Anne Glenconner

**''A MUST-READ BOOK OF THE YEAR'' -CRAIG BROWN, MAIL ON SUNDAY** **THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER** **THE TIMES MEMOIR OF THE YEAR 2019** ''Astonishing . . . a perfect Christmas present'' INDIA KNIGHT, SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE ''One of the most enjoyable books of 2019'' ALISON PEARSON, THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH ''Remarkable . . . If your jaw doesn''t drop at least three times every chapter, you''ve not been paying proper attention'' THE SUNDAY TIMES ''Gentle, wise, unpretentious, but above all inspiring'' THE TIMES ''A candid, witty and stylish memoir'' MIRANDA SEYMOUR, FINANCIAL TIMES ''Discretion and honour emerge as the hallmarks of Glenconner''s career as a royal servant, culminating in this book which manages to be both candid and kind'' GUARDIAN ''A startling, rare, beguiling insight into a lost world of royalty and celebrity with as many tears as there are titles'' DAILY EXPRESS ''I couldn''t put it down. Funny and touching - like looking through a keyhole at a lost world.'' RUPERT EVERETT ''Lady Glenconner''s life story is a combination of royal magic, personal tragedy and resilient survival. With humour, courage and preternatural poise, she at last tells the story of her uniquely fascinating life.'' TINA BROWN ''It''s a total hoot - I can''t put it down'' JANET STREET-PORTER, DAILY MAIL ''Marvellous book . . . one''s eyes were on stalks'' JAN MOIR, DAILY MAIL ''Anne Glenconner has written a remarkable memoir - containing, at last, a genuine portrait of Princess Margaret from one who knew her well. But this book is poignant too, and through the pages shine her courage and good-humoured acceptance of her demons and tragedies.'' HUGO VICKERS ~ The remarkable life of Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret who was also a Maid of Honour at the Queen''s Coronation - and is a character in The Crown this autumn. Anne Glenconner reveals the real events behind The Crown as well as her own life of drama, tragedy and courage, with the wonderful wit and extraordinary resilience which define her. Anne Glenconner has been close to the Royal Family since childhood. Eldest child of the 5th Earl of Leicester, she was, as a daughter, described as ''the greatest disappointment'' by her family as she was unable to inherit. Her childhood home Holkham Hall is one of the grandest estates in England. Bordering Sandringham the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret were frequent playmates. From Maid of Honour at the Queen''s Coronation to Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret, Lady Glenconner is a unique witness to royal history, as well as an extraordinary survivor of a generation of aristocratic women trapped without inheritance and burdened with social expectations. She married the charismatic but highly volatile Colin Tennant, Lord Glenconner, who became the owner of Mustique. Together they turned the island into a paradise for the rich and famous, including Mick Jagger and David Bowie, and it became a favourite retreat for Princess Margaret. But beneath the glitz and glamour there has also lurked tragedy. On Lord Glenconner''s death in 2010 he left his fortune to a former employee. And of their five children, two grown-up sons died, while a third son had to be nursed back from a coma by Anne, after having suffered a near fatal accident. Anne Glenconner writes with extraordinary wit, generosity and courage and she exposes what life was like in her gilded cage, revealing the role of her great friendship with Princess Margaret, and the freedom she can now finally enjoy in later life. She will appear as a character in the new series of The Crown this autumn.

My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown

Lady in Waiting

The thrilling new novel from the acclaimed author of Murder on Mustique, based on the childhood described in her international bestseller Lady in Waiting. January 1950. Lady Anne Coke, daughter of the 5th Earl of Leicester, is in Scunthorpe on a business trip when she is called home after a sudden death in the family. She returns to Holkham Hall to discover a mystery: her beloved grandfather has been found dead at the bottom of a flight of stairs with a valuable piece of jewellery in his pocket. No one can find a cause of death, and some even suspect foul play from the ghost who supposedly haunts the house. But Anne's suspicions are aroused; she grew close to her grandfather when they lived together during the war and she is determined to discover the truth. During World War II, Holkham Hall was an army base with large sections out of bounds, and 11-year-old Anne was in the care of a new governess, whom she hated and believed to be deceitful. Although she had been told to stay away from certain parts of the house, Anne used the secret passageways and the cellars to move around unnoticed. And something she saw then could unlock the mystery of her grandfather's death now ... Full of rich historical detail, this is a gripping novel of wartime secrets, intrigue and deceit.

