My review of Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown, by Anne Glenconner
LadyGlenconner's life could arguably not have failed to make unputdownable reading.One might think it impossible for any aristocratic wife of the owner of theisland of Mustique, and royal Lady-in-Waiting, to get this wrong, consideringreadership thirst. Yet being a prominent peeress and socialite does not alwaysa fine author make. Some other daughter of an earl may not have been blessedwith this one's magnetic persona or storytelling prowess. Whilst she humblyacknowledges the publisher's support, this articulate and amusing woman is aborn raconteuse.
Her words glow with the impish charm and wry wit reminiscent of the late greatNancy Mitford, another highborn Mistress of Anecdote whose work became anindustry. Literary critic Raymond Mortimer wrote that Mitford's Madame dePompadour "reads as if an enchantingly clever woman was pouring out thestory to me on the telephone." In Glenconner's Lady in Waiting wefind a similar flair. As with Mitford's globally loved works, Lady Anne'snarrative makes no stab at literary greatness, instead riding on candour andauthenticity guaranteed to entertain.
Her breathtakingly privileged status never once becomes the storytellingliability it could have, in connecting with everyday people. Her frankness andhumility win us onside, without an ounce of the pomposity that has been theundoing of some biographers of her rank.
That we can't help but empathise over some of the awfulness life has thrown ather, is testimony to the balance of this piece. Her starchy aristocratic fatherThomas Coke, 5th Earl of Leicester, her impossible but fabulous husband ColinTennant, 3rd Baron Glennconner, her adored yet tragic two sons the Hon. Henryand Charles Tennant, were never going to make Lady Anne's life a walk in thepark. But fabulous times she has enjoyed, and she shares these generously withher readers, taking us on the ride of our lives.
Having anticipated this finely polished biography for a year, I drank it up infour nights and was saddened to close the last page.
A classy and delicious read. More please, Lady G.
