Q. What is the polite but expressive way to respond
when people at parties surge up to me, faces aglow, leading me to believe they feel some joy in seeing me, and then proceed to make it clear as soon as they open their mouths that they are, in fact, simply pleased to be socially interacting with the younger sister of somebody very famous and brilliant? I love my brother as much as everyone else but I find it lowering to the self-esteem when I am invited to lunch in the House of Lords or hailed with enthusiasm simply because smitten admirers can’t curb themselves from telling me how they worship my older sibling and how they wish he were prime minister. Please advise.
R.J., London, W11 A. Why not put a permanent end to this nuisance by taking a tip from HRH, the late Princess Margaret, and retiring to Mustique?
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