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Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon

February 16, 2024

"Princess Margaret" redirects here. For other uses, see Princess Margaret (disambiguation).

Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, CI, GCVO, GCStJ, CD (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She was the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II.

Princess Margaret
Countess of Snowdon (more)
Princess Margaret in 1965
BornPrincess Margaret of York
(1930-08-21)21 August 1930
Glamis Castle, Angus, Scotland
Died9 February 2002(2002-02-09) (aged 71)
King Edward VII's Hospital, London, England
Burial15 February 2002
Ashes placed in the Royal Vault, St George's Chapel
9 April 2002
Ashes interred in the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1960; div. 1978)​
Issue
Names
Margaret Rose
HouseWindsor
FatherGeorge VI
MotherElizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Signature

Margaret was born when her parents were the Duke and Duchess of York, and she spent much of her childhood with them and her elder sister. Her life changed at the age of six, when her father succeeded to the British throne following the abdication of his brother Edward VIII. Margaret's sister became heir presumptive, with Margaret second in line to the throne. Her position in the line of succession diminished over the following decades as Elizabeth's children and grandchildren were born. During the Second World War, the two sisters stayed at Windsor Castle despite suggestions to evacuate them to Canada. During the war years, Margaret was too young to perform official duties and continued her education, being nine years old when the war broke out and turning fifteen just after hostilities ended.

From the 1950s onwards, Margaret became one of the world's most celebrated socialites, famed for her glamorous lifestyle and reputed romances. Most famously, she fell in love in the early 1950s with Peter Townsend, a married RAF officer in the royal household. In 1952, her father died, her sister became queen, and Townsend divorced his wife. He proposed to Margaret early in the following year. Many in the government believed that he would be an unsuitable husband for the Queen's 22-year-old sister, and the Archbishop of Canterbury refused to countenance her marriage to a divorced man.[1] Margaret abandoned her plans with Townsend. In 1960, she married Antony Armstrong-Jones, whom Elizabeth created Earl of Snowdon. The couple had two children, David and Sarah. Margaret's marriage to Lord Snowdon became strained, with both of them engaging in extramarital affairs. They separated in 1976 and divorced in 1978. Margaret did not remarry.

Margaret was a controversial member of the British royal family. Her divorce received much negative publicity, and her private life was for many years the subject of speculation by media and royal watchers. Her health deteriorated in the last twenty years of her life. She was a heavy smoker for most of her adult life, and had a lung operation in 1985 and a bout of pneumonia in 1993, as well as three strokes between 1998 and 2001. Margaret died in 2002 aged 71, after suffering her fourth stroke.

Early life edit

Princess Margaret was born at 9:22 p.m. on 21 August 1930 at Glamis Castle in Scotland,[2] her mother's ancestral home,[3] and was affectionately known as Margot within the royal family.[4] She was the first member of the royal family in direct line of succession to be born in Scotland since the 1600s.[5] She was delivered by Sir Henry Simson, the royal obstetrician.[6] The Home Secretary, J. R. Clynes, was present to verify the birth. The registration of her birth was delayed for several days to avoid her being numbered thirteen in the parish register.[7] Margaret was baptised in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace on 30 October 1930 by Cosmo Lang, the Archbishop of Canterbury.[9]

At the time of her birth, Margaret was fourth in the line of succession to the British throne. She was the younger daughter of Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI), and Elizabeth, Duchess of York (later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother). Her father was the second son of King George V and Queen Mary, and her mother was the youngest daughter of Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and Cecilia Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne. The Duchess of York originally wanted to name her second daughter Ann Margaret, as she explained to Queen Mary in a letter: "I am very anxious to call her Ann Margaret, as I think Ann of York sounds pretty, & Elizabeth and Ann go so well together."[10] George V disliked the name Ann but approved of the alternative, Margaret Rose.[11]

Margaret's early life was spent primarily at the Yorks' residences at 145 Piccadilly (their town house in London) and Royal Lodge in Windsor.[12] The Yorks were perceived by the public as an ideal family,[13] but unfounded rumours that Margaret was deaf and mute were not completely dispelled until her first main public appearance at her uncle Prince George's wedding in 1934.[14]

 
Margaret (front) with her grandmother Mary and sister Elizabeth, May 1939

Margaret was educated alongside her sister, Elizabeth, by their Scottish governess, Marion Crawford. Margaret's education was mainly supervised by her mother, who in the words of Randolph Churchill "never aimed at bringing her daughters up to be more than nicely behaved young ladies".[15] When Queen Mary insisted upon the importance of education, the Duchess of York commented, "I don't know what she meant. After all I and my sisters only had governesses and we all married well — one of us very well".[16] Margaret was resentful about her limited education, especially in later years, and aimed criticism at her mother.[16] However, Margaret's mother told a friend that she "regretted" that her daughters did not go to school like other children,[17] and the employment of a governess rather than sending the girls to school may have been done only at the insistence of their grandfather George V.[18] J. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan, read stories to the sisters as children.[19]

Margaret's grandfather died in January 1936, and her uncle acceded to the throne as Edward VIII. Less than a year later, in December 1936, Edward abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American, whom neither the Church of England nor the Dominion governments would accept as queen. The Church did not recognise the marriage of a divorced woman with a living ex-husband as valid. Edward's abdication made Margaret's father reluctantly assume the throne, and Margaret became second in line to the throne, with the title The Princess Margaret to indicate her status as a child of the sovereign.[20] The family moved into Buckingham Palace; Margaret's room overlooked The Mall.[21]

 
Elizabeth and Margaret performing at Windsor Castle in a 1943 production of the pantomime Aladdin

Margaret was a Brownie in the 1st Buckingham Palace Brownie Pack, formed in 1937. She was also a Girl Guide and later a Sea Ranger. She served as President of Girlguiding UK from 1965 until her death on 9 February 2002.[22][23]

At the outbreak of World War II, Princesses Margaret and Elizabeth were at Birkhall, on the Balmoral Castle estate, where they stayed until Christmas 1939, enduring nights so cold that drinking water in carafes by their bedside froze.[24] They spent Christmas at Sandringham House before moving to Windsor Castle, just outside London, for much of the remainder of the war.[25] Lord Hailsham wrote to Winston Churchill to advise the evacuation of the princesses to the greater safety of Canada,[26] to which their mother famously replied, "The children won't go without me. I won't leave without the King. And the King will never leave."[27] At Windsor, the princesses staged pantomimes at Christmas in aid of the Queen's Wool Fund, which bought yarn to knit into military garments.[28] In 1940, Margaret sat next to Elizabeth during their radio broadcast for the BBC's Children's Hour, addressing other children who had been evacuated from cities.[29] Margaret spoke at the end by wishing all the children goodnight.[29]

Unlike other members of the royal family, Margaret was not expected to undertake any public or official duties during the war. She developed her skills at singing and playing the piano,[30] often show tunes from stage musicals.[31] Her contemporaries thought she was spoiled by her parents, especially her father,[32] who allowed her to take liberties not usually permissible, such as being allowed to stay up to dinner at the age of thirteen.[16]

 
Princess Margaret's face appeared on a stamp in New Zealand, circa 1943.

Crawford despaired at the attention Margaret was getting, writing to friends: "Could you this year only ask Princess Elizabeth to your party? ... Princess Margaret does draw all the attention and Princess Elizabeth lets her do that." Elizabeth, however, did not mind this, and commented, "Oh, it's so much easier when Margaret's there—everybody laughs at what Margaret says".[16] Their father described Elizabeth as his pride and Margaret as his joy.[33] When Elizabeth joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service in 1945, Margaret became extremely jealous, lamenting, "I was born too late!" as she was too young to join herself.[34]

Post-war years edit

 
Margaret (far right) on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with her family and Winston Churchill, 8 May 1945

At the end of the war in 1945, Margaret appeared on the balcony at Buckingham Palace with her family and Winston Churchill. Afterwards, both Elizabeth and Margaret joined the crowds outside the palace, incognito, chanting, "We want the King, we want the Queen!"[35] They both joined in on the festivities with their fellow British citizens, such as playing the "hokey cokey", "Lambeth Walk" and conga. "I remember lines of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall, and all of us were swept along by tides of happiness and relief," Elizabeth later recalled.[36] Margaret and Elizabeth were "terrified" of being recognized, so they did their best to stay hidden in plain sight.[37]

On 15 April 1946, Margaret was confirmed into the Church of England.[38] On 1 February 1947, she, Elizabeth and their parents embarked on a state tour of Southern Africa. The three-month-long visit was Margaret's first visit abroad, and she later claimed that she remembered "every minute of it".[39] Her chaperone was Peter Townsend, the King's equerry[40] and very firm toward Margaret, whom he apparently considered an indulged child.[41] In November 1947, Margaret was a bridesmaid at Elizabeth's wedding to Philip Mountbatten. In the next three years, Elizabeth had two children, Prince Charles and Princess Anne, whose births moved Margaret further down the line of succession.[42]

In 1950, the former royal governess, Marion Crawford, published an unauthorized biography of Elizabeth's and Margaret's childhood years, titled The Little Princesses, in which she described Margaret's "light-hearted fun and frolics"[43] and her "amusing and outrageous ... antics".[44]

The Margaret Set edit

Around the time of Elizabeth's wedding, the press started to follow the social life of "unconventional" Margaret and her reputation for vivacity and wit.[45] As a young woman, with an 18-inch waist and "vivid blue eyes",[46] Margaret enjoyed socialising with high society and young aristocrats, including Sharman Douglas, the daughter of the American ambassador, Lewis Williams Douglas.[47] A celebrated beauty known for her glamour and fashion sense, Margaret was often featured in the press at balls, parties, and nightclubs[48] with friends who became known as the "Margaret Set".[49] The number of her official engagements increased (they included a tour of Italy, Switzerland, and France), and she joined a growing number of charitable organisations as president or patron.[50]

 
Margaret in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1948

Favoured haunts of the Margaret Set were The 400 Club, the Café de Paris and the Mirabelle restaurant.[51] Anticipation of an engagement or romance between Margaret and a member of her set were often reported. In 1948, international news grew that her engagement to the Marquess of Blandford would be announced on her 18th birthday.[52] Similar speculation moved to the Hon. Peter Ward, then Billy Wallace and others. The set also mixed with celebrities, including Danny Kaye, whom she met after watching him perform at the London Palladium in February 1948.[53] He was soon accepted by the royal social circle.[54] In July 1949, at a fancy dress ball at the US ambassador's residence, Margaret performed the can-can on stage, accompanied by Douglas and ten other costumed girls. A press commotion ensued, with Kaye denying he had taught Margaret the dance.[55] Press interest could be intrusive. During a private visit to Paris in 1951, Margaret and Prince Nicholas of Yugoslavia were followed into a nightclub by a paparazzo who took photographs of them until British detectives physically removed him from the club.[56]

