Lady Anne Glenconner discusses friendships with King Charles and late Queen Elizabeth II

The queen, escorted as ancient tradition demands by the bishops of Durham and Bath and Wells, goes to the altar. There, laying her hand upon the Bible, she reaffirms her oath. The late Queen Elizabeth's coronation in 1953 was watched by millions around the world, but our next guest witnessed it firsthand. She was there. Lady Anne Glen Connor was personally chosen as one of the six maids of honor at the Queen's Coronation. She later served as a lady in waiting to Princess Margaret. That's the Queen's sister, of course.

Lady Anne Glen Connor writes about her life in her second memoir. It's called Whatever Next. Now, I love that title. Now, in her ninth decade, she calls her life both extraordinary and unexpected. Lady Anne joins us first on CBS Mornings, and we welcome you, Lady Anne. It's good to have you here. What a life you have indeed.

You're the mother of five children. You said motherhood was part of the hardest, but one of the most rewarding. Two of your children have passed away at one point. One of your sons was in a motorcycle accident and was in a coma, but Christopher, we're glad to say, is fine. But I'm fascinated by how you talk about your marriage. You were married for over 54 years to a man who was verbally and physically abusive to you. You lost hearing.

You still lost hearing because of when he beat you one day. And 10 years into your marriage, and I like this, you said, you took a lover. You took a lover, and that made your marriage much better. But what I'm fascinated about is that, as tumultuous as the marriage was, you said that you don't have regrets, but you don't think that young women should follow in those footsteps. Can you talk about that for a second? Yes. I mean, it was quite difficult. I didn't start writing until I was 87.

Yes. And so the first book was perhaps a bit jokey. I didn't quite know how much to put in it. And then I've taught the children, and I thought, well, I'm 99. I'm just going to write what I want. Yes. And so I read this book.

I mean, the thing about Colin was that he was charismatic. He was charming. He was dazzling, really. And he was dangerous. And that was very hard. But I was brought up. I was quite old, and the way I was brought up was we didn't give in.

I did, at one point, go back to my mother very soon after my marriage and said, I don't know if I could cope. And she just said, Anne, you married him, you go straight back. Yeah. But when you talk to Colin's mother, what did Colin's mother do? Well, when I tried Colin's mother, she said, darling, of course, I know. It's a bit different. All you need is a cup of cocoa. Giving her a cup of cocoa, very nice.

Just give her a cup of cocoa. I know. I mean, she was in complete denial. And I realized, as a point in. But you have a different message for women today, and I think people should read. That's just one part of the book. But the other part is about your life with the royal family.

And you were there for the Queen's coronation. And we're about to have another coronation coming up. Yeah. Well, of course, the Queen's coronation is the most wonderful day of my life. People often say, oh, was your marriage the most wonderful? And I say, well, actually it wasn't. It was a coronation. That was the most wonderful day.

And I was so lucky to be chosen. There were only six of us. And we had to be daughters of Wales, Marxists, or Dukes. And of course, it was. Why was so fantastic the Queen's coronation? Because we'd just been through a war. I mean, there was rationing. There was, you know, very little electric lights, no clothes.

We had coupons. And suddenly this beautiful young Queen. And it was the beginning of the sort of wonderful Elizabethan age. And people both thrilled. And of course, to have sort of a beautiful Queen. You knew her her entire life, nearly her entire life. Who was she to you? Sorry, who was she to you? Who was the Queen to you? You knew her entire life? Well, I've always.

You see, my parents, my father, had been an equate to the Duke of York before he became King. And my mother was actually a lady waiting. I knew the Queen and Princess Margaret when they were children. Because we lived quite near them in Norfolk. And I remember the first time I met Princess Margaret. I just knew she was the sort of one that's going to be a naughty, wonderful friend. And we were.

And the Queen was always much more serious, you know. But she was always looking after Princess Margaret. She always had an eye. Will we be seeing you at the King's Coronation, which I believe is in May, making you two Coronations in a lifetime? Well, I hope to be invited by you. You hope to be invited? I hope. Well, we like to put the feelings out there. I think we'll be invited.

Well, I don't know. The lovely big, thick invitation hasn't clunked through my letterbox yet. But I'm hoping it will. Now, it will be fascinating. Because his carnation. You think Harry and Meghan should be invited? I know the invitation. Well, yes.

I mean, I hope they will. I mean, I'll be invited. I believe they will. But whether they come or not, I don't know. Lady Anglin Connor, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate you. Whatever next is on sale now, wherever you'd like to buy your books.

We will be right back.

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