Lady Glenconner On Royal Memories, Her New Book & Her Upcoming Auction
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Bonhams' ‘Lady Glenconner: My Life in Objects’ auction commences on Tuesday 18 November
Not many people can truly say they have lived a storied life – but there’s no denying that Anne Tennant, Dowager Baroness Glenconner (best known as Lady Glenconner) fits the bill.
Growing up at Holkham Hall in Norfolk, Anne was a playmate of the young princesses Elizabeth and Margaret who lived just down the road at Sandringham. And when Elizabeth was elevated to heir presumptive, they brought Anne with them: aged 21, she was one of six maids of honour at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, but gradually developed a closer friendship with Margaret, becoming a lady-in-waiting in 1971.
‘I have lots of lovely memories of Princess Margaret,’ Anne tells me over the phone from her countryside home. ‘You know, I am so fond of her. I had a wonderful time with her. And Colin gave me an amazing time in Mustique actually, with all of the parties that went on there.’ She is of course referring to her late husband Colin Tennant, who purchased the Caribbean island of Mustique in 1958, gifting a 10-acre plot to Princess Margaret as a wedding present in 1960. This would become Les Jolies Eaux, the Princess’ famously favoured holiday home.
Lady Glenconner has explored all of these memories across both fiction and non-fiction books, with a new A-Z of new anecdotes now on the shelves under the title Manners & Mischief. ‘I’m now 93 and my publishers always wanted me to write something else [after the huge success of 2019’s Lady in Waiting and 2022’s Whatever Next], so I thought, well, I’ll do something,’ Anne tells me.
Lady Glenconner on her wedding day, photographed by Lord Snowdon, Anthony Armstrong Jones
And the memories all fresh in her 93-year-old mind, having just rifled through her belongings ahead of a Bonhams sale titled Lady Glenconner: My Life in Objects. Items up for auction include a nine-carat gold Cartier box gifted by Elizabeth II, a pair of Victorian silver-gilt salts from Princess Margaret, an eighteenth century painting, cutlery, furniture, crockery and more plus Lady Glenconner’s wedding dress designed by Sir Norman Hartnell and photographs of Anne (then Lady Anne Coke) in said dress on her wedding day snapped by Cecil Beaton and Anthony Armstrong Jones (aka Lord Snowdon).
It was the clothes in particular that brought the memories to the fore, with two gowns designed for the Peacock Ball also up for sale. ‘One changes shape,’ Lady Glenconner quips. ‘I’m rather hoping my wedding dress might be bought by a museum. It’s a beautiful dress.’
Taking place on 18 November ahead of another Bonhams sale of her jewellery, ‘I’m having the sale to raise money for my son,’ Anne explains. ‘I lost two of my sons, Henry and Charlie, and Christopher had a terrible accident, and he’s not getting worse but he’s not getting any better. He’s got a lovely wife but he falls down all the time. So I think he will need somebody to help look after him, and I want to do what I can before I’m gathered.’
Lady Glenconner: ‘I have lots of lovely memories of Princess Margaret’
Upon the news of her auction and her latest book hitting the shelves, in this edition of Shelf Life – where authors tell C&TH about the books that shaped them – Lady Glenconner tells us about Scottish adventures during the war, her love of Molly Keane
(And yes, there was a Lady Glenconner character in The Crown.)
Shelf Life: Lady Anne Glenconner
This book made me a reader…
There’s a book called Knock Three Times by Marion St John Webb. I had it when I was about six, I suppose – nearly 90 years ago! But to me it was just the most exciting book possibly I’d ever read. It was about a pin cushion turned into a grey pumpkin and rolled through a cupboard door. The girl in the book follows, and goes on the most wonderful adventures.
This book made me want to be a writer…
I suppose I always admired the way Jean Rhys wrote. When she wrote Wide Sargasso Sea, I sort of thought, ‘oh, I would love to be able to write like her’. I love her.
This book was formative in my youth…
The adventures of Richard Hannay by John Buchan. Again, very exciting. We were sent to Scotland during the war because my parents went to Egypt. My father was in the Scots guard and was fighting there, and my mother was in the Red Cross. Two of these Hannay books take place in Scotland, especially The Thirty-Nine Steps.
This book is one I can’t stop returning to…
EF Benson’s Mapp and Lucia series. I love those, they are so funny.
This book broadened my horizons…
Raj by Gita Mehta. I’ve been to India 26 times, actually, but her book made going to India so much more interesting. I really loved her book.
This book is my comfort blanket…
Anything by Molly Keane. I have all of her books, and one could just read them all day – just like a comfort blanket. Really lovely. I love the way she writes.
This book is my guilty pleasure…
Smut by Alan Bennett. A very small book but it’s totally funny. It’s quite rude. I love it being called ‘smut’. Actually calling it that made everyone want to read it.
I wish I’d written this book…
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. It’s quite a big book. I thought it was really brilliant. And he’s just done another called Covenant of Water which is sitting on my table, so that’s a great treat to look forward to.
I can’t stop talking about this book right now…
The Greyhound Diary by Judy Montague, edited by her daughter Anna Mathias. I knew Judy very well; she was a great friend of Princess Margaret. She went off to war and actually manned a gun, I believe in Hyde Park. She knew quite a few Americans, and she went on this Greyhound trip all over America. And I did the same thing, but selling my pottery. I didn’t meet the same people as it was a bit later. But I always loved Judy. She died quite young. That book is just out, and I’ve been talking to my friends about it.
I recommend this book to anyone and everyone who will listen…
Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton. I loved this because it’s so unexpected. On the whole I don’t particularly enjoy reading books about animals, but this was so charming. I live in the country now, and I love hares. Rabbits I can’t stand because they shall eat the garden up. But hares are always so charming. Now I’m in the country and I don’t go to London so much, and at my age I spend a lot of time looking out my window over the fields – I’m sitting here now actually. I have a pair of binoculars, and I often look at hares and what they’re doing.
Manners & Mischief
An A–Z of Royal Tales and Surprising Wisdom from Princess Margaret’s Lady in Waiting
By Anne Glenconner
Hardback, £18.99, out now
