Lady Glenconner, the Queen’s maid, who survived the death of her children and the violence of her husband

She survived the death of two children, but also the violence of her husband’s abuse. That of Lady Glenconner, who just turned 92it’s a complex life: born into comfort, Anne Veronica Coke (this was her name before marriage) had to face tiring challenges, from which she always managed to re-emerge.

Daughter of the Earl of Leicester, Lady Glenconner, who grew up at Holkham Hall, Norfolk, near the residence of Sandringham, was childhood friend of the young Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret: she was a bridesmaid at the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953, but also attended, seventy years later, that of King Charles. She was Lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret from 1971 until the Princess’s death in 2002.

She met her future husband, Colin Tennant, at a debutante ball at the Ritz during the summer of 1955 and quickly fell in love with her. The couple married the following year: their wedding was a huge event in British society. But, Once married to Anne, Colin Tennant revealed himself to be a relentless adulterer and a violent manas his wife recounted in her 2022 autobiography, Whatever Next?: Lessons from an Unexpected Life.

In 1979, Tennant inherited the island of Mustiquein the Grenadines, and transformed it into an exclusive destination for the rich and famous. His wife was actively involved in the management of the island and helped cultivate its glamorous image and exclusive atmosphere.

During those years, on the birthday of their twin daughters, Flora and Amy, in Mustique, Tennant argued with his wife and physically attacked her. “When we got to the house, I got out of the car and, before I knew what was happening, he hit me on the head from behind with his walking stick made of shark bone” Lady Glenconner said. “He threw me straight down. And then he lunged at me. I was lying there, trying to protect my head and begging him to stop. He didn’t; he was in a frenzy, completely out of his mind. I was completely terrified, convinced that he might actually kill me. I have no idea how long it lasted, but he finally got tired. I stayed there until I heard his car drive away, then I crawled into the house and locked myself in the bedroom.” Lady Glenconner, who she has since become deaf in one earclaimed that Tennant later apologized and promised he would never do it again.

She also told how, despite her husband’s enormous flaws, she had some good times with him. Tennant had spent much of his money building a new village, installing electricity and creating well-paid jobs for the locals on Mustique. It was there that Lady Glenconner and her husband hosted Princess Margaret on several occasions.

In 1987, Tennant moved to St Lucia, which he wanted to turn into a place similar to Mustique.which had become a favorite destination for celebrities. The initiative was unsuccessful and Tennant ended up living alone.

Meanwhile, Lady Glenconner also had to deal with the grief of loss of two of his five children: Second-born Henry, who came out after getting married and having a child, died of AIDS in 1990 at just 29 years old, while eldest Charles died of hepatitis six years later.

In 2010 Tennant became seriously ill with prostate cancer and refused to return to England for treatment, so Lady Glenconner spent time in the West Indies caring for him. But, Shortly before he died, Tennant changed his will and left everything he owned to his caregiver, Kent Adonai. The decision was “a final display of his sadistic side, the side that reveled in the pain of others,” his wife recalls. “I couldn’t and wouldn’t let him break me from beyond the grave, just as I wouldn’t have allowed it while he was alive… I made a conscious decision not to dwell on that final act of cruelty.”

Lady Glenconner admitted her decision to share her husband’s story of abuse had been “influenced” by the work Queen Camilla has done with victims of domestic abuse in her role as patron of the charity Safelives. «I was persuaded, I suppose, by the Queen, who has done so much for battered wives. and women who are being abused. And I talked to my kids… That’s why I did it.”