Three years ago, Lady Anne Glenconner wrote Lady in Waiting, a memoir about being lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret and coming up through the aristocracy, and her life and times, basically. The book was a massive success, and her appearance on the Graham Norton Show – alongside cast members of The Crown – became an instant classic, especially when Lady Anne told the story of her honeymoon in Paris, when her new husband took her to a brothel. Olivia Colman’s reaction to the story was particularly amazing (the video is at the end of the post). Well, her first book was such a success that she’s written a second book called Whatever Next? She’s currently promoting it, and she’s giving interviews right and left, which is why she spoke to the Times of London. She talked about the glamour of royalty in the old days, how much she adores King Charles and Prince William, and she also shared her thoughts on the Sussexes. Some highlights:
King Charles’s slimmed-down coronation. “I think it has to be. And anyway, I’m so fond of King Charles but, you know, he’s not young. The Queen was so beautiful, so glamorous, and look at the Duke of Edinburgh. He was to die for. People were madly in love with him. It was absolute perfection.” She thinks Charles will make a “great” king. “He’s had long enough. He really minds about things and people and you can see it. And she’s great. She’s wonderful for him.”
The Crown needs a disclaimer: “I think it should,” says Glenconner, who was portrayed in an earlier series. “Absolutely it should. One saw the moment when I was on, and Princess Margaret, and it bore no relation to the truth whatsoever. I don’t watch it now. I couldn’t. It would make me so angry, seeing people trashed like that. Well, not trashed, but not like them. It’s fiction. I think it should say so clearly. And,” she says darkly, “a lot of people do.”
She’s a “big fan” of William and Kate: “I think she’s absolutely fantastic. I don’t know her very, very well, but they come to Mustique quite often. I think she’s wonderful, and Prince William. They’re so good together. And lovely children. And she looks stunning, doesn’t she? That’s a help. I think she was very well brought up by Carole.”
The Sussex section: As for Megxit and the ongoing Sussex psychodrama, she went to their wedding but met Meghan only once, briefly, which is at least more than some of the other guests. She sighs. “I feel that probably the sort of things the royal family have to do, they’re just not very interesting. You’re not driven around in a golden coach. They had a wonderful wedding, but life isn’t going…” She pauses. “One’s own wedding was fantastic, but next day you’re back to normal. I don’t know whether she thought it was going to be all very grand.” Princess Margaret was something of a royal renegade herself, so she might have sympathised. She gives me an arch look. “I rather doubt it.”
“She looks stunning, doesn’t she? That’s a help. I think she was very well brought up by Carole.” I think in a limited way, that is how those inside WindsorWorld view Kate and the Middletons. Kate is “doing her duty,” nothing more or less, and it helps that Kate is somewhat interesting to look at. It also helps that Carole trained her daughter to be a doormat and do anything to secure the ring and maintain her marriage. As for what she says about the Sussexes… “I don’t know whether she thought it was going to be all very grand.” Harry and Meghan have made it abundantly clear that they wanted to work and they wanted to exist without being smeared and denigrated in the media. This whole idea that royal life wasn’t glamorous enough for Meghan is asinine. But I’m sure that’s one of the prevailing thoughts within the aristocracy.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, screencap from Graham Norton.
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- Britain’s Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle attend the Dawn Service at Wellington Arch to commemorate Anzac Day in London, Britain, April 25, 2018.
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- (170118) — DAVOS, Jan. 18, 2017 () — U.S. Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the 47th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 18, 2017.(/Xu Jinquan)(gl)
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- LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 21: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how funds raised by the ‘Together: Our Community’ Cookbook are making a difference at Al Manaar, North Kensington on November 21, 2018 in London, England.,Image: 534664062, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 21: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex has a drink as she visits the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how funds raised by the ‘Together: Our Community’ Cookbook are making a difference at Al Manaar, North Kensington on November 21, 2018 in London, England.
The Meghan only wanted it to be grand is always funny because Harry made it really clear from the engagement interview that he fell in love with her when she was perfectly fine camping in Botswana.
They keep saying “grand” but I think the word would be “functional”. She expected it to make some kind of sense, and it ended up being a byzantine bureaucracy, run by the world’s most regressive minds.
