Who Is Lady Anne Glenconner?
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Following March's Oprah Winfrey interview that shook up the British royals, CBS has announced that this May Gayle King is releasing her own close examination of the figure at the very top — Queen Elizabeth II herself. "The Queen Carries On: A Gayle King Special," as its press release (per the Daily Mail) stated, explores Elizabeth's inner life and feelings through the "challenges and controversies, romance and heartbreak" over the course of her 69-year reign. "[The Queen is] now 95 and facing one of the most challenging chapters of her reign," the statement read.
Delving into everything from the less-than-pretty claims levied by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle against the royals as well as Prince Philip's death, King, per the release (via Yahoo!), hopes to showcase "[Elizabeth's] life through the eyes of people who have grown up with her, been honored by her and reported on her for decades." Per CBS, such interviewees are "Barack Obama, Sir Paul McCartney and a maid of honor to the Queen at her coronation." Keep reading to find out who the maid of honor — Lady Anne Glenconner — is!
Lady Anne Glenconner has family ties to Helen Bonham Carter
If you watched season 3 of Netflix's "The Crown," then you have had a small glimpse at the real-life story of Lady Anne Glenconner. Played by Nancy Caroll on the semi-biographical depiction of the British royals, Anne was a close confidante and the lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret, The Guardian reported. Additionally, she is a New York Times best-selling author, with her 2019 memoir "Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown" selling over 200,000 copies in the UK alone.
As the Guardian reported, Anne was born "Anne Coke" into nobility herself — she is the firstborn child to the 5th Earl of Leicester who, per her book's Amazon description, "controlled one of the largest estates in England." Despite her birth status, Anne was denied her inheritance due to her rebellious nature ("I tried awfully hard to be a boy," she writes in her memoir). Sharing five children with her late husband Colin Tennant, AKA Baron Glenconner (making Anne a baroness!), Anne details Colin's extramarital affairs as well as mentioning one of her own in the memoir.
Perhaps the most surprising factoid about Anne is that she and Helen Bonham Carter — Princess Margaret's actor in seasons 3 and 4 of "The Crown" — are related through her deceased husband. Bonham Carter is Colin's cousin, the baroness revealed in her memoir, via The Sydney Morning Herald. That is one cool twist of royal fate!