You were born into another world. Did the cooks at Holkham really gather up the shed velvet from deers’ antlers, fry it and serve it on toast? Anne wasn't the only one in her family to deal with marital woes; she mentions her beloved sister Carey, who had a husband "who would only talk to her through the dog for years on end." This is very sad, but I'll admit I had to laugh when I read it :) Who can believe the things some people do?! But isn’t stoicism a double-edged sword? As you admit in your book, life might have been better for you and your children if you’d talked more. She was the most wonderful friend to me, because she saw all this [the trouble with Colin] going on. She had some of the same problems herself – I saw how Tony [Lord Snowdon] behaved – and it was worse for her, because she was in the public eye. But she saved my life in a way. She was caring, but she was also practical. She didn’t approve of crying or moaning. You had to pull yourself together. In “Whatever Now” Anne’s tone is more serious. She explains why she never divorced her seriously abusive husband and discusses useful coping strategies and resources. She also explains why she had to let go of her anger and forgive her two older sons for life choices which led them to die young: otherwise she felt she could not have moved forward in her own life and helped her third son during the five years it took him to recover from a devastating motorcycle accident.

Yes, but thanks to this book, I’ve had the most wonderful conversations with them. We’ve been able to talk about what Colin, their father, did to them in great detail and I’ve been able to say: “Oh, darlings.”

Whatever Next? is an interesting book about a wealthy woman whose family has associated for decades with the Royal Family. The parts of the book about her travel and the fascinating people she gets to meet are really fun. Anne routinely spends time with Princess Margaret and takes her job seriously taking care of her. In fact, Anne spends most of her life taking care of others - spouse, children, company, etc. When writing about her life, I couldn't help many times but be amazed at what it must be like to have such wealth: "We had an excellent staff, and though I felt terribly busy at the time, I never cleaned a bath or made a bed." My mother whizzed around Norfolk on her beloved Harley Davidson until she was well into her sixties, in her motorcycle leathers. She was my great friend and champion when I was growing up, and encouraged me to be brave and adventurous, but she never fussed about what I was feeling or wanted to indulge my anxieties. We had to put others first, but not to the extent of becoming doormats in our dealings with the world. It was important to stand up for oneself when necessary. Otherwise her message was simple. Never complain. Life isn’t fair. You will have to do things you won’t want to do, so just get on with it. Putting a brave face on things was all we could do.” What about Princess Margaret? She’s widely portrayed as having been spoilt and difficult, but you’ve always insisted this is unfair.

Yes, they did and if the footman carried raw eggs in a bain-marie from the kitchen to the nursery, it was so far, they were boiled on arrival. The world has changed immeasurably. I think anyone who lived through the war was marked for ever by it. We went through such a lot. I do find it a bit strange what people complain about nowadays. Lady Glenconner has suffered more than her fair share of tragedy – her eldest son died of heroin addiction, the second of Aids, and the third was involved in a terrible motorbike crash that left him with serious head injuries. But she believes in putting a brave face on things. When asked for the secret of a healthy old age, she advises people to sit up straight, to lift their feet when walking and not shuffle, and to make lunch their last meal of the day. But most important, as we can see from this book, is to be as open-minded and entertaining as she clearly is.

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Bracing honesty, rare insight, and more revelations: the New York Times bestselling author of Lady in Waiting shares everything she's learned from her extraordinary and unexpected life. From her childhood nanny (one of the good ones; she also had a horrendous one), she often heard, "Let's go and explore." Anne has continued to have a love of travel throughout her life. "The world is full of interesting things to see, but you have to go and look for them." Who knows? I’m 90 and a half and I do sometimes get exhausted. But I’m having such a wonderful time. Life is so exciting. I’m going on The One Show on Monday. Of course I did suspect already her husband was abusive, reading how hard it actually was and that Colin trashed her once to the point she lost her hearing on one ear was... difficult to read. Especially since this woman is not bitter about all that transpired.

Not really. I just think it was a final cruelty. People do ask if he was gay or bisexual, but I really don’t know. He had a lot of affairs with ladies. He had huge appetites. It was the same with shopping. In India once, he saw these windows on a house. He wanted them, but not a copy. He wanted those very windows. He had a compulsive side. I felt bad for Princess Margaret when Anne wrote of how the press had to set up a "bad sister" to play against the Queen as "good sister." It made me dislike the press more than I already do (is that even possible?!). So much of what we hear on the news is set up in templates the media has decided on, which may have little basis in reality. Anne Glenconner's remarkable life hasn't always been as glamorous as one would expect of the daughter of the 5th Earl of Leicester, but it's certainly been an eventful one. From being raised in the beautiful Holkham Hall to living in a tent in the jungles of Mustique, and from exploring the world with Princess Margaret, to keeping pace with her unrestrained and impulsive husband - Lord Glenconner - Anne has lived many extremes.A somewhat different book than the first of her autobiography “Lady in Waiting,” this one is told in the same humorous, matter of fact style but with much more openness and honesty about some things which were whitewashed (her marriage) or glossed over (her childhood trauma at the hands of a nasty governess) in the first book. Read the book again allowing children to join in with words they might remember such as WHOOSH! BUMP! Or ‘Whatever next!’ Tell the story This was good, and it was lovely to spend time with Lady Anne once again. I adore her. I prefer her first book, Lady in Waiting.