Meghan also went around New Zealand in a camper before she met Harry, and she’s often talked about how her mother took her to places in Mexico and the Caribbean that were not tourist spots to see how people lived.
if anything, I think Meghan thought the family was too grand. She was clearly frustrated by the fact that they spend more time and energy on protocol than actual work. She was ready to work hard and get her hands dirty and they were horrified.
This b!tch is making it sound like Meghan thought she’d be riding around in a “golden coach” every day. I think Meghan is perfectly capable of realizing her wedding day was going to be different from every other day of her life. It’s so gross that they continue to give people so disingenuous a platform to spew this crap.
Too late to edit, but also wanted to point out that Meghan did more work before she was actually married to Harry than Kate’s done in the ENTIRE TIME she’s been married. This woman is putting her shallow-ass values on display.
Exactly this. She took their claims of ‘service’ to heart and was ready to do and give her best and they slapped her down. Grand my foot.
Why, on this earth, this old bird thought Meghan thought she would be riding around in a ‘golden coach every day’ is so nonsensical. I guess it’s the memo Lady Glenconnor was given and was impervious?/unaware of all the work Meghan put in. Actual work. The ‘golden coach’ thing came up in a Guardian interview/article in March 2020. “Coincidentally” a few months after H&M stepped down.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/20/anne-glenconner-margaret-meghan-markle
Royalists are going to royalist.
I think that Meghan was not only ready to work but she did work while in England. It’s obvious in her life before entering the royal family and since they returned to the U.S. Kate is still trying to replicate their work, Meghan’s work particularly, years after she left. Kate’s still in search of a singular event or project, after more than a decade as a married-in. And it’s telling that this woman’s stated reason for praising Kate is because she goes to Mustique, and she likes Kate’s looks. Okay.
Did anyone else read Anne Cole’s book? She’s spent all of her life in abusive relationships, her parents, that godawful ‘husband,’ Lord Glenconner, and Princess Margaret. I don’t think she is any sort of judge of other people, their motivations or a healthy personality.
I read it and had to stop partway through…. horrific abusive behavior described as eccentricity was more than I could handle. It somehow reminded me of the story of Harry’s aristo friends being appalled by Meghan because she “couldn’t take a joke” and called out their racist, sexist bullshit. Ugh.
I read it. You’re right that she was in a lot of abusive relationships, including one with Margaret, but didn’t seem to realize it or was fine apologizing for her abusers. One of the things that stuck out to me most was that she complained that Diana got so much attention for visiting HIV+ patients when Margaret did the same.
My takeaway after watching the crown is that the Windsor’s are big ass snobs in general, and they assume that everyone WANTS their life and wants to penetrate the cool kids, and they seem to relish in letting you know that you’re not allowed to be “one of them”. As an American, I can see how Meghan would be like “F*ck it, I tried”. What the Brits don’t get, IMO is that yah it looks cool, but at some point we stop chasing and do our own thing. I think it’s a singularly American value to work within the system, and then work around the system if it doesn’t work for you. My two cents.
Also as an aside, having watched season 4 & 5, Charles seems like a very small man, looking for constant validation and praise. Is this true (recognizing the show is a docudrama)? What say you Brits?
He’s often been reported as always wanting praise from his father, because his father constantly criticised and disapproved of him from when he was a child, and ever after.
His public image in Britain hasn’t shown him constantly seeking praise from anyone else. But it has shown him constantly wanting people to look after him. Presumably because he felt neglected by his mother as a child.
I would have expected one of his nannies would have been his mother in all but name, and he wouldn’t need mothering from the queen, but apparently that wasn’t the case.
I think that’s been one of the reasons he and Camilla get along so well and have for decades. She gives him that constant validation and praise.
I love how all these stale crusty white people talk of Meghan’s thoughts as if they know her, when they’ve never exchanged as much as a hello with her. With out Powerball so high all the time, I want their psychic powers so I don’t have to do this whole go to work thing.
Exactly, another snooty tw*t who thinks she knows what Meghan thinks. And tries to sell it. Ugh.
This part! She has no problem using Meghan’s name to drum up her book sales. She said some similar nonsense in her last book as well, that Meghan didn’t want to work,and other nonsense that’s sounds very sour grapes. Well Meghan works just fine, so why is she still even talking about her?
@L4Frimaire, exactly. What a dull life these people must live. What a turn-off, trying to sell an ridiculous and erroneous opinion.