In 1952, although Margaret attended parties and debutante balls with friends such as Douglas and Mark Bonham Carter, the set were seen infrequently together.[57] They regrouped in time for Coronation season social functions. In May 1953, Margaret met singer Eddie Fisher when he performed at the Red, White and Blue Ball. She asked him to her table and he was "invited to all sorts of parties".[58] Margaret fell out with him in 1957, but years later, Fisher still claimed the night he was introduced to her was the greatest thrill of his lifetime.[59] In June 1954, the Set performed the Edgar Wallace play The Frog at the Scala Theatre. It was organized by Margaret's by now best girlfriend Judy Montagu with Margaret as assistant director. It drew praise for raising £10,500 for charity, but criticism for incompetent performances.[60] By the mid-1950s, although still seen at fashionable nightspots and theatre premieres, the set was depleted by its members getting married. As she reached her late twenties unmarried, the press increasingly turned from predicting whom she might marry to suspecting she would remain a spinster.[61]

'Romances' and the press (1947–1959) edit

The press avidly discussed "the world's most eligible bachelor-girl"[62] and her alleged romances with more than 30 bachelors,[63][64] including David Mountbatten, Michael I of Romania,[65] Dominic Elliot,[66] Colin Tennant (later Baron Glenconner),[67] Prince Henry of Hesse-Kassel,[68] and future Canadian prime minister John Turner.[69][70] Most had titles and almost all were wealthy. Lord Blandford and Lord Dalkeith, both wealthy sons of dukes, were the likeliest potential husbands. Her family reportedly hoped that Margaret would marry Dalkeith, but, unlike him, Margaret was uninterested in the outdoors.[64][71] Billy Wallace, sole heir to a £2.8 million (£78 million today) fortune and an old friend, was reportedly Margaret's favourite date during the mid-1950s.[62][72] During her 21st birthday party at Balmoral in August 1951,[73] the press was disappointed to only photograph Margaret with Townsend,[63] always in the background of pictures of royal appearances,[74][64] and to her parents a safe companion as Elizabeth's duties increased.[64] The following month her father underwent surgery for lung cancer, and Margaret was appointed one of the Counsellors of State who undertook the King's official duties while he was incapacitated.[75] Her father died five months later, on 6 February 1952, and her sister acceded as Elizabeth II.[76]

Romance with Peter Townsend edit

Early relationship edit

During the war, the King suggested choosing palace aides who were highly qualified men from the military, instead of only aristocrats. Told that a handsome war hero had arrived,[49] the princesses met Townsend, the new equerry, on his first day at Buckingham Palace in 1944; Elizabeth reportedly told her sister, 13 years old, "Bad luck, he's married".[77] A temporary assignment of three months from the RAF became permanent. The King and Queen were fond of Townsend; the King reportedly saw the calm and efficient combat veteran as the son he never had.[78][77][64] He may have been aware of Margaret's infatuation with the non-titled and non-wealthy Townsend, reportedly seeing the courtier reluctantly obey the princess's order to carry her up palace stairs after a party.[64]

Townsend was so often near Margaret that gossip columnists overlooked him as a suitor for the princess.[74] When their relationship began is unclear. Margaret told friends she fell in love with him during the 1947 South Africa tour, where they often went riding together.[79] Her biographer Craig Brown stated that, according to a National Trust curator, Townsend requested the bedroom next to hers during a trip to Belfast in October 1947.[80] In November 1948, they attended the inauguration of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. In later life, Townsend admitted at this point there was an attraction between them, but neither of them ever acknowledged it to one another. Not long after, he discovered his wife Rosemary was involved in an extramarital affair, which ended.[81] Contemporary anecdotes about their closeness then dissipated until late 1950, when friendship seems to have rekindled, coinciding with Townsend's appointment as Deputy Master of the Household and the breakdown of his marriage.[82]

From the spring of 1951 came several testimonies of a growing romantic attraction. A footman told how the King diverted the pair's picnic plans, adding that whatever the King and Queen knew about the developing relationship, few royal staff failed to notice as it was obvious to them.[83] Townsend said that his love for her began in Balmoral in 1951, and recalled an incident there in August when the princess woke him from a nap after a picnic lunch while the King watched, to suggest the King knew.[84] Townsend and his wife separated in 1951,[85] which was noticed by the press by July.[86]

Margaret was grief-stricken by her father's death and was prescribed sedatives to help her sleep.[87] Of her father she wrote, "He was such a wonderful person, the very heart and centre of our happy family."[88] She was consoled by her deeply held Christian beliefs,[89] sometimes attending church twice daily.[64] She re-emerged attending events with her family in April and returned to public duties and the social scene when official mourning ended in June. American newspapers noted her increasing vitality and speculated that she must be in love.[90] With the widowed Queen Mother, Margaret moved out of Buckingham Palace and into Clarence House in May 1953, while the new queen and her family moved out of Clarence House and into Buckingham Palace.[91] After George VI's death, Townsend was appointed Comptroller of the Queen Mother's household.[92]

In June 1952, the estranged Townsends hosted Margaret, along with her sister Elizabeth and brother-in-law Philip, at a cocktail party at their home.[93][94] A month later, Rosemary Townsend and her new partner John de László attended judging at the Royal Windsor Horse Show.[95] It is thought the romance between Margaret and Townsend began around this time.[96] The first reports that Townsend and Margaret wished to marry began in August 1952,[97] but these remained uncommon. The Townsend divorce in November was mentioned little in Britain and in greater detail abroad.[98] After the divorce was finalized in December 1952, however, rumours spread about him and Margaret;[64] the divorce, and shared grief over the King's death in February 1952, likely helped them come together[77] within the privacy of Clarence House, where Margaret had her own apartment.[79]

Marriage proposal edit

Private Secretary to the Queen Sir Alan Lascelles wrote that Townsend told Lascelles he had asked Margaret to marry him shortly before Christmas 1952.[99] Other sources claim it occurred in February or April 1953.[63][100] He was 15 years her senior and had two children from his previous marriage. Margaret accepted and informed her sister, the Queen, whose consent was required by the Royal Marriages Act 1772. During the abdication crisis, the Church of England refused to countenance the remarriage of the divorced. Queen Mary had recently died, and, after the coronation of Elizabeth II, the new queen planned to tour the Commonwealth for six months. She told her sister, "Under the circumstances, it isn't unreasonable for me to ask you to wait a year",[101] and to keep the relationship secret until after the coronation.[78]

 
Following Elizabeth II's coronation, the royal family appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on June 2, 1953. Margaret can be seen on the right, exactly next to the boys in black.

Although foreign media speculated on Margaret and Townsend's relationship, the British press did not. After reporters saw her plucking fluff from his coat during the coronation on 2 June 1953—"I never thought a thing about it, and neither did Margaret", Townsend later said; "After that the storm broke"[63][79]—The People first mentioned the relationship in Britain[102] on 14 June. With the headline "They Must Deny it NOW",[84] the front-page article warned that "scandalous rumours about Princess Margaret are racing around the world", which the newspaper stated were "of course, utterly untrue".[49][103] The foreign press believed that the Regency Act 1953—which made Prince Philip regent instead of Margaret on the Queen's death—was enacted to allow Margaret to marry Townsend, but as late as 23 July most other British newspapers except the Daily Mirror did not discuss the rumours. Acting Prime Minister Rab Butler asked that the "deplorable speculation" end, without mentioning Margaret or Townsend.[74][104]

The constitutional crisis that the proposed marriage caused was public.[78] The Queen was advised by Lascelles to post Townsend abroad, but she refused and instead transferred him from the Queen Mother's household to her own,[105] although Townsend did not accompany Margaret as planned on a tour of Southern Rhodesia.[64] Winston Churchill personally approved of "a lovely young royal lady married to a gallant young airman", but Clementine Churchill reminded her husband that he had made the same mistake during the abdication crisis.[106][102] The Cabinet refused to approve the marriage,[107] and Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury, did not approve of Margaret marrying a divorced man; opponents said that the marriage would threaten the monarchy as Edward VIII's had.[64] The Church of England Newspaper said that Margaret "is a dutiful churchwoman who knows what strong views leaders of the church hold in this matter", but the Sunday Express—which had supported Edward and Wallis—asked, "IF THEY WANT TO MARRY, WHY SHOULDN'T THEY?".[74]

Churchill discussed the marriage at the 1953 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference held with the coronation; the Statute of Westminster 1931 requires Dominion parliaments to also approve any Bill of Renunciation changing the line of succession. The Canadian government stated that altering the line twice in 25 years would harm the monarchy.[71] Churchill informed the Queen that both his cabinet and Dominion prime ministers were against the marriage, and that Parliament would not approve a marriage that would be unrecognized by the Church of England unless Margaret renounced her rights to the throne.[108][106]

Philip was reportedly the most opposed to Townsend in the royal family, while Margaret's mother and sister wanted her to be happy but could not approve of the marriage. Besides Townsend's divorce, two major problems were financial and constitutional. Margaret did not possess her sister's large fortune and would need the £6,000 annual civil list allowance and £15,000 additional allowance Parliament had provided for her upon a suitable marriage. She did not object to being removed from the line of succession to the throne, as Elizabeth and all her children dying was unlikely, but receiving parliamentary approval for the marriage would be difficult and uncertain.[64][41] At the age of 25 Margaret would not need the Queen's permission under the 1772 Act;[109] she could, after notifying the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, marry in one year if Parliament did not prevent her. Churchill told Elizabeth, however, that if one could easily leave the line of succession, another could easily enter the line, dangerous for a hereditary monarchy.[71]

Elizabeth told the couple to wait until 1955, when Margaret would be 25,[109] avoiding the Queen having to publicly disapprove of her sister's marriage.[64] Lascelles—who compared Townsend to Theudas "boasting himself to be somebody"—hoped that separating him and Margaret would end their romance.[110] Churchill arranged for Townsend's assignment as air attaché at the British Embassy in Brussels; he was sent on 15 July 1953, before Margaret's return from Rhodesia on 30 July.[106] The assignment was so sudden that the British ambassador learnt about it from a newspaper. Although Margaret and Townsend knew about his new job, they had reportedly been promised a few days together before his departure.[71]

Press coverage edit

For two years, press speculation continued. In Brussels, Townsend only said that "The word must come from somebody else". He avoided parties and being seen with women. With few duties (the sinecure was abolished after him), Townsend improved his French and horsemanship. He joined a Belgian show jumping club and rode in races around Europe.[71] Margaret was told by the Church that she would be unable to receive communion if she married a divorced man.[111] Three quarters of Sunday Express readers opposed the relationship, and Mass-Observation recorded criticism of the "silly little fool" as a poor example for young women who emulated her.[84] Other newspaper polls showed popular support for Margaret's personal choice, regardless of Church teaching or government.[112] Ninety-seven per cent of Daily Mirror readers supported marriage, and a Daily Express editorial stated that even if the Archbishop of Canterbury was displeased, "she would best please the vast majority of ordinary folk [by finding] happiness for herself".[64][71]

The couple were not restricted on communicating by mail and telephone.[64][71] Margaret worked with friends on charity productions of Lord and Lady Algy and The Frog, and publicly dated men such as Tennant[49] and Wallace.[62] In January 1955, she made the first of many trips to the Caribbean, perhaps to distract, and as a reward for being apart, from Townsend. The attaché secretly travelled to Britain; while the palace was aware of one visit, he reportedly made other trips for nights and weekends with the princess at Clarence House—her apartment had its own front door—and friends' homes.[49][64]

