How I look this good at 92… LADY GLENCONNER reveals she NEVER makes use of suncream, places make-up on her HANDS and all the time wears ONE stunning merchandise of clothes…

MY MORNINGS

BREAKFAST

I wake up at 7.45am and have breakfast at eight, sometimes in bed. I carry it upstairs into bed. I always walk up the stairs – I don’t have a lift anyway – and I try to not hang on to the balustrade. So, I put the tray in one hand and walk up the stairs like that. It’s the best possible exercise. You have to be very much in control. I have granola, fruit and Earl Grey without milk. Or toast, Marmite and lettuce.

GETTING READY

I am extremely lucky that at 92 I have no grey hair at all. I have never dyed my hair. It’s strawberry blonde and very, very thick. At my age, having your hair done is one of the things you really need to do to stay looking nice. I have a wonderful hairdresser in Norfolk and one in London who I’ve been going to for 50 years. He’s called Simon and works from home now as he’s not all that young himself.

For my skin, I use ordinary things from Boots like Nivea Creme. I’ve got good skin as I always wore a hat when I was young. When I was Princess Margaret’s lady-in-waiting, we swam a lot, and she would say, ‘Don’t wear sun cream, just make up your face.’ So we swam fully made up. She had wonderful skin and people say I do, too.

I do sometimes darken my eyebrows because they are fair, and I use mascara, a bit of rouge, lipstick and foundation – nothing too much. I also make my hands up, as they are always a giveaway. It’s so easy: just put a little foundation on the back of your hand, rub it in and Bob’s your uncle! It does make a difference. Old people’s hands have bruises or sunspots, but mine don’t. Of course, they’re a bit wrinkled, but on the whole they look quite good. The neck is the trouble. I’ve taken to wearing scarves or pushing up my collar.

SHOPPING

At 9am, I go shopping. I do all my own shopping and I have a lovely time poking around. I get the Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph from my local shop in Burnham Market, Norfolk. Then I go food shopping. We have a marvellous fish shop [above right], so I get a lot of fish and shellfish and samphire in the summer. There’s a shop that has these big bowls of vegetables that are £1 each. I love a bargain. I was brought up in the war so we had to bargain. We had coupons, you see.

I seldom shop for clothes. I buy them from catalogues, or, if I’m in London, Peter Jones. It’s a gamble buying from catalogues and I can’t bear sending parcels back. That is one of my absolute hates.

There’s a wonderful shop in Wells-next-the-Sea, my nearest slightly bigger village, called This & That. It sells everything: picture frames, anything you need for the kitchen, and at Christmas it sells wonderful, cheap crackers. There’s nothing you can’t get there. I try not to go too often, because I do get carried away.

MY AFTERNOONS

LUNCHES AT HOME

I come back and cook lunch which I eat at 1.30pm. I make very good mince. (My mother made wonderful mince.) Or I have shellfish and vegetables. I end lunch at 2pm and, on the whole, I don’t eat after that.

I started not eating dinner two years ago because I had terrible indigestion, and I had read somewhere that this helped. My life has been transformed.

LUNCHES OUT

At 92, sadly, most of my friends are dead. But I’ve just come back from London where I saw my last older friend. She can’t walk and she’s got carers. I had lunch with her and afterwards we went to a lovely concert at Wigmore Hall. I also went to lunch with a younger friend I have at the second restaurant Robin Birley has opened, Oswald’s. It was lovely food but terrifyingly expensive.

I rather gauge what I eat depending on who I am with. If I am with one of my poorer friends, I stick to something more modest. But if I’m not, my great treat is Dover sole [below].

WRITING

At 2.30pm, I start to write. I have written five books [the most recent was published this month]. I didn’t start until I was 87 and it’s hard work. I get fan letters now from Russia, the Baltic countries, Belgium, Holland, Taiwan, Australia. I write back to all of them for about an hour a day. (Except for one young man in Australia who got my phone number and forgot about the time difference and would ring in the middle of the night.) I just love these letters, though some of them are very sad. I wrote in my second memoir, Whatever Next?, about my husband and domestic abuse, so I get a lot of letters about that. Also, I am a gay icon. My darling son Henry died of Aids [in 1990], so I get a lot of letters from young men – who admire my relationship with Henry – and they say, ‘I haven’t dared tell my parents [I am gay],’ and I will say, ‘Quite often, your parents will know. It would be great if you could talk to them.’

WALKING

I go for a long walk every day. I love seeing what everybody else in the village is doing. I’ll catch someone in their garden and have a chat over the fence. I don’t have a dog and I’m not a great dog fancier. I much prefer children. (My mother much preferred dogs. She was terribly disappointed that my siblings and I weren’t all dogs.)

This is something I have said about walking for years: no shuffling! I noticed with my friends the minute they started to shuffle. I’d say, ‘Do your feet hurt?’ And they’d say, ‘No.’ And I’d say, ‘Well then, pick them up! Don’t shuffle!’ If you shuffle, you’re inclined to trip and, of course, falling at our age is fatal. One must not fall. One or two of my friends say, ‘God, Anne, you’re bossy.’ But I’m right! And the friends who did take my advice went on much longer. So when I move, I pick up my feet, I swing my arms and I get going. Brisk.

