Being very common, I have something of a mania for aristo-lit: a passion for stories about big houses and the wanton eccentrics who inhabit them.

... a candid, witty and stylish memoir. It is as richly spiced with malice—I doubt if Bianca Jagger will relish the put-down of her own princessy ways, or Jerry Hall the spiky comments on her lack of social grace—as it is darkened by the tragedies that befell the author’s three sons, two of whom predeceased her. But the glory of this book—a banquet of imperious egos—derives from her reports from the front on life with Princess Margaret and life with, and quite often, without, her own late husband.

...fascinating and beautifully written.

Given [Glenconnor's] proximity to the royals, I went into Lady In Waiting expecting juicy stories about Princess Margaret that would rival The Crown's revelations—and Lady Glenconner, with her tales of partying with Mick Jagger on Mustique and attending Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, delivered. What I didn't expect, however, was tearing up while I read them.

[Glenconner's] account of the Coronation has a vivid simplicity that catches the heartstrings. Her enduring respect for the Queen shines through these memoirs.

It seems particularly apt that Anne Coke Tennant, Baroness Glenconner, was born into an ancient British family whose crest is an ostrich swallowing an iron horseshoe, symbolizing, as she puts it, 'our ability to digest anything.' Readers of her sometimes amusing, sometimes appalling, sometimes affecting, sometimes clueless memoir will learn that she was a perfect ostrich.

...one of the chief revelations of Lady in Waiting is just how cruel and wasteful the aristocratic system has historically been to women.

Mandel’s crystal ball and uncanny sense of timing remain intact.

The great question raised by this sparkling, endearing and alarming memoir is whether the upper-class English habit of rep­ressing emotion and ignoring trouble for as long as possible is an admirable form of courage or a reprehensible recipe for disaster.

...a window into both the glamorous side of the British aristocracy and its unpleasant underbelly. [Glenconner]describes a life full of jet-setting adventure—such as flying around the world from Hong Kong to Australia with Princess Margaret—and great tragedy, including the deaths of her two eldest sons.

Whether describing scenes of delicacy or debauchery, these insider accounts are fascinating. Glenconner is unfailingly perceptive, honest, and amazingly down-to-earth, a survivor who embodies the British trait of 'getting on with it.' A definite thrill for royal watchers and fans of Downton Abbey, this entertaining peek behind the royal curtain should attract a wide audience..

...Glenconner's meticulously detailed memoir of her life in service to the crown will whet the appetite of anyone hungering for more tales of Britain's royals.