The people talking about Meghan don’t know her at all. Lol she thought it was all going to be glamour. They’ve created an idea of who Meghan is in their heads, an adventuress who wants the glamorous life, and keep reiterating that point as if it will make it reality. Meghan has spoken so much through archetypes and they willfully ignore her own words. Because to listen to her would be to humanise her and certain people prefer to maintain that colonialist mindset. So yeah sure she just thought it would all be glamour, gtfoh.
Somehow I substituted glamour for grand. Eh, whatever, either way.
Exactly this, very well said
Ironically, the person they’re actually describing is Waity Katie, the laziest duchess to come down the pike.
So on the one hand, Meghan was too American and work-minded to respect the institution, and on the other hand, she was disappointed because it wasn’t all golden coaches and tiaras all the time. Got it.
It’s not a coincidence that all these random old white women pop out of the woodwork to randomly praise Kate and they almost all say things like “oh, and how does she stay so slim?” as if it has anything to do with her role in the family.
And Margaret was no royal renegade – she had the weakness of character that meant she made the opposite choice as Harry and Meghan.
I’m not sure where Margaret stood in the racism stakes, vis a vis her odious sounding mother, but, I’m sure she wouldn’t have sympathised with Harry’s non-white wife having ideas above her station. Besides, she had little sympathy for Diana by the end, or if she did, didn’t see fit to do much about it. Because, yknow, cocktail hour.
Rest assured Margret was very racist. *Shocker*
Harry was able to get out because he had Meghan to help him (and her well being to motivate him). Without her, he likely would have continued to stay as well. Margaret had nowhere else to go and nothing else she could do. Even Harry’s success outside of The Firm is, in part, because of Americans (and especially Black Americans) who saw the fuckshit going on and helped them – the friends (including Serena) who flew Meghan out for her baby shower, Tyler Perry lending them a whole property AND security, the friends who suggested they make a deal with a streaming entity (which became deals with Netflix and Spotify). Meghan’s connections (and people wanting to help Meghan) are what helped Harry get out.
Leaving your family is hella hard. Leaving a cult is hella hard. Leaving your family which is essentially a 1,000+ year old cult must be almost impossible.
👏👏 Excellent post!
I’m fully aware leaving a cultish hellish family is hard. But you are forgetting Diana, who broke not only the cycle of her own family but that of the royals, and she had a worse prospect of it because she wasn’t “one of their own” the way Margaret was. She died too quickly for us to know how she would have used her resources further to set up her separate life, but that first push is the hardest and Diana showed it could be done by yourself. Margaret had a spoiled, small, bitter personality with little interest in the world around her, and that manifested her whole life.
(Also, recently uncovered papers show that all Margaret would have needed to do was remove herself from the line of succession and she would have kept all other privileges. So her ultimate refusal further shows her mindset).
There is a reason Harry says “I’ve got a hell of a lot of my mum in me”. Meghan helped him because they are a team but as they both say, they helped each other – it wasn’t one over the other.
I think that if Diana had lived longer, they would have destroyed her some other way. They had her sons, the ultimate leverage, and a royal press corps that had no social media to challenge it.
But, on the other hand, there was no social media to amplify the worst of it as happened with Meghan.
I absolutely think Diana could have accomplished it. They perceived her as behaving terribly but it still never made any difference custody-wise.
Diana might not have made any really big moves until PH was grown. And then he probably would have said bye to the RF also.
@C said: “(Also, recently uncovered papers show that all Margaret would have needed to do was remove herself from the line of succession and she would have kept all other privileges. So her ultimate refusal further shows her mindset).”
Recently uncovered papers, eh! LOL! Don’t be fooled. Whatever was ‘uncovered’ is just the firm’s and the UK government’s intentionally hidden away insurance policy brought out in recent years to absolve the monarchy and the government of any responsibility for their role in preventing Margaret from marrying the man she truly loved. Contemporaneous accounts tell us more of the true story. It was the old men in the government, stuffy courtiers, and the firm itself, haunted by Edw VIII’s abdication, that deep-sixed Margaret & Townsend being able to marry.
The Queen did try to broker a deal for M to marry div. T, without losing her royal status and privileges, but it fell through. With George VI dead and unable to grant M’s deepest desire, she was forced to choose between her only known identity as a royal, and the man she loved. She had been deceived into believing she would be free to marry T once she became 25. She had been lied to. The monarchy and the government never had any intention of allowing them to marry.
