Queen ‘set a wonderful example by her father’, childhood friend says
Lady Glenconner was a maid of honour at the Queen’s coronation.
The Queen knew “from a very young age” that she would become a monarch and was given a “wonderful example” by her father, her childhood friend has said.
Anne Tennant, Lady Glenconner, who was a maid of honour at the Queen’s coronation, has shared her memories of the monarch as a young woman ahead of her Platinum Jubilee on Sunday.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Lady Glenconner said the Queen would likely “look back very sadly” on the day as it also marked the death of her father, George VI.
She recalled being sent a letter by Margaret, the Countess of Snowden, describing the “beautiful Norfolk morning” on which the king had died at Sandringham.
She described the “moving” moment she watched Elizabeth on television returning from Africa with the knowledge she was to become Queen.
“It’s so moving, standing at the top of the stairs in her black coat. And suddenly, somebody that we’d known, I’d known, since she was a child, was Queen.
Asked whether the anniversary would be tinged with sadness for the monarch as it was also linked to her father’s death, Lady Glenconner said: “I think the Queen will look back very sadly.”
She added: “I think it means a lot to her. She’s a countrywoman too, the Queen.”