 
Margaret greeting schoolchildren at the opening of The Princess Margaret School in Barbados, 9 February 1955

That spring Townsend for the first time spoke to the press: "I am sick of being made to hide in my apartment like a thief", but whether he could marry "involves more people than myself". He reportedly believed that his exile from Margaret would soon end,[71] their love was strong, and that the British people would support marrying.[64] Townsend received a bodyguard and police guard around his apartment after the Belgian government received threats on his life,[71] but the British government still said nothing. Stating that people were more interested in the couple than the recent 1955 United Kingdom general election, on 29 May the Daily Express published an editorial demanding that Buckingham Palace confirm or deny the rumours.[113]

The press described Margaret's 25th birthday, 21 August 1955, as the day she was free to marry,[71] and expected an announcement about Townsend soon. Three hundred journalists waited outside Balmoral, four times as many as those later following Diana, Princess of Wales.[49] "COME ON MARGARET!", the Daily Mirror's front page said two days earlier, asking her to "please make up your mind!".[64][114] On 12 October Townsend returned from Brussels as Margaret's suitor. The royal family devised a system in which it did not host Townsend, but he and Margaret formally courted each other at dinner parties hosted by friends[71] such as Mark Bonham Carter.[115][116] A Gallup poll found that 59% of Britons approved of their marrying, with 17% opposed.[114][84] Women in the East End of London shouted "Go on, Marg, do what you want" at the princess.[102] Although the couple was never seen together in public during this time,[103] the general consensus was that they would marry. Crowds waited outside Clarence House, and a global audience read daily updates and rumours on newspaper front pages.[114][115][117][118][119]

"Nothing much else than Princess Margaret's affairs is being talked of in this country", The Manchester Guardian said on 15 October. "NOW – THE NATION WAITS" was a typical headline.[114] Observers interpreted Buckingham Palace's request to the press to respect Margaret's privacy—the first time the palace discussed the princess's recent personal life—as evidence of an imminent betrothal announcement,[118][71][120] probably before the Opening of Parliament on 25 October.[117] As no announcement occurred—the Daily Mirror on 17 October showed a photograph of Margaret's left hand with the headline "NO RING YET!"[114]—the press wondered why. Parliamentarians "are frankly puzzled by the way the affair has been handled", the News Chronicle wrote. "If a marriage is on, they ask, why not announce it quickly? If there is to be no marriage, why allow the couple to continue to meet without a clear denial of the rumours?"[115]

Why a betrothal did not occur is unclear. Margaret may have been uncertain of her desire, having written to Prime Minister Anthony Eden in August that "It is only by seeing him in this way that I feel I can properly decide whether I can marry him or not".[109] Margaret's authorized biographer Christopher Warwick said that the letter was evidence that her love for Townsend was not as strong as the public believed, and that she wanted only the prime minister and Elizabeth to know of her uncertainty.[121] Margaret may have told Townsend as early as 12 October that governmental and familial opposition to their marriage had not changed; it is possible that neither they nor Elizabeth fully understood until that year how difficult the 1772 Act made a royal marriage without the monarch's permission.[49] An influential 26 October editorial in The Times stating that "The QUEEN's sister married to a divorced man (even though the innocent party) would be irrevocably disqualified from playing her part in the essential royal function" represented The Establishment's view of what it considered a possibly dangerous crisis.[114][103] It convinced many, who had believed that the media were exaggerating, that Margaret really might defy the Church and royal standards. Leslie Weatherhead, President of the Methodist Conference, now criticized the proposed marriage.[107]

Townsend recalled that "we felt mute and numbed at the centre of this maelstrom";[84] Elizabeth also wanted the media circus to end.[77] Townsend only had his RAF income and, other than a talent for writing, had no experience in other work.[71] He wrote in his autobiography that Margaret "could have married me only if she had been prepared to give up everything -- her position, her prestige, her privy purse. I simply hadn't the weight, I knew it, to counterbalance all she would have lost"[120] for what Kenneth Rose described as "life in a cottage on a Group Captain's salary".[77] Royal historian Hugo Vickers wrote that "Lascelles's separation plan had worked and the love between them had died".[110] Warwick said that "having spent two years apart, they were no longer as in love as they had been. Townsend was not the love of her life – the love of her life was her father, King George VI, whom she adored".[31]

More than 100 journalists waited at Balmoral when Eden arrived to discuss the marriage with Elizabeth and Margaret on 1 October 1955.[71] Lord Kilmuir, the Lord Chancellor, that month prepared a secret government document on the proposed marriage.[64][49] According to a 1958 biography of Townsend by Norman Barrymaine and other accounts, Eden said that his government would oppose in Parliament Margaret retaining her royal status. Parliament might pass resolutions opposing the marriage, which the people would see as a disagreement between government and monarchy; Lord Salisbury, a High Anglican, might resign from the government rather than help pass a Bill of Renunciation. While the government could not prevent the marriage when Margaret became a private individual after a Bill of Renunciation, she would no longer be a Counsellor of State and would lose her civil list allowance; otherwise, taxpayers would subsidise a divorced man and his sons. The Church would consider any children from the marriage to be illegitimate. Eden recommended that, like her uncle Edward and his wife Wallis, Margaret and Townsend leave Britain[71][77] for several years.[49][103][120]

Papers released in 2004 to the National Archives disagree. They show that Elizabeth and Eden (who had been divorced and remarried himself) planned to amend the 1772 Act. Margaret would have been able to marry Townsend by removing her and any children from the marriage from the line of succession, and thus the Queen's permission would no longer be necessary. Margaret would be allowed to keep her royal title and her allowance, stay in the country, and even continue with her public duties. Eden described Elizabeth's attitude in a letter on the subject to the Commonwealth prime ministers as "Her Majesty would not wish to stand in the way of her sister's happiness". Eden himself was sympathetic; "Exclusion from the Succession would not entail any other change in Princess Margaret's position as a member of the Royal Family", he wrote.[109]

On 28 October 1955 final draft of the plan, Margaret would announce that she would marry Townsend and leave the line of succession. As prearranged by Eden, the Queen would consult with the British and Commonwealth governments, and then ask them to amend the 1772 Act. Eden would have told Parliament that the Act was "out of harmony with modern conditions". Kilmuir had advised Eden that the 1772 Act was flawed and might not apply to Margaret anyway. Kilmuir estimated that 75% of Britons would approve of allowing the marriage.[109] The August letter to Eden is evidence, Warwick said, that Margaret was aware of the government's intention to preserve her title and allowance.[121]

The decision not to marry was made on the 24th and for the following week, Margaret worked on the wording of her statement, which was released on the 31st.[122] It is unclear what or when she was told about the government proposal, drafted on the 28th. By the early 1980s she was still protesting to biographers that the couple had been given false hope marriage was possible and she would have ended the relationship sooner had she been informed otherwise.[123][124]

The Daily Mirror on 28 October discussed The Times's editorial with the headline "THIS CRUEL PLAN MUST BE EXPOSED". Although Margaret and Townsend had read the editorial the newspaper denounced as from "a dusty world and a forgotten age", they had earlier made their decision and written an announcement.[103][107]

End of relationship edit

On 31 October 1955, Margaret issued a statement:

I would like it to be known that I have decided not to marry Group Captain Peter Townsend. I have been aware that, subject to my renouncing my rights of succession, it might have been possible for me to contract a civil marriage. But mindful of the Church's teachings that Christian marriage is indissoluble, and conscious of my duty to the Commonwealth, I have resolved to put these considerations before others. I have reached this decision entirely alone, and in doing so I have been strengthened by the unfailing support and devotion of Group Captain Townsend.[125]

"Thoroughly drained, thoroughly demoralized", Margaret later said,[63] she and Townsend wrote the statement together. She refused when Oliver Dawnay, the Queen Mother's private secretary, asked to remove the word "devotion".[71][49] The written statement, signed "Margaret", was the first official confirmation of the relationship. Some Britons were disbelieving or angry while others, including clergy, were proud of Margaret for choosing duty and faith;[119] newspapers were evenly divided on the decision. Mass-Observation recorded indifference or criticism of the couple among men, but great interest among women, whether for or against. Kenneth Tynan, John Minton, Ronald Searle, and others signed an open letter from "the younger generation". Published in the Daily Express on 4 November, the letter said that the end of the relationship had exposed The Establishment and "our national hypocrisy".[114]

Townsend recalled that "We had reached the end of the road, our feelings for one another were unchanged, but they had incurred for us a burden so great that we decided together to lay it down".[63] The Associated Press said that Margaret's statement was almost "a rededication of her life to the duties of royalty, making unlikely any marriage for her in the near future";[119] the princess may have expected to never marry after the long relationship ended, because most of her eligible male friends were no longer bachelors.[126] Barrymaine agreed that Margaret intended the statement to mean that she would never marry, but wrote that Townsend likely did not accept any such vow to him by the princess, and his subsequent departure from Britain for two years was to not interfere with her life.[71] "We both had a feeling of unimaginable relief. We were liberated at last from this monstrous problem", Townsend said.[84]

After resigning from the RAF and travelling around the world for 18 months Townsend returned in March 1958; he and Margaret met several times, but could not avoid the press ("TOGETHER AGAIN") or royal disapproval. Townsend again left Britain to write a book about his trip; Barrymaine concluded in 1958 that "none of the fundamental obstacles to their marriage has been overcome – or shows any prospects of being overcome".[71][49] Townsend said during a 1970 book tour that he and Margaret did not correspond and they had not seen each other since a "friendly" 1958 meeting, "just like I think a lot of people never see their old girl friends".[127] Their love letters are in the Royal Archives and will not be available to the public until 100 years after Margaret's birth, February 2030.[63] These are unlikely to include Margaret's letters. In 1959, she wrote to Townsend in response to him informing her of his remarriage plans, accusing him of betraying their vow not to marry anyone else and requesting her love letters to him be destroyed.[128] He claimed he complied with her wishes, but kept this letter and an envelope of burned shards of the vow she had sent, eventually destroying these also. He was apparently unaware Margaret had already broken the pact by her engagement to Billy Wallace as it wasn't revealed until many years later.[129]

In October 1993, a friend of Margaret revealed she had met Townsend for what turned out to be the last time before his death in 1995. She had not wanted to attend the reunion they'd both been invited to, in 1992, for fear it might be picked up by the press, so she asked to see him privately instead.[130] Margaret said that he looked "exactly the same, except he had grey hair".[63] Guests said he had not really changed, and that they just sat chatting like old friends. They also found him disgruntled and had convinced himself that in agreeing to part, he and Margaret had set a noble example which seemed to have been in vain.[131]

Billy Wallace later said that "The thing with Townsend was a girlish nonsense that got out of hand. It was never the big thing on her part that people claim".[63]

Marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones edit

 
A ticket for the wedding procession
 
Margaret with her husband Lord Snowdon, May 1965

Margaret accepted one of Wallace's many proposals to marry in 1956, but the engagement ended before an official announcement when he admitted to a romance in the Bahamas; "I had my chance and blew it with my big mouth", Wallace said.[63] Margaret did not reveal this publicly until an interview and subsequent biography with Nigel Dempster in 1977.[132]