After Townsend and Margaret were no longer alive, their love story travails began to be rewritten. Yes, M was narrow-minded, entitled and bitter. But that was largely due to how she had been raised, spoiled, and ultimately betrayed by the very system she was born to swear allegiance to, even against her own well-being and best interests.
A similar situation happened to William of Gloucester. Fortunately, for Prince Harry, his personality and the love and ideals his mother gave him helped salvage his life. Meeting Meghan further changed the direction Harry’s life has ultimately taken. Thank God that #LoveWins for Harry & Meghan!
She uses the usual jargon Kate is stunning,perfect family etc usual drivel
Her comments about seeing her at Mustique a lot are revealing in ways she didn’t realize. Prince William being there was added as an afterthought.
@Nic, MTE
Lady gave herself away in 2 places: 1) she misses the “glamour” of the royals in the old days and that Kate was “well brought up” by her mom. This lady can’t stand that Harry chose a biracial woman to fall in love with. A biracial woman would be fine to “dally with” in a brothel, not live in the palace as a Duchess. This cow probably thinks that only business Meghan had in any royal palace is to be cleaning it. Her racism is showing.
Well brought up to lady g must mean not supporting oneself and waiting for a proposal from a wealthy man
And “by Carole” like she was a single mother. Poor Michael, the invisible man.
What I thought was odd about the “well brought up” comment was that it’s strange to say about a 40 year old. It sounds so infantilizing and I had to remind myself that Kate isn’t 18 any more. Why didn’t she frame it as kate has acclimated so well to royal life due to the strong support network from her family?
I read that as bringing up children is women’s work while the father is away doing man things (like other women based in how the aristocracy seems to work).
Yeah….a classic example of a microaggression that the average white person would prolly miss but which Black People/POC/BIPOC see oh so clearly:…..
Case in point: in spkng of the windsors, she talks of the ‘glamour’ and the ‘perfection’ and the ‘beauty’ and the ‘grandeur’ of royalty back in the day. Even spkng in the here-and-now, in mentioning kHATE, she again spoke of ‘beauty’ and ‘perfection’ and how ‘stunning’ (and silent) she is……note well: she’s never spoken to Bulliam or kHATE.
And neither does she know Meghan. HOWEVER, of Princess Meghan she says: “I don’t know whether she thought it was going to be all very grand.”
So, what have we here? All of a sudden, royalty isnt grand and stunning anymore, now that theres a new entrant…..the new, black-biracial entrant.
Sure jan. We see you.
And heres a curious bit of slippage from that old gorgan’s mouth: it was suggested in the interview that “Margaret was something of a royal renegade herself, so she might have sympathised.”
And what does Glenconner say and do? “She gives me an arch look. “I rather doubt it.”
So……..she doubts that Margaret, who is notoriously believed to have been a racist, would have sympathised with M.
These stinking old racist asssholes really tell on themselves, dont they?
This.
I think Princess Michael said Diana was either not well brought up or badly brought up……
In her case, she was referring to Diana not obeying the royal family’s rules. Not coming down to breakfast at the right time, arriving to dinner after the queen was already there, staying in her room instead of joining them on picnics, refusing to do things…..
Kate showed she would do almost anything to get the title and status – other than work hard – so she was probably obedient and submissive to the “rules” and to Queen and Charles. Other than refusing to work more, even when the queen told her to. (There was an article that said William and Kate had rows about it, when he would take the queens side.).
Cairidh, I somehow doubt that Wails has made much of an effort to get to the breakfast/dinner table on time. Let’s remember that she was completely unable to get to even ONE engagement/event with the Danish royals on time. She showed complete disrespect to them, but we’re supposed to believe that she showed respect to TQ? I’m not buying that, any more than thinking that she has done more than a Church walk at Christmas with the brf. I believe she’s with her parents. Who knows where Fairls is. Why do you think the other post was about Fails needing to be at Sandringham and not both of them?
Aren’t they kinda accusing Meghan of all he things that Khate is guilty of– thinking royal life is all about buttons, inherited earrings, and vacations?
They keep trying to rationalize why they were dumped, but are never able to look inward at themselves for the cause. No self-awareness. It’s a theme at this point among the white Royalists.
They have to tell themselves reasons and a narrative that’s not damaging to their self image, self esteem and delusions of superiority. Meghan found them lacking and how insulting is that?