GARDENING

The other thing I do to keep myself fit is gardening. Once I come back from my walk, I do pruning and weeding. I love weeding. I have a gardener once a week for four hours who mows the lawn and trims the hedges. Things I couldn’t do.

CLEANING

I have a cleaner who comes twice a week and does everything: the kitchens, the bathrooms, etc. I also have a flat in London and someone comes there once a week to see if it’s OK. One thing I really hate is changing sheets and I have to do it occasionally.

I don’t have a duvet. I couldn’t possibly put on the covers. I would go mad with irritation! I have a blanket and sheets.

MY EVENINGS

NIGHTS IN AT HOME

I finish writing or walking or gardening at about 5pm and I have my bath rather early. I love watching telly and old films in the evenings. I’m watching a marvellous show right now called Ludwig [left].

I have rather given up on Strictly and now only watch the programme on Sundays. What I think is that there should be more dancing. There’s so much about what they do all week! It’s meant to be dancing. But I do enjoy watching on Sunday to see who has been knocked out.

And then I get into bed. I read, of course. I’m currently reading Susannah Constantine’s new book and I’ve just finished a very good book about Pamela Churchill [Harriman].

I also do the crosswords – of course, I only do the simple one – and I turn my light out at bang on 1am.

As I was married, I have always had a double bed. It’s much more comfortable. I sleep on one side, and on the other side I have my papers, my crossword books, the book I’m reading and one or two things like tissues and eye drops. So the other side of the bed is absolutely vital. It’s got everything that I need for my rather long, lovely time in bed.

OUTINGS

If I am going out in the evening, I love the opera. Some kind friend took me the other day and I saw a wonderful production of Madama Butterfly. Lovely. And, now, so much time is taken up publicising my books. I went to Pitchford Hall in Shrewsbury recently, I also did an event in Gloucester and I’ve just had a wonderful week in Holland, where I gave a talk at a bookshop in Amsterdam.

MY WEEKENDS

VISITORS

I’ve got six grandchildren and I’m just about to have another great-grandchild. They are wonderful. This summer one of them said, ‘Granny, can I come to your house and bring some friends?’ And I said, ‘Yes, darling!’, thinking she might bring one or two. She brought eight. Every room was filled with people; it was great! They had a huge picnic on the beach and at 6pm they rang and said, ‘We are having such a good time, can you bring supper down to the beach?’ So I said, ‘OK!’ They were so polite and such nice young people. It was fun and exhausting and I was so happy.

I am always telling young people they need to stand up. When I was young, my grandmother was very strict and my sister and I used to have broom handles put down our jerseys at meals so that we sat up. I also say to my grandchildren, ‘Look at people!’ Children are so used to gazing down at their screens. When they come to my house, they have to put their phones away. We all talk, we put on plays and, by the end of their stays, they’ve not even asked for their mobiles. I do have a mobile phone, but I keep it in the car and nobody knows the number. If you want to get in touch it’s landline, letters or postcards.

SWIMMING

I’ve always swum and it’s great exercise. Although, recently, I have given up swimming in the North Sea. It’s too cold and very shallow, so you have to walk out quite a long way. But I swim on holiday. This summer I went to Montenegro on a boat with some friends and I swam every day.

DRIVING

I love driving. Two years ago I drove the whole way up to Scotland from Norfolk. I drove four hours, stopped halfway, then drove another four. I always listen to Classic FM in the car.

I don’t drive as much at night now and I have given up driving to London because I find it so difficult with all the traffic. Last time I drove there I got stuck in one of the yellow boxes and got two tickets. Luckily, I get driven down to London and when I’m there I walk as much as I can.

SUNDAYS

My son Christopher and his wife Johanna live in a lodge nearby and come to lunch every Sunday. Christopher brings his dog Molly, so Molly has to have lunch, too. She gets very upset if she doesn’t get the best piece of chicken.

I cook for her as much as for everyone else. Christopher is 56 and is the kindest man, but he had an accident when he was 19 and is quite infirm now. If he falls, Molly sits beside him, barking. She’s so touching. She has a sort of human quality.

ON BEING 92

I do these little tricks – picking my feet up when I walk, balancing my way up the stairs – because I am enjoying life and just want it to go on for as long as possible.

I am so lucky! My children are so kind, as are the friends I’ve got left. Of course, people say, ‘Your life has been so privileged.’ And, up to a point, it has been. But I have had very sad times: I lost two sons [Henry and Charlie] and nearly lost another, and my marriage wasn’t easy.

Now, I’ve never enjoyed myself so much. I didn’t really like being young: there was my marriage, losing the boys and Christopher’s accident. But all of that’s behind me. I’m just having such a happy time. Someone asked me the other day, ‘Do you ever think of getting married again?’ I said, ‘Are you mad? I can do whatever I want. I can plan my day and see who I want.’ I feel energised and look well. It’s wonderful.

Lady Glenconner’s Picnic Papers is out now (Bedford Square, £22). To order a copy for £18.70 until 8 December, go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937. Free UK delivery on orders over £25.