Margaret met the photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones at a supper party in 1958.[133] They became engaged in October 1959.[134] Armstrong-Jones proposed to Margaret with a ruby engagement ring surrounded by diamonds in the shape of a rosebud.[135][136] She reportedly accepted his proposal a day after learning from Townsend that he intended to marry a young Belgian woman,[63] Marie-Luce Jamagne, who was half his age and greatly resembled Margaret.[137][120] Margaret's announcement of her engagement, on 26 February 1960, surprised the press, as she had concealed the romance from reporters.[138]

Margaret married Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey on 6 May 1960.[139] The ceremony was the first royal wedding to be broadcast on television,[63] and it attracted viewing figures of 300 million worldwide.[140] 2,000 guests were invited for the wedding ceremony.[133] Margaret's wedding dress was designed by Norman Hartnell and worn with the Poltimore tiara.[38] She had eight young bridesmaids, led by her niece, Princess Anne.[141] The Duke of Edinburgh escorted the bride, and the best man was Dr Roger Gilliatt.[133] Archbishop of Canterbury Geoffrey Fisher conducted the marriage service.[133] Following the ceremony, the couple made the traditional appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.[133] The honeymoon was a six-week Caribbean cruise aboard the royal yacht Britannia.[142] As a wedding present, Colin Tennant gave her a plot of land on his private Caribbean island, Mustique.[143] The newlyweds moved into rooms in Kensington Palace.[144]

In 1961, Margaret's husband was created Earl of Snowdon. The couple had two children (both born by Caesarean section at Margaret's request):[145] David, born 3 November 1961, and Sarah, born 1 May 1964.[102] The marriage widened Margaret's social circle beyond the court and aristocracy to include show business celebrities and bohemians. At the time, it was thought to reflect the breaking down of British class barriers.[146] The Snowdons experimented with the styles and fashions of the 1960s.[147]

Separation and divorce edit

Both parties in the marriage regularly engaged in extramarital relationships. Lord Snowdon had a series of affairs, including with long-term mistress, Ann Hills, and Lady Jacqueline Rufus-Isaacs, daughter of the 3rd Marquess of Reading. Anne De Courcy's 2008 biography summarises the situation with a quote from a close friend: "If it moves, he'll have it."[148]

Reportedly, Margaret had her first extramarital affair in 1966, with her daughter's godfather Anthony Barton, a Bordeaux wine producer.[149][63] A year later she had a one-month liaison with Robin Douglas-Home, a nephew of former British prime minister Alec Douglas-Home.[150][63] Margaret claimed that her relationship with Douglas-Home was platonic, but her letters to him (which were later sold) were intimate.[151] Douglas-Home, who suffered from depression, died by suicide 18 months after the split with Margaret.[63] Claims that she was romantically involved with musician Mick Jagger,[152] actor Peter Sellers, and Australian cricketer Keith Miller are unproven.[153] According to biographer Charlotte Breese, entertainer Leslie Hutchinson had a "brief liaison" with Margaret in 1955.[154] A 2009 biography of actor David Niven included assertions, based on information from Niven's widow and a good friend of Niven's, that he had had an affair with the princess, who was 20 years his junior.[155] In 1975, Margaret was listed among women with whom actor Warren Beatty had had romantic relationships.[156] John Bindon, an actor from Fulham, who had spent time in prison, sold his story to the Daily Mirror, boasting of a close relationship with Margaret.[157]

 
Margaret shakes hands with Mayor of Amsterdam Gijs van Hall, 14 May 1965

Beyond extramarital relationships, the marriage was accompanied by drugs, alcohol, and bizarre behaviour by both parties, such as Snowdon's leaving lists of "things I hate about you" for Margaret to find between the pages of books she read. According to biographer Sarah Bradford, one note read: "You look like a Jewish manicurist and I hate you".[158]

By the early 1970s, the couple had drifted apart. In September 1973, Colin Tennant introduced Margaret to Roddy Llewellyn. Llewellyn was 17 years her junior. In 1974, she invited him as a guest to Les Jolies Eaux, the holiday home she had built on Mustique.[159] It was the first of several visits. Margaret described their relationship as "a loving friendship".[160] Once, when Llewellyn left on an impulsive trip to Turkey, Margaret became emotionally distraught and took an overdose of sleeping tablets.[161] "I was so exhausted because of everything", she later said, "that all I wanted to do was sleep".[162] As she recovered, her ladies-in-waiting kept Snowdon away from her, afraid that seeing him would distress her further.[163]

In February 1976, a picture of Margaret and Llewellyn in swimsuits on Mustique was published on the front page of a tabloid, the News of the World. The press portrayed Margaret as a predatory older woman and Llewellyn as her toyboy lover.[164] On 19 March 1976, Margaret and Snowdon publicly acknowledged that their marriage had irretrievably broken down and that they had decided to separate.[165][166] Some politicians suggested removing Margaret from the civil list. Labour MPs denounced her as "a royal parasite"[167] and a "floosie".[168] On 24 May 1978, the decree nisi for the couple's divorce was granted.[166] In the same month, Margaret was taken ill, and diagnosed as suffering from gastroenteritis and alcoholic hepatitis,[169] although Warwick denied that she was ever an alcoholic.[31] On 11 July 1978, the divorce was finalized.[170] It was the first divorce of a senior member of the British royal family since that of Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh in 1901. Allegedly, it wasn't something Margaret wanted: she tried to make her marriage succeed, but there were "too many challenges". Devastated by the divorce, Margaret never remarried.[171] On 15 December 1978, Snowdon married Lucy Lindsay-Hogg, but he and Margaret remained close friends.[172]

In 1981, Llewellyn married Tatiana Soskin, whom he had known for 10 years.[173] Margaret remained close friends with them both.[174]

Public life edit

 
Margaret and Snowdon with Lyndon B. and Lady Bird Johnson at the White House, 17 November 1965

Among Margaret's first official engagements was launching the ocean liner Edinburgh Castle in Belfast in 1947.[175] Subsequently, Margaret went on multiple tours of various places; in her first major tour she joined her parents and sister for a tour of South Africa in 1947. Her tour aboard Britannia to the British colonies in the Caribbean in 1955 created a sensation throughout the West Indies, and calypsos were dedicated to her.[176] As colonies of the British Commonwealth of Nations sought nationhood, Margaret represented the Crown at independence ceremonies in Jamaica in 1962[177] and Tuvalu and Dominica in 1978. Her visit to Tuvalu was cut short by an illness, which may have been viral pneumonia,[178] and she was flown to Australia to recuperate.[179] Other overseas tours included East Africa and Mauritius in 1956, the United States in 1965, Japan in 1969 and 1979,[180] the United States and Canada in 1974,[181] Australia in 1975,[182] the Philippines in 1980,[183] Swaziland in 1981,[184] and China in 1987.[185]

In August 1979, Margaret's cousin Lord Mountbatten and members of his family were killed by a bomb planted by the Provisional Irish Republican Army.[186] That October, while on a fundraising tour of the United States on behalf of the Royal Opera House, Margaret was seated at a dinner reception in Chicago with columnist Abra Anderson and Mayor Jane Byrne. Margaret told them that the royal family had been moved by the many letters of condolence from Ireland.[187] The following day, Anderson's rival Irv Kupcinet published a claim that Margaret had referred to the Irish as "pigs".[188] Margaret, Anderson, and Byrne all issued immediate denials,[187] but the damage was already done.[189] The rest of the tour drew demonstrations, and Margaret's security was doubled in the face of physical threats.[190]

Charity work edit

Margaret's main interests were welfare charities, music and ballet.[191] She was president of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC),[191] the Royal Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (Children 1st),[192] and Invalid Children's Aid Nationwide (also called 'I CAN'). She was also Grand President of the St John Ambulance Brigade.[191] Margaret was president or patron of numerous organisations, such as the West Indies Olympic Association, the Girl Guides,[191] Northern Ballet Theatre,[193] Birmingham Royal Ballet,[194] Scottish Ballet,[192] Tenovus Cancer Care,[195] the Royal College of Nursing,[195] and the London Lighthouse (an AIDS charity that has since merged with the Terrence Higgins Trust).[16] In her capacity as president of the Royal Ballet, she played a key role in launching a fund for Dame Margot Fonteyn, who was experiencing financial troubles.[196] With the help of the Children's Royal Variety Performance, she also organized yearly fundraisers for NSPCC.[196] At some points Margaret was criticized for not being as active as other members of the royal family.[191]

Illness and death edit

 
Margaret in later life

Margaret's later life was marred by illness and disability.[197] She began smoking cigarettes in her late teens and had continued to smoke heavily for many years thereafter.[198][199] In the 1970s, she suffered a nervous breakdown and was treated for depression by Mark Collins, a psychiatrist from the Priory Clinic.[200] Later on, she suffered from migraines, laryngitis, and bronchitis.[201] In January 1980, she was operated on at the London Clinic to remove a benign skin lesion.[197] On 5 January 1985, she had part of her left lung removed; the operation drew parallels with that of her father 34 years earlier.[202] In 1991, she gave up smoking, though she continued to drink heavily.[203]

In January 1993, Margaret was admitted to hospital for pneumonia. She experienced a mild stroke on 23 February 1998 at her holiday home in Mustique.[204] Early the following year, she suffered severe scalds to her feet in a bathroom accident, which affected her mobility in that she required support when walking and sometimes used a wheelchair.[205] She was hospitalized on 10 January 2001, due to loss of appetite and swallowing problems after a further stroke.[206][207] By March 2001, strokes had left her with partial vision and paralysis on the left side.[208] Margaret's last public appearances were at the 101st birthday celebrations of her mother in August 2001, and the 100th birthday celebration of her aunt Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, that December.[209]

Margaret died in the King Edward VII's Hospital, London, at 06:30 GMT on 9 February 2002, aged 71, three days after the 50th anniversary of her father's death. She was 11th in line to the throne at the time of her death. The previous day, she had suffered another stroke that was followed by cardiac problems.[210][197][192] Prince Charles paid tribute to his aunt in a television broadcast.[211][212] UK politicians and foreign leaders sent their condolences as well.[213][214] Following her death, private memorial services were held at St Mary Magdalene Church and Glamis Castle.[215]

Margaret's coffin, draped in her personal standard, was taken from Kensington Palace to St James's Palace before her funeral.[216] Her funeral was held on 15 February 2002, the 50th anniversary of her father's funeral.[217] In line with her wishes, the ceremony was a private service at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, for family and friends.[218] Unlike most other members of the royal family, she was cremated, at Slough Crematorium.[219] Her ashes were temporarily placed in the Royal Vault of St George's Chapel. The Queen Mother died seven weeks after Margaret, and Margaret's ashes were moved to the King George VI Memorial Chapel in St George's following her mother's funeral.[220][217][221] A state memorial service was held at Westminster Abbey on 19 April 2002.[222] Another memorial service to mark the 10th anniversary of their deaths was held on 30 March 2012 at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, which was attended by Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family.[223]