The reverse is always true. Meghan came to work and the royals wanted her shiny star to enhance their place in the world. Meghan wasn’t supposed to outshine or speak much. The smears went full throttle when she didn’t stand down and let the royals have center stage. The genie was not going back in the bottle. Meghan’s simple presence was too much and the public saw the royal empty vessel. The continuous rewriting to salvage royal prestige is gone.
Exactly, well said.
So….royal life wasn’t grand enough for Meghan which is why she *checks notes* left it to live in CA? Lolz
And lolz at “a lot of people” think the crown needs a disclaimer. Are there that many folks in England who don’t understand the difference between fantasy and reality? Fact and fiction?
“So….royal life wasn’t grand enough for Meghan which is why she *checks notes* left it to live in CA? Lolz”
I chortled because the images that always come to my mind first of this woman who allegedly needed more glamor and glitz, are the ones when she’s always barefoot and in shorts – at their home or on the side of the polo field, watching Harry play. Always casual.
I don’t know about other Americans or Meghan’s state of mind, but I find the whole royalty thing absurd and odd. I read these stories and just…
Regardless if they’re not riding around in golden coaches, they do a ton of pomp and circumstance and patting themselves on the back while seemingly accomplishing little to nothing. You’re born with all this privilege and think you’re so special and all you do is complain about it and do nothing.
I’m sure if I was up close and personal with it, I’d roll my eyes so hard they’d get stuck in the back of my head.
Exactly. Except sometimes they are driven around in golden (or other) coaches or riding on the back of a jeep for the commoners to bow down or being carried by “subjects”. But none of that was H&M.
Fuzzy Crocodile, I agree with you. American history doesn’t encompass the royal family, so they are not part of our past or present. It seems that the younger generation, specifically, are seeing through the facade and don’t like what’s behind the curtain. That’s not to say that anyone older isn’t just as aware, but I think as a group it’s the younger generation that’s seeing clearly. I think the same in some respects to US politics. I can’t wait for 2030, because our Gen Zs will really be a force to be reckoned with.
My favorite thing about the Royals and their hangers-on is how they absolutely sell the ever-loving life out of the idea that the family is glamorous and elegant and their lives are gilded and, crucially, should be that way for the foreseeable.
And then every time someone complains about the low pay or how poorly they’re treated the BRF comes right out and says sh-t like this. ‘Ooooh it’s not grand, it’s work’.
Exactly!
This reminds me of a scene from the Crown, where the queen and QM are sitting around while William gets the TV set up for them and the QM makes a comment about watching the soaps and QE is kind of like “well not that we do that…….” and they’re watching the races etc.
And then when QE meets with Diana later that day she’s talking about how busy they all are and how no one has time to try to destroy her (Diana) etc.
So they have all this time to sit around and watch racing and watch the soaps but immediately pivot to “we’re all so busy!” when its convenient.
Yeah! The exact same thing. Like they broadcast a particular image to the world, which is fine, that’s their brand and I get it. But whenever anyone expects them to live up to that image their response is ‘why would you believe that fairy tale? It’s a brutal life.’
The scene that comes to my mind from the Crown is the episode where Margaret Thatcher goes to Balmoral and then has this whole speech about how uncultured and rude the family actually is. Which I found totally believable
Me too! Nothing I’ve ever heard about them or from them suggests that they’re an interesting or kind family. It must be a real sea change for someone like Harry leaving that life. Like in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy goes from sepia to color.
“Harry and Meghan have made it abundantly clear that they wanted to work and they wanted to exist without being smeared and denigrated in the media.”
Exactly.
I think Meghan is smart enough to know that it’s not tiaras and galas every week and who would even want that life!? I think Meghan’s biggest shock was that the ‘WORK’of the royal family is a big farce. And the fact that she is an intelligent, ambitious and productive individual, it was never going to last. If Meghan had been as lazy and easily impressed as Kate maybe they wouldn’t have bullied and smeared her out of the country.
That is a really interesting point! If Meghan had taken a page out of Kate’s book (which would be blank, metaphorically speaking) would the family had been more willing to protect her because she wasn’t effortlessly showing them up?
Nope. Because racism. The only way they would have loved Meghan is if she said, “I’m so sorry, but I’m not good enough to be in the presence of you exalted people. Therefore, I shall kiss Harry goodbye, wave mournfully, and return to America, where I will live in genteel poverty as a punishment for thinking I could rise above my station.”
