almost died in a motorcycle accident. After being in a coma for almost five months, his first word when he became conscious was " Lamborghini." As Fitzgerald famously said, The rich are different. show less

Raced through this gossipy book about and by Anne Glenconner, long time lady in waiting to Princess Margaret. Her life was tangled in privilege and loss, outrageous expense and sorrow. She is definitely from the “put up and shut up about it” generation and there is no self-pity to be found in these pages, which I find endearing. Nowadays we are all about wallowing in trauma- here she takes on several tragedies with pure pluck and determination.
Of course, it is somewhat easier to deal show more with things when you are impossibly wealthy, I can’t help but think, but even here she doesn’t take on airs or lay claim to anything through her own merit.
I found myself liking her more and more as the book went on.
A good read and a quick one, even at 300 pages. Makes for an enjoyable afternoon of reading.
PS: this isn’t a gossip tell all about Princess M- in fact she is mentioned rarely, and in a no more than “she was a lovely woman” kind of way. And this makes me like the author even more. She is writing about her life, and she is kind to everyone around her, despite the things that go on.
Makes me wish for more appearance of grace in our brutal times. I long for that polite sheen over everything. show less