Legacy edit

Image edit

We thank thee Lord who by thy spirit doth our faith restore
When we with worldly things commune & prayerless close our door
We lose our precious gift divine to worship and adore
Then thou our Saviour, fill our hearts to love thee evermore

Princess Margaret's epitaph, which she wrote herself, is carved on a memorial stone in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle[224]

Observers often characterized Margaret as a spoiled snob capable of cutting remarks and hauteur.[225] Critics claimed that she even looked down on her grandmother Queen Mary because Mary was born a princess with the lower "Serene Highness" style, whereas Margaret was a "Royal Highness" by birth.[226] Their letters, however, provide no indication of friction between them.[227]

Margaret could also be charming and informal. People who came into contact with her could be perplexed by her swings between frivolity and formality.[228] Marion Crawford wrote in her memoir: "Impulsive and bright remarks she made became headlines and, taken out of their context, began to produce in the public eye an oddly distorted personality that bore little resemblance to the Margaret we knew."[229]

Margaret's acquaintance Gore Vidal, the American writer, wrote: "She was far too intelligent for her station in life". He recalled a conversation with Margaret in which, discussing her public notoriety, she said: "It was inevitable, when there are two sisters and one is the Queen, who must be the source of honour and all that is good, while the other must be the focus of the most creative malice, the evil sister".[230]

 
Margaret (left) and Cliff Richard at the 59 Club, London in 1962

As a child, Margaret enjoyed pony shows, but unlike other family members she did not express interest in hunting, shooting, and fishing in adulthood.[196] She became interested in ballet from a very young age and enjoyed participating in amateur plays. She directed one such play, titled The Frogs, with her aristocratic friends as cast members.[196] Actors and film stars were among the regular visitors to her residence at Kensington Palace.[196] In January 1981, she was the castaway in an episode of BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. There she chose Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake as her favourite piece of music.[231] In 1984, she appeared as herself in an episode of the radio drama The Archers, becoming the first member of the royal family to take part in a BBC drama.[232]

Margaret's private life was for many years the subject of intense speculation by media and royalty watchers. Her house on Mustique, designed by her husband's uncle Oliver Messel, a stage designer, was her favourite holiday destination.[233] Allegations of wild parties and drug taking also surfaced in the media.[234]

Following Margaret's death, her lady-in-waiting, Lady Glenconner, said that "[Margaret] was devoted to the Queen and tremendously supportive of her".[235] Margaret was described by her cousin Lady Elizabeth Shakerley as "somebody who had a wonderful capacity for giving a lot of people pleasure and she was making a very, very, very good and loyal friend".[236] Another cousin, Lord Lichfield, said that "[Margaret] was pretty sad towards the end of her life because it was a life unfulfilled".[235]

The Independent wrote in Townsend's 1995 obituary that "The immense display of popular sentiment and interest [in the relationship] can now be seen to have constituted a watershed in the nation's attitude towards divorce".[41] The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church received much of the popular anger toward the end of the relationship.[114] Randolph Churchill believed that rumours "that Fisher had intervened to prevent the Princess from marrying Townsend has done incalculable harm to the Church of England";[106] a Gallup poll found that 28% agreed, and 59% disagreed, with the Church's refusal to remarry a divorced person while the other spouse was alive.[114] Biographer Warwick suggests that Margaret's most enduring legacy is an accidental one. Perhaps unwittingly, Margaret paved the way for public acceptance of royal divorce. Her life, if not her actions, made the decisions and choices of her sister's children, three of whom divorced, easier than they otherwise would have been.[237]

Eden reportedly told Elizabeth in Balmoral when discussing Margaret and Townsend that, regardless of outcome, the monarchy would be damaged.[71] In 1995, Harold Brooks-Baker was quoted in Townsend's obituary: "In my opinion, this was the turning point to disaster for the royal family. After Princess Margaret was denied marriage, it backfired and more or less ruined Margaret's life. The Queen decided that from then on, anyone someone in her family wanted to marry would be more or less acceptable. The royal family and the public now feel that they've gone too far in the other direction".[120]

Fashion and style edit

 
Margaret in 1965

During her lifetime, Margaret was considered a fashion icon.[238][239][240] Her fashion earned the nickname 'The Margaret Look'.[240] The princess, dubbed a 'royal rebel', styled herself in contrast to her sister's prim and timeless style, adopting trendy mod accessories, such as brightly coloured headscarves and glamorous sunglasses.[238][241][242] Margaret developed a close relationship with atelier Christian Dior, wearing his designs throughout her life and becoming one of his most prominent customers. In 1950, he designed a cream gown worn for her 21st birthday, which has been cited as an iconic part of fashion history.[243][244][245] Throughout the decade, Margaret was known for wearing floral-print dresses, bold-hued ballgowns and luxurious fabrics, accessorising with diamonds, pearls, and fur stoles.[242][241] British Vogue wrote that Margaret's style 'hit her stride' in the mid-60s, where she was photographed alongside celebrities like The Beatles, Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren.[246] Margaret was also known for her "magnificent" hats and headdresses, including a canary feather hat worn on a 1962 Jamaica visit and a peacock feather pillbox hat to the 1973 Royal Ascot.[242] Marie Claire stated that the princess "refused to compromise" on her style later in life, continuing with trends of big sleeves and strapless evening gowns.[242]

In April 2007, an exhibition titled Princess Line – The Fashion Legacy of Princess Margaret opened at Kensington Palace, showcasing contemporary fashion from British designers such as Vivienne Westwood inspired by Margaret's legacy of style. Christopher Bailey's Spring 2006 collection for Burberry was inspired by Margaret's look from the 1960s.[247]

Finances edit

In her lifetime, Margaret's fortune was estimated to be around £20 million, with most of it being inherited from her father.[248] She also inherited pieces of art and antiques from Queen Mary, and Dame Margaret Greville left her £20,000 in 1943.[248] In 1999, her son, Lord Linley, sold his mother's Caribbean residence Les Jolies Eaux for a reported £2.4 million.[248] At the time of her death Margaret received £219,000 from the civil list.[248] Following her death, she left a £7.6 million estate to her two children, which was cut down to £4.5 million after inheritance tax.[248] In June 2006, much of Margaret's estate was auctioned by Christie's to meet the tax and, in her son's words, "normal family requirements such as educating her grandchildren",[249] though some of the items were sold in aid of charities such as the Stroke Association.[250] Reportedly, Elizabeth had made it clear that the proceeds from any item that was given to her sister in an official capacity must be donated to charities.[251] A world record price of £1.24 million was set by a Fabergé clock.[252] The Poltimore Tiara, which she wore for her wedding in 1960, sold for £926,400.[253] The sale of her effects totalled £13,658,000.[253][254]

In popular culture edit

Actresses who have portrayed Margaret include Lucy Cohu (The Queen's Sister, 2005), Katie McGrath (The Queen, 2009),[255] Ramona Marquez (The King's Speech, 2010), Bel Powley (A Royal Night Out, 2015), Olivia Benjamin (Father Brown, 2023), and Vanessa Kirby, Helena Bonham Carter, and Lesley Manville, who all played different stages of Margaret's life during The Crown, 2016–2023.[256][257] The young Princess Margaret was played by Beau Gadsdon.[258] The 2008 heist film, The Bank Job, revolves around alleged photos of Margaret.[259] A character, "Pantomime Princess Margaret", made regular appearances in the BBC's 1970s comedy show Monty Python's Flying Circus.[260]

Titles, styles, honours and arms edit

 
Royal monogram[261]

Titles and styles edit

  • 21 August 1930 – 11 December 1936: Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret of York[262]
  • 11 December 1936 – 6 October 1961: Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret[263]
  • 6 October 1961 – 9 February 2002: Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon

Honours edit

See also: List of honours of the British royal family by country

Foreign honours edit

Honorary military appointments edit

  Australia
  •   Colonel-in-Chief of the Women's Royal Australian Army Corps[272]
  Bermuda
  Canada
  New Zealand
  United Kingdom

Awards edit

Arms edit

Coat of arms of Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
 
Notes
The Princess's personalized coat of arms were those of the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom with a label for difference.
Escutcheon
Quarterly 1st and 4th gules three lions passant guardant or 2nd or a lion rampant gules within a double tressure flory counterflory gules 3rd azure a harp or stringed argent
Orders
The Royal Victorian Order ribbon.
VICTORIA
Other elements
The whole differenced by a label of three points Argent, first and third charged with a Tudor rose the second with a thistle proper[282]
Banner
  The princess's personal standard was that of Royal Standard of the United Kingdom, labelled for difference as in her arms.
  (in Scotland)
Symbolism
As with the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom. The first and fourth quarters are the arms of England, the second of Scotland, the third of Ireland.

Issue edit

Name Birth Marriage Issue
David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon 3 November 1961 8 October 1993
Separated 2020		 Serena Stanhope Charles Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley
Lady Margarita Armstrong-Jones
Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones 1 May 1964 14 July 1994 Daniel Chatto Samuel Chatto
Arthur Chatto

Ancestry edit

References edit

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  3. ^ Heald, p. 1; Warwick, pp. 27–28
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Bibliography edit

  • Aronson, Theo (2001), Princess Margaret: A Biography, London: Michael O'Mara Books Limited, ISBN 1-85479-682-8
  • Botham, Noel (2002), Margaret: The Last Real Princess, London: Blake Publishing Ltd, ISBN 1-903402-64-6
  • Bradford, Sarah; Harrison, B.; Goldman, L. (January 2006). "Margaret Rose, Princess, countess of Snowdon (1930–2002)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (revised October 2008 ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/76713. Retrieved 7 December 2008. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  • Crawford, Marion (1950), The Little Princesses, London: Cassell and Co
  • Heald, Tim (2007), Princess Margaret: A Life Unravelled, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, ISBN 978-0-297-84820-2
  • Warwick, Christopher (2002), Princess Margaret: A Life of Contrasts, London: Carlton Publishing Group, ISBN 0-233-05106-6

External links edit

 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon.
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon.
  • Profile on the official site of the British Monarchy
  • HRH Princess Margaret 1930–2002 at BBC News
  • Death of Princess Margaret
  • [3]
  • Newspaper clippings about Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
  • Portraits of Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon at the National Portrait Gallery, London  
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
Born: 21 August 1930 Died: 9 February 2002
Academic offices
Preceded by President of the University College of North Staffordshire
1956–1962 		College becomes Keele University
New title Chancellor of Keele University
1962–1986 		Succeeded by

