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Hodder & Stoughton has acquired the memoir of Princess Margaret’s former lady-in-waiting Lady Anne Glenconner with plans to publish in October.
Non-fiction publisher Rowena Webb acquired world rights through Gordon Wise at Curtis Brown. The book, A Lady in Waiting, will be published jointly with Tom Perrin at Zuleika Publishing and in the US with Paul Whitlatch at Hachette Books.
Lady Glenconner was lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret until the royal’s death in 2002 and was also a maid of honour at the Queen’s Coronation. The eldest child of the 5th Earl of Leicester, she was brought up at Holkham Hall, next door to Sandringham with the two Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret as frequent playmates. She was married for 54 years to Colin Tennant, Lord Glenconner, the man who bought the Caribbean island of Mustique and will appear as a character in the new series of Netflix’s 'The Crown' this autumn.
“A Lady in Waiting is told with the wonderful wit and astonishing resilience which define her,” said the publisher. “Lady Glenconner, now 87, will capture through her unique story a generation, a social class, and a first-hand view of royal life in this warm, witty, moving and entertaining book.”
Webb said: “This is an absolute treasure of a book. Anne Glenconner is an incredible first-hand witness to royal history as well as a survivor whose own life and extraordinary courage has so much to say to the generations which follow her. And she can make us laugh as few storytellers can!”
Perrin added: “Anne’s book is a remarkable portrait of life for women of her generation. It delights in anecdote and is made unique by her quick wit and good humour; but it also reveals another, more honest, side to the lives of aristocratic women of her world: hers is a perspective that captures a sense of the volatility behind the glitter and bravura, and in that sense it is very refreshing.”