Rating: 4/5
Review:
Very good
Lady In Waiting is well written, amusing in places and very sad in
others and provides an excellent insight into the aristocratic world.
Lady Anne Glenconner
is the eldest daughter of the Earl Of Essex and this is her account
of her life, beginning with her childhood in Holkham, Norfolk, where
she was friends with Princesses Elizabeth (now Queen) and Margaret.
We get an involving and readable account of her life growing up there
and away at school, her marriage to a phenomenally rich man who
behaved like a badly spoilt six-year-old throughout his life, her
life as a Lady In Waiting to Princess Margaret and some of the
monumental tragedies which befell her family.
I found one of the
most interesting aspects of the book was the way in which that small,
rather closed stratum of society works. Her husband’s behaviour
was often outrageous, but stiff upper lips were expected and she
remarks “Apart from his infidelity and his temper we got on so
well…”. (Apart from!) She also says “Almost every single
couple I could think of was interlaced with other people’s husbands
and wives.” She recounts the sheer heartbreak and misery of both
her and her children as they were sent away to boarding school, but
no-one seems to think that this might mean that it’s not a very
good idea. And when difficulties arise it is just taken for granted
that someone will provide a house or get the military to intervene to
help and so on. This is not a world I recognise, and I found it
fascinating.
The most compelling
parts of the book are the most tragic as she recounts the dreadful
things which happened to her family, all of which is genuinely
affecting.
This isn’t my
normal sort of reading, but I enjoyed it. It is perhaps a little
overlong and there’s some rather spectacular name-dropping which
can get a little much, but it’s a very good read.
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