February 16, 2024
princess, margaret, countess, snowdon, princess, margaret, redirects, here, other, uses, princess, margaret, disambiguation, gcvo, gcstj, margaret, rose, august, 1930, february, 2002, younger, daughter, king, george, queen, elizabeth, queen, mother, younger, s. Princess Margaret redirects here For other uses see Princess Margaret disambiguation Princess Margaret Countess of Snowdon CI GCVO GCStJ CD Margaret Rose 21 August 1930 9 February 2002 was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother She was the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II Princess MargaretCountess of Snowdon more Princess Margaret in 1965BornPrincess Margaret of York 1930 08 21 21 August 1930Glamis Castle Angus ScotlandDied9 February 2002 2002 02 09 aged 71 King Edward VII s Hospital London EnglandBurial15 February 2002Ashes placed in the Royal Vault St George s Chapel 9 April 2002Ashes interred in the King George VI Memorial Chapel St George s ChapelSpouseAntony Armstrong Jones 1st Earl of Snowdon m 1960 div 1978 wbr IssueDavid Armstrong Jones 2nd Earl of Snowdon Lady Sarah ChattoNamesMargaret RoseHouseWindsorFatherGeorge VIMotherElizabeth Bowes LyonSignatureMargaret was born when her parents were the Duke and Duchess of York and she spent much of her childhood with them and her elder sister Her life changed at the age of six when her father succeeded to the British throne following the abdication of his brother Edward VIII Margaret s sister became heir presumptive with Margaret second in line to the throne Her position in the line of succession diminished over the following decades as Elizabeth s children and grandchildren were born During the Second World War the two sisters stayed at Windsor Castle despite suggestions to evacuate them to Canada During the war years Margaret was too young to perform official duties and continued her education being nine years old when the war broke out and turning fifteen just after hostilities ended From the 1950s onwards Margaret became one of the world s most celebrated socialites famed for her glamorous lifestyle and reputed romances Most famously she fell in love in the early 1950s with Peter Townsend a married RAF officer in the royal household In 1952 her father died her sister became queen and Townsend divorced his wife He proposed to Margaret early in the following year Many in the government believed that he would be an unsuitable husband for the Queen s 22 year old sister and the Archbishop of Canterbury refused to countenance her marriage to a divorced man 1 Margaret abandoned her plans with Townsend In 1960 she married Antony Armstrong Jones whom Elizabeth created Earl of Snowdon The couple had two children David and Sarah Margaret s marriage to Lord Snowdon became strained with both of them engaging in extramarital affairs They separated in 1976 and divorced in 1978 Margaret did not remarry Margaret was a controversial member of the British royal family Her divorce received much negative publicity and her private life was for many years the subject of speculation by media and royal watchers Her health deteriorated in the last twenty years of her life She was a heavy smoker for most of her adult life and had a lung operation in 1985 and a bout of pneumonia in 1993 as well as three strokes between 1998 and 2001 Margaret died in 2002 aged 71 after suffering her fourth stroke Contents 1 Early life 2 Post war years 2 1 The Margaret Set 2 2 Romances and the press 1947 1959 3 Romance with Peter Townsend 3 1 Early relationship 3 2 Marriage proposal 3 3 Press coverage 3 4 End of relationship 4 Marriage to Antony Armstrong Jones 4 1 Separation and divorce 5 Public life 5 1 Charity work 6 Illness and death 7 Legacy 7 1 Image 7 2 Fashion and style 7 3 Finances 7 4 In popular culture 8 Titles styles honours and arms 8 1 Titles and styles 8 2 Honours 8 2 1 Foreign honours 8 2 2 Honorary military appointments 8 3 Awards 8 4 Arms 9 Issue 10 Ancestry 11 References 12 Bibliography 13 External linksEarly life editPrincess Margaret was born at 9 22 p m on 21 August 1930 at Glamis Castle in Scotland 2 her mother s ancestral home 3 and was affectionately known as Margot within the royal family 4 She was the first member of the royal family in direct line of succession to be born in Scotland since the 1600s 5 She was delivered by Sir Henry Simson the royal obstetrician 6 The Home Secretary J R Clynes was present to verify the birth The registration of her birth was delayed for several days to avoid her being numbered thirteen in the parish register 7 Margaret was baptised in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace on 30 October 1930 by Cosmo Lang the Archbishop of Canterbury 9 At the time of her birth Margaret was fourth in the line of succession to the British throne She was the younger daughter of Prince Albert Duke of York later King George VI and Elizabeth Duchess of York later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Her father was the second son of King George V and Queen Mary and her mother was the youngest daughter of Claude Bowes Lyon 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and Cecilia Bowes Lyon Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne The Duchess of York originally wanted to name her second daughter Ann Margaret as she explained to Queen Mary in a letter I am very anxious to call her Ann Margaret as I think Ann of York sounds pretty amp Elizabeth and Ann go so well together 10 George V disliked the name Ann but approved of the alternative Margaret Rose 11 Margaret s early life was spent primarily at the Yorks residences at 145 Piccadilly their town house in London and Royal Lodge in Windsor 12 The Yorks were perceived by the public as an ideal family 13 but unfounded rumours that Margaret was deaf and mute were not completely dispelled until her first main public appearance at her uncle Prince George s wedding in 1934 14 nbsp Margaret front with her grandmother Mary and sister Elizabeth May 1939Margaret was educated alongside her sister Elizabeth by their Scottish governess Marion Crawford Margaret s education was mainly supervised by her mother who in the words of Randolph Churchill never aimed at bringing her daughters up to be more than nicely behaved young ladies 15 When Queen Mary insisted upon the importance of education the Duchess of York commented I don t know what she meant After all I and my sisters only had governesses and we all married well one of us very well 16 Margaret was resentful about her limited education especially in later years and aimed criticism at her mother 16 However Margaret s mother told a friend that she regretted that her daughters did not go to school like other children 17 and the employment of a governess rather than sending the girls to school may have been done only at the insistence of their grandfather George V 18 J M Barrie author of Peter Pan read stories to the sisters as children 19 Margaret s grandfather died in January 1936 and her uncle acceded to the throne as Edward VIII Less than a year later in December 1936 Edward abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson a twice divorced American whom neither the Church of England nor the Dominion governments would accept as queen The Church did not recognise the marriage of a divorced woman with a living ex husband as valid Edward s abdication made Margaret s father reluctantly assume the throne and Margaret became second in line to the throne with the title The Princess Margaret to indicate her status as a child of the sovereign 20 The family moved into Buckingham Palace Margaret s room overlooked The Mall 21 nbsp Elizabeth and Margaret performing at Windsor Castle in a 1943 production of the pantomime AladdinMargaret was a Brownie in the 1st Buckingham Palace Brownie Pack formed in 1937 She was also a Girl Guide and later a Sea Ranger She served as President of Girlguiding UK from 1965 until her death on 9 February 2002 22 23 At the outbreak of World War II Princesses Margaret and Elizabeth were at Birkhall on the Balmoral Castle estate where they stayed until Christmas 1939 enduring nights so cold that drinking water in carafes by their bedside froze 24 They spent Christmas at Sandringham House before moving to Windsor Castle just outside London for much of the remainder of the war 25 Lord Hailsham wrote to Winston Churchill to advise the evacuation of the princesses to the greater safety of Canada 26 to which their mother famously replied The children won t go without me I won t leave without the King And the King will never leave 27 At Windsor the princesses staged pantomimes at Christmas in aid of the Queen s Wool Fund which bought yarn to knit into military garments 28 In 1940 Margaret sat next to Elizabeth during their radio broadcast for the BBC s Children s Hour addressing other children who had been evacuated from cities 29 Margaret spoke at the end by wishing all the children goodnight 29 Unlike other members of the royal family Margaret was not expected to undertake any public or official duties during the war She developed her skills at singing and playing the piano 30 often show tunes from stage musicals 31 Her contemporaries thought she was spoiled by her parents especially her father 32 who allowed her to take liberties not usually permissible such as being allowed to stay up to dinner at the age of thirteen 16 nbsp Princess Margaret s face appeared on a stamp in New Zealand circa 1943 Crawford despaired at the attention Margaret was getting writing to friends Could you this year only ask Princess Elizabeth to your party Princess Margaret does draw all the attention and Princess Elizabeth lets her do that Elizabeth however did not mind this and commented Oh it s so much easier when Margaret s there everybody laughs at what Margaret says 16 Their father described Elizabeth as his pride and Margaret as his joy 33 When Elizabeth joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service in 1945 Margaret became extremely jealous lamenting I was born too late as she was too young to join herself 34 Post war years edit nbsp Margaret far right on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with her family and Winston Churchill 8 May 1945At the end of the war in 1945 Margaret appeared on the balcony at Buckingham Palace with her family and Winston Churchill Afterwards both Elizabeth and Margaret joined the crowds outside the palace incognito chanting We want the King we want the Queen 35 They both joined in on the festivities with their fellow British citizens such as playing the hokey cokey Lambeth Walk and conga I remember lines of unknown people linking arms and walking down Whitehall and all of us were swept along by tides of happiness and relief Elizabeth later recalled 36 Margaret and Elizabeth were terrified of being recognized so they did their best to stay hidden in plain sight 37 On 15 April 1946 Margaret was confirmed into the Church of England 38 On 1 February 1947 she Elizabeth and their parents embarked on a state tour of Southern Africa The three month long visit was Margaret s first visit abroad and she later claimed that she remembered every minute of it 39 Her chaperone was Peter Townsend the King s equerry 40 and very firm toward Margaret whom he apparently considered an indulged child 41 In November 1947 Margaret was a bridesmaid at Elizabeth s wedding to Philip Mountbatten In the next three years Elizabeth had two children Prince Charles and Princess Anne whose births moved Margaret further down the line of succession 42 In 1950 the former royal governess Marion Crawford published an unauthorized biography of Elizabeth s and Margaret s childhood years titled The Little Princesses in which she described Margaret s light hearted fun and frolics 43 and her amusing and outrageous antics 44 The Margaret Set edit Around the time of Elizabeth s wedding the press started to follow the social life of unconventional Margaret and her reputation for vivacity and wit 45 As a young woman with an 18 inch waist and vivid blue eyes 46 Margaret enjoyed socialising with high society and young aristocrats including Sharman Douglas the daughter of the American ambassador Lewis Williams Douglas 47 A celebrated beauty known for her glamour and fashion sense Margaret was often featured in the press at balls parties and nightclubs 48 with friends who became known as the Margaret Set 49 The number of her official engagements increased they included a tour of Italy Switzerland and France and she joined a growing number of charitable organisations as president or patron 50 nbsp Margaret in Amsterdam Netherlands in 1948Favoured haunts of the Margaret Set were The 400 Club the Cafe de Paris and the Mirabelle restaurant 51 Anticipation of an engagement or romance between Margaret and a member of her set were often reported In 1948 international news grew that her engagement to the Marquess of Blandford would be announced on her 18th birthday 52 Similar speculation moved to the Hon Peter Ward then Billy Wallace and others The set also mixed with celebrities including Danny Kaye whom she met after watching him perform at the London Palladium in February 1948 53 He was soon accepted by the royal social circle 54 In July 1949 at a fancy dress ball at the US ambassador s residence Margaret performed the can can on stage accompanied by Douglas and ten other costumed girls A press commotion ensued with Kaye denying he had taught Margaret the dance 55 Press interest could be intrusive During a private visit to Paris in 1951 Margaret and Prince Nicholas of Yugoslavia were followed into a nightclub by a paparazzo who took photographs of them until British detectives physically removed him from the club 56 In 1952 although Margaret attended parties and debutante balls with friends such as Douglas and Mark Bonham Carter the set were seen infrequently together 57 They regrouped