Ready For Absolutely Nothing: ‘If you like Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner, you’ll like this’ The Times

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Before becoming a household name in 2001 alongside Trinny Woodall on the BBC One makeover series, What Not To Wear, the English media personality famously dated Princess Margaret’s son, Viscount Linley (now David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon).

Ready For Absolutely Nothing (Paperback) - Waterstones Ready For Absolutely Nothing (Paperback) - Waterstones

Such a shame, and such an odd choice to leave out what might be the most well-known 14 years of your life. Her time with the Royal Family was now a distant memory, but the experience had clearly opened up of corridor’s worth of doors for the now mega-successful media star. I was totally fascinated by her world and what is was like to grow up in upper class Britain in the 60s/70s, being educated to be a society wife. Despite coming from a very wealthy family, they found it hard to be demonstrative when it came to their feelings. Constantine does a great job of writing in an accessible, open and generous way and of remaining likeable when she could have come across as an unbearable snob.

Viscount Linley went on to marry Serena Stanhope, an Anglo-Irish aristocrat, in 1993, while Susannah wed Danish entrepreneur, Sten Bertelsen, two years later. I found the structure a bit random and some of the anecdotes felt as if they were there mainly for shock value.

Ready For Absolutely Nothing: The most hotly anticipated Ready For Absolutely Nothing: The most hotly anticipated

When that marriage proposal never showed up, she dated Imran Khan –then a gorgeous playboy/cricket player and now the Prime Minister of Pakistan, before meeting her husband. Also, she saw Princess Margaret as a mother figure and was very fond of the Queen Mother but Margaret Thatcher was more standoffish and that she had a positive crush on Jake Spears of the Scissor Sisters which has endured into a long friendship.Other people have done far greater justice to this book than I can but it is an extremely good read from a woman born into a wealthy family at a time when a woman’s role was simply to marry into a good family and not be expected to amount to a great deal. When asked if she believes she would have been able to handle the pressure of marrying the Queen’s nephew, Susannah’s of two minds. This is particularly weird when you consider that her book is titled ‘Ready for Absolutely Nothing’ because her education and upbringing were merely preparation for her becoming a society wife. When she and Linley split after several years – he just won’t propose – she has a fling with the cricketer and future prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, whose chat-up line is: “You have perfect breasts! I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book but enjoyed it way more than I thought I would, Susannah has had an interesting life and I had forgotten she went out with David Linley princess Margaret’s son and the interesting parallels of the media intrusion she felt then to some royals now.

Susannah Constantine reveals how Princess Margaret made her

The second half of the book I found less absorbing, mainly because the timeline was chopped up so much, and interspersed with anecdotes that whilst funny or salacious didn’t really add to the picture of the woman for me. If you are hoping for lots of escapades with Trinny you will be disappointed, there is so much more to Susannah than What Not To Wear.so I was surprised to read about her connections with the likes of Princess Margaret and Elton John. Well told and well crafted, SC uses a combination of her outside voice, with a nuance of chagrin to reflect on a life spent getting out from under the strictures of her class (high) and education (rather less high) and the expectations placed upon her by both (‘marry so you don’t have to work’). Obviously the Princess of Wales dressed fashionably, she had an amazing figure, and she could have carried anything,” she says. I won't spill the beans here, but they involve gastrointestinal functions, a public bathroom, and in one case- Princess Margaret. Here is a quick description and cover image of book Ready for Absolutely Nothing: A Memoir written by Susannah Constantine which was published in January 31, 2023.