Grandmother, 71, Makes History as Beauty Pageant’s Oldest Finalist

Instagram/GlamourGranAnn A 71-year-old grandmother from Ayrshire, Scotland, is making history as the oldest contestant set to grace the stage at a major British beauty pageant.

Ann Marie Harper, a makeup artist known to her 15,000 Instagram followers as “ Glamour Gran Ann ,” will become the oldest contestant in Miss Great Britain—a beauty pageant with 81 years of history.

In an Oct.

13 episode of the U.K. show Good Morning Britain , Harper admitted that she once questioned whether she should do the pageant at all.

“I have been in the beauty business all my life, and when I was offered to do the pageant, I thought it’s not really what I—I’m too busy to be doing this,” she said.

I want other women to see that getting older doesn’t mean disappearing.

Ann Marie Harper, beauty queen Harper said she decided to do it after realizing how many people she could help through her platform.

The beauty queen married her husband, William Harper, more than 45 years ago.

The couple shares two adult children and three grandchildren.

She will compete against 16 finalists ages 45 and older on Oct.

16, at the Ms Great Britain Classic in Leicester, England.

The current Ms Classic crown-holder, Laura White, is 14 years younger than Harper.

Miss Great Britain has two other categories: Miss Great Britain, for competitors ages 18 to 30, and Ms Great Britain, for those ages 31 to 44.

Harper won the crown in the Ms Great Britain Ayrshire Classic in June.