That’s the only way she would have gotten any love for them. And they would have still likely criticized her for having the impertinance to say all of that instead of actually, you know, leaving.
Meghan literally said that she did what they asked and barely ever went out or did anything, and the press talked about her anyway and they still leaked stories.
None of this was about her work ethic because even when she didn’t work they still had a campaign against her. They didn’t want her in the family and the press made it easier.
Meghan said in an interview, long before she married Harry that she always wanted to be a lady who worked, not a ‘lady who lunched.’
Will these people ever stop trying to put words in Meghan’s mouth?!
In the grand scheme of things, WHO is this woman? Exactly.
A former chambermaid. Thats what she was. Maid to Margaret, the late, inveterate, dissipate slouch.
CAN YOU IMAGINE? So, according to this b…….if youre white and have or have had proximity to royalty, suddenly youre one of them and have the right to dictate and pontificate about a married-in ROYAL.
‘The cheek, the nerve, the gall, the audacity and the gumption.’
She wasn’t a maid or chambermaid – they’re working class servants who clean the house, empty the Bedpans, open the curtains.
She was a lady in waiting – they’re upperclass aristocrats whose job is to be a companion to a royal, plus take the flowers royals are given by the public, plus answer mail sent to the royals. It’s an unpaid job but they get free travel, accommodation, meals, and status.
The only time I feel Meghan wanted to use the power of the Royal Family was for protection for her children. Which is totally normal since they are high profile and deserve it.
The thought of her thinking life was going to be a golden coach ride is absurd. She wasn’t a 19 year old sheltered virgin when she got married. She was a 36 year old adult woman who had navigated a successful life and career before Harry came along.
Meghan was very well brought up by Doria. She is a classy lady who is discreet and private. As for what Meghan thinks? How presumptuous to claim you know a stranger’s thoughts. Snobs.
Her comments say it all about Kate, right? She’s stunning so that means she was well brought up by Carole and….full stop. Kate has a role to play in the RF and I guess she plays it well enough.
I don’t know if Margaret would have sympathized with Meghan but I do think she would have sympathized with Harry. Who would better understand being the spare than Princess Margaret? Even in the Crown, we have that comment from Margaret to Elizabeth, about how she (E) raised Andrew to think he was something special and it turns out he’s just there to be made fun of or whatever the specific language was.
And that’s a good example of the Crown in general, right? So that particular convo probably never happened, obviously. But the sentiments expressed in it are sentiments that Margaret definitely had, her comment about Diana wanting to use an atomic bomb on the royals, Andrew, Margaret herself. People don’t expect that the conversation was verbatim what happened. But again, the broad strokes are correct.
What does a lady in waiting actually do in the 20th/21st century?
Ladies-in-waiting are usually titled women who serve the Queen and other high-ranking women in the royal household. They’re often close childhood friends of the monarch, and typically act as personal assistants running errands, organizing correspondence, and accompanying royals on tours and visits. They often become very close companions and sounding-boards for the monarch, and Lady Anne seems to have absorbed a lot of Princess Margaret’s famous bitchiness.
What a life: “in waiting” to someone who thinks she’s better than you. I couldn’t bear it.
Nor I, QuiteConrary. The groveling and subservience – how awful. I’m sure royalists believe it would be an honor to serve royals, but come one, face facts. Voluntarily placing yourself below others who have done nothing to deserve it is humiliating yourself.
When people make up this imaginary “grand” life Meghan wanted, remind them of how Meghan used to live before meeting Harry. She lived in a small townhouse with 2 dogs, traveled in her free time, blogged and did humanitarian work. If Meghan was obsessed with tiaras and crowns, she would’ve gone to the state dinner in 2019 despite being on maternity leave. She would’ve never stepped down from her royal positions. When they talk about this “grand lifestyle” it’s just code-word for “uppity”. The biracial duchess isn’t allowed to think highly of herself or want more. The Royal Family steals precious jewels and artifacts from countries yet to this lady, this is not seen as them wanting a “grand lifestyle”.
It’s funny that this stupid woman claims that Meghan though royal life would be grand, when she was MARGARET’S lady-in-waiting. A twat SO grand, that she made her friends call her ma’am! Her FRIENDS! There are all kinds of stories about Margaret lording over people, just because she could. After all, she was a huge proponent of “human ashtrays”. 🤮
Her close friends called her ma’am darling.
