Lady Anne Glenconner opens up about late husband's violence

Lady Anne Glenconner, 90, reveals she was ‘influenced’ by Camilla to reveal her husband Lord Colin Tennant’s abuse

  • Lady Glenconner has received ‘countless letters’ from women since opening up
  • READ MORE: ANNE GLENCONNER reveals the violence that scarred her marriage 

Lady Anne Glenconner has revealed how she was ‘influenced’ by Camilla’s work with domestic abuse survivors to speak out about her husband Lord Colin Tennant’s violent temper. 

The 90-year-old, who was Princess Margaret’s lady-in-waiting for 30 years, said her ex-husband Lord Colin Tennant, a British aristocrat, was physically abusive in her book Whatever Next?: Lessons from an Unexpected Life. 

Since sharing her experience of domestic violence, Ms Glenconner said she has received ‘countless letters’ from women who have endured bitter struggles with their partners.

Lady Anne told Fox Digital she ‘didn’t say everything she wanted to’ in an earlier book, adding: ‘I was influenced, I supposed, by the Queen Consort, who has done so much for battered wives and women who are abused. And I had a talk with my children… That’s why I did it.’

The Queen Consort, who is a patron of the Safelives charity, previously vowed to do anything within her power to help break the stigma around the issue of domestic violence and help encourage more victims to seek help.

Lady Anne Glenconner has revealed how she was ‘influenced’ by Camilla’s work with domestic abuse survivors to speak out about her husband Lord Colin Tennant’s violent temper (pictured together)  

Since sharing her experience of domestic violence, Ms Glenconner said she has received ‘countless letters’ from women who have endured bitter struggles with their partners 

Along with Camilla’s support, Lady Anne Glenconner said her three children also persuaded her to come forward and tell her story. 

She said: ‘I had seen him lose his temper before we got married. “He always said, ‘The minute we’re married, I won’t need to lose my temper.’ 

‘Which, of course, I believed. But he lost his temper on our honeymoon. His promise of not to lose his temper didn’t last long.’

Although they had some ‘happy’ times together, she described their relationship and marriage of 54 years as ‘exhausting’.

Writing for the Daily Mail in October, Lady Glenconner said Colin ‘often had violent rages’ which were so severe she thought she could be killed. 

She said she was usually ‘blamed for everything’ or everything he felt that had gone wrong. 

Princess Margaret’s lady-in-waiting claimed she had to quickly learn how to deal with his sudden demands and assuage his anger. 

She wrote: ‘He’d lose his temper in an instant and give you very little time to put right whatever he’d objected to. I learned to stay calm, be vigilant and weather the storms. 

Camilla has long advocated for more specialist support for survivors and promised to continue her work with victims throughout her time as Queen 

‘How exhausting and lonely it could be. I felt as though parts of me were dying with no one to nurture or cherish me when I needed it. It was like having another child, but a particularly large, disruptive one.

‘He shocked, offended and terrified other people most of the time and I had to sort out the results. Too often I existed just as a buffer between him and everyone else.’

Lady Glenconner said she felt nervous around marriages which one person was clearly in control.

Camilla has long advocated for more specialist support for survivors and promised to continue her work with victims throughout her time as Queen. 

Although they had some ‘happy’ times together, Lady Glenconnor described their relationship and marriage of 54 years as ‘exhausting’ 

In December, the royal, who has been a patron of domestic violence charity SafeLives since 2016, revealed the stories of domestic abuse she has heard while working with charities supporting victims ‘still haunt’ her.

She added that, from the countless stories she has heard, survivors have one thing in common: that they want to break the ‘wall of silence’ around these issues, which she described as ‘chilling and paralysing’.

Despite being the Queen Consort, Camilla said she has been able to go ‘under the radar’ with survivors who have managed to get out of their abusive conditions and start again.

While she admitted some of their stories have stayed with her and continued to haunt her, Camilla said the strength and resolve of the victims was ‘inspiring’.

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