A 71-year-old “Glamour Gran” preparing to compete at this year’s Miss Great Britain beauty pageant has said “it doesn’t matter what age you are, people can do wonderful things”.
Ann Marie Harper, from Ayrshire, is preparing to make history as the oldest Scottish contender to reach the national final in the pageant’s 81-year history.
Best known by her alias Glamour Gran Ann, the septuagenarian will compete in the Miss Great Britain Classic competition on October 16.
The Classic is open to women aged 45 and over – meaning she will be pitted against rivals up to 26 years her junior.
Speaking to the Press Association at her studio in Ayrshire, Ms Harper said she has been on an “amazing journey” this year.
She won the Miss Great Britain Classic Ayrshire in June, which saw her qualify for the Miss Great Britain final in Leicester.
“What’s to be will be, but I’m very excited,” she said.
“I realise this could make history because I’m over 70, and I don’t believe it’s been known before.
“It’s given me a real boost in my life, to say it doesn’t matter what age you are, people can do wonderful things.”
She said for her, the competition “really isn’t just about the winning” – but that she is going into it “with a positive head”.
“Of course Glamour Gran Ann wants to win,” she said.
“I want to bring the crown back to Ayrshire. Why would I not?
“This is Ayrshire’s very first time. They’ve never done anything like this before.”
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Ann Marie Harper (@glamourgranann)
The beauty queen launched her own cosmetics brand aged 66, which sells a make-up palette called the Glam Goddess Collection.
She is also very active on social media, and her Instagram and TikTok pages have thousands of followers.
She presented Glamour Gran Ann as a form of joyful self-expression, free from the expectations and limitations placed on her by others.
“I’ve always been told all my life ‘you can’t do this, you can’t wear that hat, you can’t’.”
“Well, Glamour Gran Ann has got hats that size,” she said, spreading out her arms.
“I love big hats. I love furs. It’s just who I am. But I’ve had to not be like that, and I do get it.
“Sometimes you can’t always be out there like that. But I am who I am, and I love dressing up. And I get into character.”
She said the “biggest thing” she wants to achieve in her work and competitions is to help combat loneliness and isolation – particularly among older people.
As part of this, she does events for the Community Led Action Support Project (Clasp) charity, and regularly attends a pensioners’ club on her street.
“I just want to help people to realise that they’re not alone – because as you get older, you can go in a corner, and we can’t do that,” she explained.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Ann Marie Harper (@glamourgranann)
“I show these older people we can wear lipstick. We can go and get our hair done.”
She said the Glam Goddess palette is a way of enabling others to share in her alter ego.
“When it was first brought out, I was told by a few different people, ‘Oh, it’s too bright for older people,’” she explained.
“‘Older people could never use that. You’ve made a mistake. You’ve done it wrong’.
“In my heart of hearts, probably bringing out a more subtle palette with just browns and beiges would have been good.
“But that’s not who Glamour Gran Ann is – Glamour Gran Ann’s all about colour and everything.”
She also reflected on her own mental health struggles, explaining that on bad days, she finds it hard to leave the house.
She said growing up in Glasgow, her teachers always told her she was “daft” because of her learning difficulties, and she has suffered from severe depression.
“For people who can’t really cope, it’s amazing how there is help out there,” she said.
“There is help, and we have to seek the help. And that’s what Glamour Gran Ann shares every single day, that it’s okay not to be okay.
“And there are a lot of lonely old souls who really don’t go out of the house. And this is what we have to get over.”