Tales as old as time someone was once employed by the Royals is talking crap about Meghan . And assume things based on there one time meeting her the stuff she said about Kate is just laughable Kate is not glamorous nor she stunning . Meghan Biggest Mistake was assuming that the Royal Family actually Cared about charities work and wanted to make the world a better place with the resources they have when in Reality according to William they can only offer a smile and few kind words. Meghan is everything the royals are not classy glamorous kind smart people connect with her in way that only Harry and Diana have done . Meghan and Harry are gone for three years now and this people still can’t stop talking about the one time they meet Meghan .
Well how to explain Harry? He must have believed the same things as Meghan, must have expected opportunities, support, funding. I look forward to his book. I hope he addresses the disconnect between his expectations for he and Meghan and the reality they faced.
Because the colonizers are so good at reading our minds.
Take a seat, you Glenconner hag. And AGAIN with the Netflix disclaimer FFS. You know what needs a disclaimer? Actual royal events. Something like: “British subjects should be aware this event is to manufacture a purpose for the BRF. Questioners and protestors will be arrested. Subjects should not anticipate an improved nation, situation or quality of life – thank you for playing along, now curtsey and bow”.
Oh puleeze to that dopey narrative. Meghan brought the glamour and that’s a lot of why they hated and hounded her.
I Think she is wonderful and was well bought up by Carole and they have lovely children or whatever she said is code for, Kate William and their children are all white and people like me are racist and we will never accept anyone who doesn’t look like us in our monarchy. Racism truly makes you stupid.
I’ve read her first book. This woman lived a miserable existence with her psychopath husband, had a dysfunctional family and very unhappy ending. She was left nothing when said psychopath died and then had to write a book about her horrific life to make a few bucks. She is clearly green with envy that M & H found true love, adore each other, and have two beautiful children that they love and cherish. She, on the other hand, lived a life of zero substance and seems hellbent to justify it as “duty to the crown.” None of these women had the guts to do what Harry did – and they were all miserable. Any one of them would have killed for a love like that.
Agreed. Lady Glenconner had an abusive husband who founded Mustique but then cut her out of his will and left her nothing. Hence she’s out shilling books for cash– but that’s okay because she’s not Harry. She’s also the daughter of an Earl and grew up in Holkham Hall, a huge pile in Norfolk, so now I’m wondering if she’s the one who told Tom Sykes about the Rose affair. Either way, Kate endures the cheating husband for status, which is what Lady Glenconner did too, so Kate = good and well-brought up. Meghan, who refused to endure abuse from the firm and media = bad. End of story. Also, Netflix = bad too.
^^ 💯 🎯 Exactly! Thanks @Alissa and @Harper for telling it like it is. Lots of great, truthful and scintillating insights in this thread debunking Glenconner’s jealous, racist, snobby, royalist bs!
Why do these people always presume to speak for a person they do not know. Like she made sure to clarify that she really didn’t know Kate but does not extend the same caveat to Meghan. I despise these people.
I have never heard of this woman and I doubt she ever had a conversation with Meghan. I’m sure she cashed her check as fast as she could though. Pathetic
I know she’s old and trying to make a living, but I’m tired. She’s written more about her abusive marriage this time, but she’s still telling Princess Margaret stories and bashing the Sussexes. “Grand” or not abusive.
This is going to be a massively unpopular opinion but Kate was exactly what the Windsors and The Firm wished for and got. Kate contoured and molded herself to be exactly what they wanted. What you see is literally b/c of the The Firm and Kate being voluntold by Carole what she needs to do.
Now what The Firm wants does it work in 2022? Its clear many would say no but that’s b/c of monarchy as a whole. However she’s doing what conservatives love which is she’s toeing the line, dressing “modestly”, has a family and is firmly behind her husband. Many ppl don’t like that but their base which is older, white and conservative love it.
I hadn’t heard of Meghan when her name first came up in the press as Harry’s new GF, but I immediately learned about her and was impressed with her charity work and advocacy. I certainly thought she was a great fit for Harry and what I though at the time marrying into the royal family as a modern woman meant. And those asshats ran them out of the country. Their loss. They’re thriving outside the system, and doing so much good.