in time for Coronation season social functions In May 1953 Margaret met singer Eddie Fisher when he performed at the Red White and Blue Ball She asked him to her table and he was invited to all sorts of parties 58 Margaret fell out with him in 1957 but years later Fisher still claimed the night he was introduced to her was the greatest thrill of his lifetime 59 In June 1954 the Set performed the Edgar Wallace play The Frog at the Scala Theatre It was organized by Margaret s by now best girlfriend Judy Montagu with Margaret as assistant director It drew praise for raising 10 500 for charity but criticism for incompetent performances 60 By the mid 1950s although still seen at fashionable nightspots and theatre premieres the set was depleted by its members getting married As she reached her late twenties unmarried the press increasingly turned from predicting whom she might marry to suspecting she would remain a spinster 61 Romances and the press 1947 1959 edit The press avidly discussed the world s most eligible bachelor girl 62 and her alleged romances with more than 30 bachelors 63 64 including David Mountbatten Michael I of Romania 65 Dominic Elliot 66 Colin Tennant later Baron Glenconner 67 Prince Henry of Hesse Kassel 68 and future Canadian prime minister John Turner 69 70 Most had titles and almost all were wealthy Lord Blandford and Lord Dalkeith both wealthy sons of dukes were the likeliest potential husbands Her family reportedly hoped that Margaret would marry Dalkeith but unlike him Margaret was uninterested in the outdoors 64 71 Billy Wallace sole heir to a 2 8 million 78 million today fortune and an old friend was reportedly Margaret s favourite date during the mid 1950s 62 72 During her 21st birthday party at Balmoral in August 1951 73 the press was disappointed to only photograph Margaret with Townsend 63 always in the background of pictures of royal appearances 74 64 and to her parents a safe companion as Elizabeth s duties increased 64 The following month her father underwent surgery for lung cancer and Margaret was appointed one of the Counsellors of State who undertook the King s official duties while he was incapacitated 75 Her father died five months later on 6 February 1952 and her sister acceded as Elizabeth II 76 Romance with Peter Townsend editEarly relationship edit During the war the King suggested choosing palace aides who were highly qualified men from the military instead of only aristocrats Told that a handsome war hero had arrived 49 the princesses met Townsend the new equerry on his first day at Buckingham Palace in 1944 Elizabeth reportedly told her sister 13 years old Bad luck he s married 77 A temporary assignment of three months from the RAF became permanent The King and Queen were fond of Townsend the King reportedly saw the calm and efficient combat veteran as the son he never had 78 77 64 He may have been aware of Margaret s infatuation with the non titled and non wealthy Townsend reportedly seeing the courtier reluctantly obey the princess s order to carry her up palace stairs after a party 64 Townsend was so often near Margaret that gossip columnists overlooked him as a suitor for the princess 74 When their relationship began is unclear Margaret told friends she fell in love with him during the 1947 South Africa tour where they often went riding together 79 Her biographer Craig Brown stated that according to a National Trust curator Townsend requested the bedroom next to hers during a trip to Belfast in October 1947 80 In November 1948 they attended the inauguration of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands In later life Townsend admitted at this point there was an attraction between them but neither of them ever acknowledged it to one another Not long after he discovered his wife Rosemary was involved in an extramarital affair which ended 81 Contemporary anecdotes about their closeness then dissipated until late 1950 when friendship seems to have rekindled coinciding with Townsend s appointment as Deputy Master of the Household and the breakdown of his marriage 82 From the spring of 1951 came several testimonies of a growing romantic attraction A footman told how the King diverted the pair s picnic plans adding that whatever the King and Queen knew about the developing relationship few royal staff failed to notice as it was obvious to them 83 Townsend said that his love for her began in Balmoral in 1951 and recalled an incident there in August when the princess woke him from a nap after a picnic lunch while the King watched to suggest the King knew 84 Townsend and his wife separated in 1951 85 which was noticed by the press by July 86 Margaret was grief stricken by her father s death and was prescribed sedatives to help her sleep 87 Of her father she wrote He was such a wonderful person the very heart and centre of our happy family 88 She was consoled by her deeply held Christian beliefs 89 sometimes attending church twice daily 64 She re emerged attending events with her family in April and returned to public duties and the social scene when official mourning ended in June American newspapers noted her increasing vitality and speculated that she must be in love 90 With the widowed Queen Mother Margaret moved out of Buckingham Palace and into Clarence House in May 1953 while the new queen and her family moved out of Clarence House and into Buckingham Palace 91 After George VI s death Townsend was appointed Comptroller of the Queen Mother s household 92 In June 1952 the estranged Townsends hosted Margaret along with her sister Elizabeth and brother in law Philip at a cocktail party at their home 93 94 A month later Rosemary Townsend and her new partner John de Laszlo attended judging at the Royal Windsor Horse Show 95 It is thought the romance between Margaret and Townsend began around this time 96 The first reports that Townsend and Margaret wished to marry began in August 1952 97 but these remained uncommon The Townsend divorce in November was mentioned little in Britain and in greater detail abroad 98 After the divorce was finalized in December 1952 however rumours spread about him and Margaret 64 the divorce and shared grief over the King s death in February 1952 likely helped them come together 77 within the privacy of Clarence House where Margaret had her own apartment 79 Marriage proposal edit Private Secretary to the Queen Sir Alan Lascelles wrote that Townsend told Lascelles he had asked Margaret to marry him shortly before Christmas 1952 99 Other sources claim it occurred in February or April 1953 63 100 He was 15 years her senior and had two children from his previous marriage Margaret accepted and informed her sister the Queen whose consent was required by the Royal Marriages Act 1772 During the abdication crisis the Church of England refused to countenance the remarriage of the divorced Queen Mary had recently died and after the coronation of Elizabeth II the new queen planned to tour the Commonwealth for six months She told her sister Under the circumstances it isn t unreasonable for me to ask you to wait a year 101 and to keep the relationship secret until after the coronation 78 nbsp Following Elizabeth II s coronation the royal family appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on June 2 1953 Margaret can be seen on the right exactly next to the boys in black Although foreign media speculated on Margaret and Townsend s relationship the British press did not After reporters saw her plucking fluff from his coat during the coronation on 2 June 1953 I never thought a thing about it and neither did Margaret Townsend later said After that the storm broke 63 79 The People first mentioned the relationship in Britain 102 on 14 June With the headline They Must Deny it NOW 84 the front page article warned that scandalous rumours about Princess Margaret are racing around the world which the newspaper stated were of course utterly untrue 49 103 The foreign press believed that the Regency Act 1953 which made Prince Philip regent instead of Margaret on the Queen s death was enacted to allow Margaret to marry Townsend but as late as 23 July most other British newspapers except the Daily Mirror did not discuss the rumours Acting Prime Minister Rab Butler asked that the deplorable speculation end without mentioning Margaret or Townsend 74 104 The constitutional crisis that the proposed marriage caused was public 78 The Queen was advised by Lascelles to post Townsend abroad but she refused and instead transferred him from the Queen Mother s household to her own 105 although Townsend did not accompany Margaret as planned on a tour of Southern Rhodesia 64 Winston Churchill personally approved of a lovely young royal lady married to a gallant young airman but Clementine Churchill reminded her husband that he had made the same mistake during the abdication crisis 106 102 The Cabinet refused to approve the marriage 107 and Geoffrey Fisher Archbishop of Canterbury did not approve of Margaret marrying a divorced man opponents said that the marriage would threaten the monarchy as Edward VIII s had 64 The Church of England Newspaper said that Margaret is a dutiful churchwoman who knows what strong views leaders of the church hold in this matter but the Sunday Express which had supported Edward and Wallis asked IF THEY WANT TO MARRY WHY SHOULDN T THEY 74 Churchill discussed the marriage at the 1953 Commonwealth Prime Ministers Conference held with the coronation the Statute of Westminster 1931 requires Dominion parliaments to also approve any Bill of Renunciation changing the line of succession The Canadian government stated that altering the line twice in 25 years would harm the monarchy 71 Churchill informed the Queen that both his cabinet and Dominion prime ministers were against the marriage and that Parliament would not approve a marriage that would be unrecognized by the Church of England unless Margaret renounced her rights to the throne 108 106 Philip was reportedly the most opposed to Townsend in the royal family while Margaret s mother and sister wanted her to be happy but could not approve of the marriage Besides Townsend s divorce two major problems were financial and constitutional Margaret did not possess her sister s large fortune and would need the 6 000 annual civil list allowance and 15 000 additional allowance Parliament had provided for her upon a suitable marriage She did not object to being removed from the line of succession to the throne as Elizabeth and all her children dying was unlikely but receiving parliamentary approval for the marriage would be difficult and uncertain 64 41 At the age of 25 Margaret would not need the Queen s permission under the 1772 Act 109 she could after notifying the Privy Council of the United Kingdom marry in one year if Parliament did not prevent her Churchill told Elizabeth however that if one could easily leave the line of succession another could easily enter the line dangerous for a hereditary monarchy 71 Elizabeth told the couple to wait until 1955 when Margaret would be 25 109 avoiding the Queen having to publicly disapprove of her sister s marriage 64 Lascelles who compared Townsend to Theudas boasting himself to be somebody hoped that separating him and Margaret would end their romance 110 Churchill arranged for Townsend s assignment as air attache at the British Embassy in Brussels he was sent on 15 July 1953 before Margaret s return from Rhodesia on 30 July 106 The assignment was so sudden that the British ambassador learnt about it from a newspaper Although Margaret and Townsend knew about his new job they had reportedly been promised a few days together before his departure 71 Press coverage edit For two years press speculation continued In Brussels Townsend only said that The word must come from somebody else He avoided parties and being seen with women With few duties the sinecure was abolished after him Townsend improved his French and horsemanship He joined a Belgian show jumping club and rode in races around Europe 71 Margaret was told by the Church that she would be unable to receive communion if she married a divorced man 111 Three quarters of Sunday Express readers opposed the relationship and Mass Observation recorded criticism of the silly little fool as a poor example for young women who emulated her 84 Other newspaper polls showed popular support for Margaret s personal choice regardless of Church teaching or government 112 Ninety seven per cent of Daily Mirror readers supported marriage and a Daily Express editorial stated that even if the Archbishop of Canterbury was displeased she would best please the vast majority of ordinary folk by finding happiness for herself 64 71 The couple were not restricted on communicating by mail and telephone 64 71 Margaret worked with friends on charity productions of Lord and Lady Algy and The Frog and publicly dated men such as Tennant 49 and Wallace 62 In January 1955 she made the first of many trips to the Caribbean perhaps to distract and as a reward for being apart from Townsend The attache secretly travelled to Britain while the palace was aware of one visit he reportedly made other trips for nights and weekends with the princess at Clarence House her apartment had its own front door and friends homes 49 64 nbsp Margaret greeting schoolchildren at the opening of The Princess Margaret School in Barbados 9 February 1955That spring Townsend for the first time spoke to the press I am sick of being made to hide in my apartment like a thief but whether he could marry involves more people than myself He reportedly believed that his exile from Margaret would soon end 71 their love was strong and that the British people would support marrying 64 Townsend received a bodyguard and police guard around his apartment after the Belgian government received threats on his life 71 but the British government still said nothing