How old do I look?

[MaryofTeck]

Be honest

Ah, Adelheid...yes, 12 children, 10 of them as blonde as her and Albrecht, the final two with dark hair and eyes, how unusual. On another note, their Italian gardener has improved their grounds a treat. Such a gifted man. Such sensitive hands.

@MaryofTeck now I am not sure if you have followed the coverage, but I have been keeping a close eye in every way on the ladies involved in our new government as well as the new Lady Starmer.
I am going to keep my opinions to myself on how the outfits were procured, however, style-wise I am finding the endless pops of colour to be a little distracting.
Also - the hair. Do all of these women go to the same hairdresser? I had a bob in the 60’s when Vidal
made them all the rage, but this current crop need a bit of hair advice, too?
I am sure you would wonderful at handing out pearls of wisdom, if you would pardon the pun….

Dear Peggy! How are you? Ah, what a challenge it is, dressing for modern politics. I was always in awe of the wonderful Barbara Castle, her hair gleamed like a helmet of burnished bronze, and she always wore a suit with a brooch, even when talking to Trade Union leaders. I have to say that I do admire Jess Phillips and Angela Rayner, who embrace colour. They're all terribly shy of necklaces though for some reason, so my advice would be to add a few. Yes, the hair is mostly in need of a strong pomade. Rachel Reeves is probably good with Algebra, but her hair will never support a tiara. Aim high, ladies!

My political persuasion always had me in awe of Betty Boothroyd and of course the Iron Lady was very well turned out.
Do you know she used to iron Dennis’s shirts in the ladies lavs in the Houses of Parliament? My kind of woman on that front, although I wasn’t a huge fan of her politics. I find I’m not a fan of anyone’s politics at the moment. I imagine that even though we are at opposite ends of the social spectrum @MaryofTeck I do agree with a lot of your opinions.
The late great Victoria Wood once said she refused HRT in case it turned her into Edwina Currie wearing bright tweed suits with large gold buttons.
In my line of work that’s a uniform. My friend from Manchester, Bet Lynch, wore the look with aplomb.
Bit heavy on the leopard print, though.

Bet Lynch - what a Grande Dame! A strong character who took no nonsense and went for high hair, heavy jewellery and plenty of it. That lady never met a leopard she didn't like..You never saw her in joggers or ripped clothing.
I'm amused by the HRT remark! Baroness Thatcher was quite deserving of her Iron Lady reputation. That woman could see off any world leader. Lady Boothroyd had such marvellous hair. I believe she was a dancer at the Gaiety, or some such. Redoubtable. These are the women who made our fine nation what we are today. Oh, and Mary Berry.

I hope mentioning our current Queen won't disrupt your space/time continuum @MaryofTeck, but I'd have thought you'd be a big admirer of Queen Camilla's hair, which is absolutely ideal tiara hair imo. Now I come to think of it, she's also nearly as good as you are at really pulling off the masses of stupendous bling look.

Camilla definitely has tiara hair! Stunning. She is very bejewelled. You either wear them or sell them, there is no point keeping gems in a safe.
She only ever wears one necklace at a time, though, which is a tad disappointing.

I also admire Miss Dolly Parton. Tiara hair if ever I saw it! Marvellous sense of occasion and I once saw her in a costume bedecked with rhinestones. Marvellous. I do hope Jolene got her comeuppance. When I had my debut season there was one of the Cavendish - Bentinck girls who was of a similar disposition and quite untrustworthy. I remember her making most inappropriate advances to a Grand Duke, fortunately he was quite deaf and suffered from terrible impetigo, but it was a close call.

Dame Barbara Cartland always had beautifully coiffed hair. Perfect for a tiara. Dreadful social climber though, practically throwing her daughter Raine at the late Earl Spencer.

Raine was the making of the late Earl, though, I understand. She also had marvellous hair, like her extraordinary Mama. They both favoured chiffon, large button earrings, false eyelashes and a pale complexion. Quite a look.

Amazing skin. Very hard to tell. 50?

Thank you dear! It's very important to look after one's complexion. A parasol is a must, even in Bognor.
Do you have any beauty secrets to share?

What are your plans for the weekend @MaryofTeck? Doing anything nice?

Good evening, @westatlanticocean ! Friday again. There seems to be some sort of "fun run" in my locale, although I have no idea why people would find fun in this, but we did have a cousin who used to run around the corridors of the Winter Palace although he also ate wallpaper paste, so that's a whole other story. He ended up living on a Greek Island and selling retsina.
I have an appointment with my dressmaker and also with my bookie, Kev, who always gives me good odds. Thereafter opening a Church Fayre and tasting the jam and gin. Nothing like a good country distillery I always find, and it's rare to find it knocks one out completely, unlike the old days!
How about you?

That sounds amazing.

My weekend just might involve a leisurely stroll in the park, with an absurdly large parasol. Perhaps also a nice little tea party with dd, where gossip hopefully will flow as freely as the Earl Grey. But the country distillery does sound amazing.

A parasol. How wise. One can never be too cautious about one's complexion. I once had a podiatrist who had a holiday home in Marbella, and developed a skin tone which was a most unfortunate shade of orange. I did worry that the poor dear had carotenemia. Most peculiar. Do share the tea party gossip!

I will. If dd had a penny for every whisper in our village, she could soon afford to pay for her own theatre seat.

My dears, you simply must accessorise your ensemble with galoshes and a mackintosh if you are going down to your country seat this weekend. My gamekeeper assures me that there will be rain of biblical proportions this weekend and he is never wrong. Something to do with his "rheumatics".