from the author of the bestselling memoir Lady in Waiting

A Haunting at Holkham

A storm. A disappearance. A race against time . . . Mustique is in a state of breathless calm as tropical storm Cristobal edges towards it across the Atlantic. Most villa owners have escaped the island but a few young socialites remain, unwilling to let summer's partying end. American heiress Amanda Fortini is one such thrill-seeker - until she heads out for a morning swim and doesn't return. Detective Sergeant Solomon Nile is just 28 years old and the island's only fully trained police officer. He quickly realises he needs to contact Lord and Lady Blake, who bought the island decades ago and have invested time, money and love creating a paradise. Jasper is in St Lucia designing a new village of luxury villas but Lady Veronica (Vee to her friends) catches a plane immediately. Her beloved god-daughter, Lily, is on the island and this disappearance has alarming echoes of what happened to Lily's mother many years ago. Lady Vee would never desert a friend in need, and she can keep a cool head in a crisis. When Amanda's body is found, a murder investigation begins. Nile knows the killer must be an islander because flights and ferry crossings have stopped due to the storm warning, but the local community isn't co-operating. And then the storm hits, and someone else disappears . . .

Murder On Mustique

Bracing honesty, rare insight, and more revelations from the author of the smash-hit New York Times bestselling memoir Lady in Waiting as she shares everything she's learned from her extraordinary and unexpected life. Lady in Waiting brought us royal magic, beguiling insight, and jaw-dropping stories from life inside Anne Glenconner’s privileged circle, which though golden didn't always glitter. Now in her ninth decade, she's keen to share everything her unexpected life has taught her—the wise, the extraordinary, hilarious, poignant, and illuminating learnings from a life which has taken her from Debutante of the Year to traveling salesman, as well as wife to volatile Lord Glenconner, and Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret. She has organized extravagant parties, run huge houses, camped in jungle in Mustique, served on royal tours, as well as survived the devastating loss of two sons, and nursing another back to life. A treasury of hard-won wisdom, as well as vintage entertainment of the kind only Anne Glenconner can deliver.

Lessons from an Unexpected Life

Whatever Next?

**New York Times Bestseller**USA Today Bestseller**The Sunday Times Bestseller**The Globe and Mail Bestseller**ABA Indie Bestseller**The Times (UK) Memoir of the Year**One of Newsweek's Most Anticipated Books of 2020** An extraordinary memoir of drama, tragedy, and royal secrets by Anne Glenconner--a close member of the royal circle and lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret. As seen on Netflix's The Crown. Anne Glenconner has been at the center of the royal circle from childhood, when she met and befriended the future Queen Elizabeth II and her sister, the Princess Margaret. Though the firstborn child of the 5th Earl of Leicester, who controlled one of the largest estates in England, as a daughter she was deemed "the greatest disappointment" and unable to inherit. Since then she has needed all her resilience to survive court life with her sense of humor intact. A unique witness to landmark moments in royal history, Maid of Honor at Queen Elizabeth's coronation, and a lady in waiting to Princess Margaret until her death in 2002, Anne's life has encompassed extraordinary drama and tragedy. In Lady in Waiting, she will share many intimate royal stories from her time as Princess Margaret's closest confidante as well as her own battle for survival: her broken-off first engagement on the basis of her "mad blood"; her 54-year marriage to the volatile, unfaithful Colin Tennant, Lord Glenconner, who left his fortune to a former servant; the death in adulthood of two of her sons; a third son she nursed back from a six-month coma following a horrific motorcycle accident. Through it all, Anne has carried on, traveling the world with the royal family, including visiting the White House, and developing the Caribbean island of Mustique as a safe harbor for the rich and famous-hosting Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Raquel Welch, and many other politicians, aristocrats, and celebrities. With unprecedented insight into the royal family, Lady in Waiting is a witty, candid, dramatic, at times heart-breaking personal story capturing life in a golden cage for a woman with no inheritance.

Whatever Next

Murder on Mustique

The remarkable life of Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret who was also a Maid of Honour at the Queen's Coronation - and is a character in THE CROWN this spring. Anne Glenconner reveals the real events behind The Crown as well as her own life of drama, tragedy and courage, with the wonderful wit and extraordinary resilience which define her.Anne Glenconner has been close to the Royal Family since childhood. Eldest child of the 5th Earl of Leicester, she was, as a daughter, described as 'the greatest disappointment' by her family as she was unable to inherit. Her childhood home Holkham Hall is one of the grandest estates in England. Bordering Sandringham the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret were frequent playmates. From Maid of Honour at the Queen's Coronation to Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret, Lady Glenconner is a unique witness to royal history, as well as an extraordinary survivor of a generation of aristocratic women trapped without inheritance and burdened with social expectations. She married the charismatic but highly volatile Colin Tennant, Lord Glenconner, who became the owner of Mustique. Together they turned the island into a paradise for the rich and famous, including Mick Jagger and David Bowie, and it became a favourite retreat for Princess Margaret. But beneath the glitz and glamour there has also lurked tragedy. On Lord Glenconner's death in 2010 he left his fortune to a former employee. And of their five children, two grown-up sons died, while a third son had to be nursed back from a coma by Anne, after having suffered a near fatal accident. Anne Glenconner writes with extraordinary wit, generosity and courage and she exposes what life was like in her gilded cage, revealing the role of her great friendship with Princess Margaret, and the freedom she can now finally enjoy in later life. She will appear as a character in the new series of THE CROWN this spring.

