The rewards of loyalty

The royal confidante on finding fame late in life

- Lady Glenconner

HOLKHAM, on the north Norfolk coast, with its fine Palladian hall and vast beach, has long been a draw, but the estate now boasts an additional attraction. ‘I was signing books in the shop last Christmas and charabancs came from the Midlands,’ says Lady Glenconner in disbelief. ‘They were snaking all the way around the park to meet me!’

Her memoir, Lady in Waiting, is a publishing phenomenon, selling nearly half a million copies in the UK alone and spending 37 weeks in the bestseller charts. It recently passed 100,000 sales in America, has been published in France, and bought by Russia and Japan. ‘Sometimes, I feel like a child,’ she enthuses. ‘I’m so lucky. Here I am, next year I’ll be 90, and I’ve got this exciting, amazing life.’

Born Lady Anne Coke, eldest daughter of the 5th Earl of Leicester, she grew up at her beloved Holkham, where the Cokes were close to the Royal Family; as a child, she played with Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret at nearby Sandringham and her father was equerry to George VI. She was a maid of honor at the Coronation in 1953, before marrying the colorful Colin Tennant (later Lord Glenconner), creator of Mustique. In 1971, Princess Margaret asked her to become a lady in waiting, a position she held until the Princess’s death in 2002.

It was chiefly to correct public opinion of Margaret that Lady Glenconner set about writing her book. (She was enraged by Craig Brown’s 2017 savage, mischievous biography, Ma’am Darling.) The Margaret of Lady Glenconner’s memoir isn’t without certain ‘royal moments’, but her many kindnesses are emphasized.