Whatever Next!

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Some of what my grandmother tried to teach us seemed outdated and formal to us, but most of the core values and behaviors stand the test of time. is an interesting book about a wealthy woman whose family has associated for decades with the Royal Family.

Bracing honesty, rare insight, and more revelations: the New York Times bestselling author of Lady in Waiting shares everything she's learned from her extraordinary and unexpected life. Deeply honest and touching, the author shares engaging bits about her life, including her childhood, her lifelong friendship with Princess Margaret, the complicated relationship with her late husband, her children, the losses she’s endured, and the life she’s built for herself now. The admission of being a survivor of domestic abuse is very powerful, but the rest of the story has already been told in the first book. Once when I didn’t open a door quickly enough for Colin, and he blew up and she saw me start to cry, she just said, ‘Stop that at once, Anne. It was her sense of humour, the ability to laugh and see the good, as well as the bad, that sustained her through a long and busy life.You may remember that Anne was a maid of honor at Queen Elizabeth's coronation, and then served as a lady in waiting to Princess Margaret for several decades. When asked for the secret of a healthy old age, she advises people to sit up straight, to lift their feet when walking and not shuffle, and to make lunch their last meal of the day. Three years on from Lady in Waiting, it’s great to have another memoir from Lady Glenconner who, at 90, says she’s loving her new literary career. He beat her within an inch of her life and left her for dead, and yet she comes up with sentences like this: "I do feel glad that Colin and I managed to maintain a real friendship during our marriage.

Obviously, most people don't have the resources to do this even if they wanted to, and Anne is aware of her "luck" in this regard. I felt bad for Princess Margaret when Anne wrote of how the press had to set up a "bad sister" to play against the Queen as "good sister. She clearly relishes her success as an author, and intends to carry on writing; I, for one, wish her all the best.Anne and Colin found their salvation in living more or less independently, and I was happy for her that this worked out. Anne seemed to have great common sense in dealing with things: "Sometimes I find that talking too much about life's problems can simply make one more agitated and prolong the misery. It was interesting, and I appreciate her mentioning of matters and consideration, as I think it’s still important today. Now in her ninth decade and at her happiest, she's keen to share everything her unexpected life has taught her—the wise, the hilarious, the poignant, and the illuminating.

Despite the vast differences in our backgrounds, I felt like Anne was a kindred spirit in many ways. We had a lovely time with Whatever Next- first I read the story to Miles, then we read it again with his dad there too and Miles loved telling him what was happening and showing him the animals.Anne says she believes it was her early training on how to behave and her experiences during WWII and as a traveling saleswoman for her family pottery that gave her the ability to deal with everything which happened to her later. Some letters are forwarded to me by my publisher, but quite often they come addressed to ‘Lady Glenconner, The Farmhouse, Norfolk. All children will need later is a cardboard box and they will be able to imagine they are off to the moon themselves!

After reading "Lady in Waiting", also written by Lady Glenconner, I didn't know what else she could have added to top it but I was actually surprised by what I read: it was a more thorough approach to facts she lightly touched on her first book, and I get why she did it.

When writing about her life, I couldn't help many times but be amazed at what it must be like to have such wealth: "We had an excellent staff, and though I felt terribly busy at the time, I never cleaned a bath or made a bed.