She could’ve been Harry’s grandmother! She was engaged to johnnie Spencer, Diana’s father, but the match was broken off. The family was worried about ‘mad blood’ in her history—chiefly in the Trefusis ancestry. It was the same line that married into the Bowes Lyon family and ended up with two of the queen mother’s cousins institutionalized.
She’s definitely known tragedy. Her eldest son battled heroin addiction and recovered but he’d contracted hepatitis C which killed him in the 90s. Her second son also died on 1 Jan 1990 of AIDS. Her third son suffered serious brain damage in a motorcycle accident.
Yet she refused to be sanguine and not comment about the Sussexes leaving a horrible situation.
Where is the wisdom that comes with age?
Amazing how so many wealthy folks who know tragedy refuse to let it make them understanding, tolerant, or informed. 🤮
I’ve got nothing to say to people like Lady Anne Glenconner. Her opinions on Meghan are, sadly, what seem to be the overwhelming opinion across a large swathe of the aristocratic crowd, so I have nothing but contempt for it, for her, and for the whole lot of them.
People like Lady Anne Glenconner think that signing up for a life of permanent dissatisfaction, unhappiness, and idleness is to be expected when someone marries into royalty or the aristocracy. That’s why they can’t wrap their heads around the idea of someone choosing to NOT want that, or someone saying that that shit isn’t okay, and that there’s more to life than just that. People like this don’t like to hear it, bc they see anyone else rejecting the life they were too cowardly to reject or demand better from as a direct affront to themselves and their life choices.
That’s why these people bleat endlessly abt how Meghan “””disrespected””” the Queen. She rejected the life that royal women are expected to accept, and she had the audacity to demand better, and these people think asking for any change or anything to be better in this system is an insult to the system as a whole. “Why do you want anything to change, everything is perfect!!! If you don’t think it’s perfect, you’re insulting me!!”
At any rate, Meghan doesn’t have to put up with an unfaithful husband who will sign over the family wealth to some nobody who hoodwinked him right before his death, forcing her to earn a living by cashing in on her adjacency to the royal family, unlike Lady Glenconner. The only valid thing she said is that Princess Margaret wouldn’t have been charitable to Meghan, and I do agree. Margaret was a grand old snob, forever bitter abt having to play second fiddle to her plain, unglamorous older sister, who was Queen and the center of attention.
It’s funny. None of these aholes had a single problem during the first two seasons, when the Queen was portrayed by Claire Foy in the days she was young and cut a beautiful figure. The “””fiction””” is fine when it makes you look good, but not great when it shows your bad side. So maybe it’s not the fiction these people take issue with when it comes to The Crown. Funny how that works huh.
Couldn’t have said it better.
^^ Yep! 💯 on target @A, and thanks for expressing these truthful insights!
I don’t understand the problem with this woman offering her opinion on Meghan. This entire blog exists to offer opinions based on tabloid photographs on the character, clothing, inner thoughts, feelings, etc. on people the author has never met. If it’s okay for us to offer our opinions on the BRF, then it’s only fair to allow this woman to offer her opinion after meeting Meghan once.
Oh, brother. 🙄. If you put your business in the street, the street has every right to talk about your business. Nobody said she can’t offer an opinion. But she sure can’t act as if it is Holy Writ to go unchallenged—especially since she’s never even met Meghan.
This is the continuing offensive against the Sussexes because the book is coming!
Notice she does not mention Harry at all. The plan is still to get rid of Meghan and welcome back their Prince who has been pulled away from his loving family. They did this with Wallis Simpson and Diana but unfortunately for the Royals there is social media now and growing awareness of Media spin.
Even the American election/mid terms have not gone their way as the Republicans are their friends. How the UK gave an early invitiation and state reception for Trump is a disgrace that many in the UK will not forgive or forget. Meghan did not attend.
One thing “The Crown” and LIFE has shown…is how basic bland bitch the modern House of Windsor has ALWAYS been…full of incurious ignorant people with no charisma…charm or elegance…no sense of style…which is NOT surprising considering their bloodline …that’s why Princess Diana will ALWAYS outshine them…they are IMMUNE to glamor & humanity…because if “The Crown” & history showcases only ONE thing…it’s how do you expect The House of Windsor to be decent to outsiders when they DEVOUR their own?
So when I hear the old bitties talk about the “GLAMOR” of being a Royal…
I’m like….
“What….WHERE?!?”