Anne Glenconner: My Christmas gift from Queen Mary

At the age of 87 I find myself not just a first-time author, but a bestseller. I’ve always told stories, but I never thought of writing them down until this past year. Once I got going I found I couldn’t stop, and Lady In Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown is the result. I’ve enjoyed promoting it as well. Seven decades ago I was a travelling salesman for my mother, who had started a pottery at Holkham Hall in north Norfolk. Off I used to go in my Mini Minor, staying in rundown hotels with all these travelling salesmen. I was the only woman and certainly the only aristocrat on the road. It was rather fun. There was rationing then and in the evenings we used to all sit in a dismal lounge with one bare lightbulb and the trolley would come round and the travelling salesmen would say: ‘Will you be mother?’

What everyone seems to want to know about is the royal family, especially the coronation and my years as lady-in-waiting to the wonderful Princess Margaret.