A Lady in Waiting

Filled with sparkling anecdotes and tales of living life to the full, featuring previously unseen photographs from Lady Glenconner's personal collection. Lady Anne Glenconner, Lady-in-Waiting to Princess Margaret and Maid of Honour at the Queen's Coronation, returns with a rich, sparkling memoir told through an A to Z of her life. From affairs of the heart and Basil's Bar to dinners with the King and the art of entertaining each chapter reveals a vivid moment of joy, mischief or resilience. Whether offering tips on getting out of the bath with grace, or how to lose at cards with Princess Margaret, she shares wisdom and memory in equal measure. This book is a love letter to a disappearing world and a reminder that life, at any age, should be faced with laughter, a stiff upper lip, and the odd vodka tonic.

An A–Z of Royal Tales and Surprising Wisdom from Princess Margaret's Lady in Waiting

Manners and Mischief

Haunting at Holkham

In De hofdame vertelt Anne Glenconner over haar tragische leven in een gouden kooi als de hofdame van de Britse prinses Margaret. Voor de fans van The Crown. De hofdame van Anne Glenconner: unieke memoires van de hofdame van prinses Margaret, voor alle fans van The Crown en Downton Abbey. De hofdame vertelt het verhaal van het bijzondere leven van Anne Glenconner, maid of honour tijdens de kroning van koningin Elizabeth en de hofdame van prinses Margaret. Ze is een unieke getuige van de recente Britse koninklijke geschiedenis en geeft in haar memoires niet alleen een kijkje achter de schermen van het koningshuis, maar schetst ook een beeld van een generatie aristocratische vrouwen die gevangen zat in een wereld vol sociale verwachtingen. Ze was voor haar vader een ‘grote teleurstelling’ omdat ze geen jongen was en ze werd niet genoemd in het testament van haar eigen man, die zijn fortuin naliet aan een van zijn werknemers. Anne Glenconner, inmiddels achtentachtig jaar oud, schrijft in De hofdame met humor, openheid en moed over haar tragische leven in een gouden kooi, haar vriendschap met prinses Margaret en de vrijheid waarvan ze nu pas kan genieten. ‘Vol humor, soms tragisch, en ontwapenend eerlijk. De hofdame zit vol wijsheid en is zonder rancune geschreven, maar is bovenal inspirerend.’ – The Times ‘Ongelooflijk. Als je mond elk hoofdstuk niet minstens drie keer openvalt, heb je niet goed opgelet.’ – The Sunday Times

Mijn bijzondere leven in de schaduw van de Britse kroon

De hofdame

C'è una calma innaturale sull'isola caraibica di Mustique; quella che precede gli uragani. I proprietari delle ville di lusso se ne sono andati alla svelta; è rimasta solo una ristretta cerchia di rampolli sfaccendati che non vuole rassegnarsi alla fine dell'estate. Ma quando la giovane ereditiera newyorkese Amanda sparisce tra le onde durante una nuotata all'alba, alla paura dell'uragano si aggiunge il terrore che qualcuno si aggiri in quell'angolo di paradiso con le peggiori intenzioni. Eppure nell'esclusiva Mustique si conoscono tutti: ci sono i "ricchi" e ci sono i locali, al loro servizio. A cercare di far luce sull'accaduto, il ventottenne Solomon Nile, l'unico vero poliziotto del luogo, rientrato dopo anni trascorsi in Inghilterra, e Lady Vee, veterana dell'isola e madre adottiva della migliore amica di Amanda, che riesce a raggiungere la figlia con l'ultimo volo. Intanto la tempesta tropicale Cristobal si avvicina da est costringendo le autorità a interrompere i collegamenti. Nessuno può più lasciare le coste di Mustique, nemmeno un presunto assassino. E mentre Solomon e Lady Vee interrogano i membri della comunità alla disperata ricerca di indizi e l'uragano inveisce con tutta la sua potenza, qualcun altro scompare... Nel posto più sicuro al mondo, come è possibile dover sospettare di tutti, dal vicino di casa all'ultimo dei giardinieri? Un giallo straordinario in una cornice da sogno, scritto da un'autrice d'eccezione: la baronessa Glenconner, dama di compagnia della principessa Margaret e assidua frequentatrice di Mustique.

Anne Glenconner

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