Stating that people were more interested in the couple than the recent 1955 United Kingdom general election on 29 May the Daily Express published an editorial demanding that Buckingham Palace confirm or deny the rumours 113 The press described Margaret s 25th birthday 21 August 1955 as the day she was free to marry 71 and expected an announcement about Townsend soon Three hundred journalists waited outside Balmoral four times as many as those later following Diana Princess of Wales 49 COME ON MARGARET the Daily Mirror s front page said two days earlier asking her to please make up your mind 64 114 On 12 October Townsend returned from Brussels as Margaret s suitor The royal family devised a system in which it did not host Townsend but he and Margaret formally courted each other at dinner parties hosted by friends 71 such as Mark Bonham Carter 115 116 A Gallup poll found that 59 of Britons approved of their marrying with 17 opposed 114 84 Women in the East End of London shouted Go on Marg do what you want at the princess 102 Although the couple was never seen together in public during this time 103 the general consensus was that they would marry Crowds waited outside Clarence House and a global audience read daily updates and rumours on newspaper front pages 114 115 117 118 119 Nothing much else than Princess Margaret s affairs is being talked of in this country The Manchester Guardian said on 15 October NOW THE NATION WAITS was a typical headline 114 Observers interpreted Buckingham Palace s request to the press to respect Margaret s privacy the first time the palace discussed the princess s recent personal life as evidence of an imminent betrothal announcement 118 71 120 probably before the Opening of Parliament on 25 October 117 As no announcement occurred the Daily Mirror on 17 October showed a photograph of Margaret s left hand with the headline NO RING YET 114 the press wondered why Parliamentarians are frankly puzzled by the way the affair has been handled the News Chronicle wrote If a marriage is on they ask why not announce it quickly If there is to be no marriage why allow the couple to continue to meet without a clear denial of the rumours 115 Why a betrothal did not occur is unclear Margaret may have been uncertain of her desire having written to Prime Minister Anthony Eden in August that It is only by seeing him in this way that I feel I can properly decide whether I can marry him or not 109 Margaret s authorized biographer Christopher Warwick said that the letter was evidence that her love for Townsend was not as strong as the public believed and that she wanted only the prime minister and Elizabeth to know of her uncertainty 121 Margaret may have told Townsend as early as 12 October that governmental and familial opposition to their marriage had not changed it is possible that neither they nor Elizabeth fully understood until that year how difficult the 1772 Act made a royal marriage without the monarch s permission 49 An influential 26 October editorial in The Times stating that The QUEEN s sister married to a divorced man even though the innocent party would be irrevocably disqualified from playing her part in the essential royal function represented The Establishment s view of what it considered a possibly dangerous crisis 114 103 It convinced many who had believed that the media were exaggerating that Margaret really might defy the Church and royal standards Leslie Weatherhead President of the Methodist Conference now criticized the proposed marriage 107 Townsend recalled that we felt mute and numbed at the centre of this maelstrom 84 Elizabeth also wanted the media circus to end 77 Townsend only had his RAF income and other than a talent for writing had no experience in other work 71 He wrote in his autobiography that Margaret could have married me only if she had been prepared to give up everything her position her prestige her privy purse I simply hadn t the weight I knew it to counterbalance all she would have lost 120 for what Kenneth Rose described as life in a cottage on a Group Captain s salary 77 Royal historian Hugo Vickers wrote that Lascelles s separation plan had worked and the love between them had died 110 Warwick said that having spent two years apart they were no longer as in love as they had been Townsend was not the love of her life the love of her life was her father King George VI whom she adored 31 More than 100 journalists waited at Balmoral when Eden arrived to discuss the marriage with Elizabeth and Margaret on 1 October 1955 71 Lord Kilmuir the Lord Chancellor that month prepared a secret government document on the proposed marriage 64 49 According to a 1958 biography of Townsend by Norman Barrymaine and other accounts Eden said that his government would oppose in Parliament Margaret retaining her royal status Parliament might pass resolutions opposing the marriage which the people would see as a disagreement between government and monarchy Lord Salisbury a High Anglican might resign from the government rather than help pass a Bill of Renunciation While the government could not prevent the marriage when Margaret became a private individual after a Bill of Renunciation she would no longer be a Counsellor of State and would lose her civil list allowance otherwise taxpayers would subsidise a divorced man and his sons The Church would consider any children from the marriage to be illegitimate Eden recommended that like her uncle Edward and his wife Wallis Margaret and Townsend leave Britain 71 77 for several years 49 103 120 Papers released in 2004 to the National Archives disagree They show that Elizabeth and Eden who had been divorced and remarried himself planned to amend the 1772 Act Margaret would have been able to marry Townsend by removing her and any children from the marriage from the line of succession and thus the Queen s permission would no longer be necessary Margaret would be allowed to keep her royal title and her allowance stay in the country and even continue with her public duties Eden described Elizabeth s attitude in a letter on the subject to the Commonwealth prime ministers as Her Majesty would not wish to stand in the way of her sister s happiness Eden himself was sympathetic Exclusion from the Succession would not entail any other change in Princess Margaret s position as a member of the Royal Family he wrote 109 On 28 October 1955 final draft of the plan Margaret would announce that she would marry Townsend and leave the line of succession As prearranged by Eden the Queen would consult with the British and Commonwealth governments and then ask them to amend the 1772 Act Eden would have told Parliament that the Act was out of harmony with modern conditions Kilmuir had advised Eden that the 1772 Act was flawed and might not apply to Margaret anyway Kilmuir estimated that 75 of Britons would approve of allowing the marriage 109 The August letter to Eden is evidence Warwick said that Margaret was aware of the government s intention to preserve her title and allowance 121 The decision not to marry was made on the 24th and for the following week Margaret worked on the wording of her statement which was released on the 31st 122 It is unclear what or when she was told about the government proposal drafted on the 28th By the early 1980s she was still protesting to biographers that the couple had been given false hope marriage was possible and she would have ended the relationship sooner had she been informed otherwise 123 124 The Daily Mirror on 28 October discussed The Times s editorial with the headline THIS CRUEL PLAN MUST BE EXPOSED Although Margaret and Townsend had read the editorial the newspaper denounced as from a dusty world and a forgotten age they had earlier made their decision and written an announcement 103 107 End of relationship edit On 31 October 1955 Margaret issued a statement I would like it to be known that I have decided not to marry Group Captain Peter Townsend I have been aware that subject to my renouncing my rights of succession it might have been possible for me to contract a civil marriage But mindful of the Church s teachings that Christian marriage is indissoluble and conscious of my duty to the Commonwealth I have resolved to put these considerations before others I have reached this decision entirely alone and in doing so I have been strengthened by the unfailing support and devotion of Group Captain Townsend 125 Thoroughly drained thoroughly demoralized Margaret later said 63 she and Townsend wrote the statement together She refused when Oliver Dawnay the Queen Mother s private secretary asked to remove the word devotion 71 49 The written statement signed Margaret was the first official confirmation of the relationship Some Britons were disbelieving or angry while others including clergy were proud of Margaret for choosing duty and faith 119 newspapers were evenly divided on the decision Mass Observation recorded indifference or criticism of the couple among men but great interest among women whether for or against Kenneth Tynan John Minton Ronald Searle and others signed an open letter from the younger generation Published in the Daily Express on 4 November the letter said that the end of the relationship had exposed The Establishment and our national hypocrisy 114 Townsend recalled that We had reached the end of the road our feelings for one another were unchanged but they had incurred for us a burden so great that we decided together to lay it down 63 The Associated Press said that Margaret s statement was almost a rededication of her life to the duties of royalty making unlikely any marriage for her in the near future 119 the princess may have expected to never marry after the long relationship ended because most of her eligible male friends were no longer bachelors 126 Barrymaine agreed that Margaret intended the statement to mean that she would never marry but wrote that Townsend likely did not accept any such vow to him by the princess and his subsequent departure from Britain for two years was to not interfere with her life 71 We both had a feeling of unimaginable relief We were liberated at last from this monstrous problem Townsend said 84 After resigning from the RAF and travelling around the world for 18 months Townsend returned in March 1958 he and Margaret met several times but could not avoid the press TOGETHER AGAIN or royal disapproval Townsend again left Britain to write a book about his trip Barrymaine concluded in 1958 that none of the fundamental obstacles to their marriage has been overcome or shows any prospects of being overcome 71 49 Townsend said during a 1970 book tour that he and Margaret did not correspond and they had not seen each other since a friendly 1958 meeting just like I think a lot of people never see their old girl friends 127 Their love letters are in the Royal Archives and will not be available to the public until 100 years after Margaret s birth February 2030 63 These are unlikely to include Margaret s letters In 1959 she wrote to Townsend in response to him informing her of his remarriage plans accusing him of betraying their vow not to marry anyone else and requesting her love letters to him be destroyed 128 He claimed he complied with her wishes but kept this letter and an envelope of burned shards of the vow she had sent eventually destroying these also He was apparently unaware Margaret had already broken the pact by her engagement to Billy Wallace as it wasn t revealed until many years later 129 In October 1993 a friend of Margaret revealed she had met Townsend for what turned out to be the last time before his death in 1995 She had not wanted to attend the reunion they d both been invited to in 1992 for fear it might be picked up by the press so she asked to see him privately instead 130 Margaret said that he looked exactly the same except he had grey hair 63 Guests said he had not really changed and that they just sat chatting like old friends They also found him disgruntled and had convinced himself that in agreeing to part he and Margaret had set a noble example which seemed to have been in vain 131 Billy Wallace later said that The thing with Townsend was a girlish nonsense that got out of hand It was never the big thing on her part that people claim 63 Marriage to Antony Armstrong Jones edit nbsp A ticket for the wedding procession nbsp Margaret with her husband Lord Snowdon May 1965Margaret accepted one of Wallace s many proposals to marry in 1956 but the engagement ended before an official announcement when he admitted to a romance in the Bahamas I had my chance and blew it with my big mouth Wallace said 63 Margaret did not reveal this publicly until an interview and subsequent biography with Nigel Dempster in 1977 132 Margaret met the photographer Antony Armstrong Jones at a supper party in 1958 133 They became engaged in October 1959 134 Armstrong Jones proposed to Margaret with a ruby engagement ring surrounded by diamonds in the shape of a rosebud 135 136 She reportedly accepted his proposal a day after learning from Townsend that he intended to marry a young Belgian woman 63 Marie Luce Jamagne who was half his age and greatly resembled Margaret 137 120 Margaret s announcement of her engagement on 26 February 1960 surprised the press as she had concealed the romance from reporters 138 Margaret married Armstrong Jones at Westminster Abbey on 6 May 1960 139 The ceremony was the first royal wedding to be broadcast on television 63 and it attracted viewing figures of 300 million worldwide 140 2 000 guests were invited for the wedding ceremony 133 Margaret s wedding dress was designed by Norman Hartnell and worn with the Poltimore tiara 38 She had eight young bridesmaids led by her niece Princess Anne 141 The Duke of Edinburgh escorted the bride and the best man was Dr Roger Gilliatt 133 Archbishop of Canterbury Geoffrey Fisher conducted the marriage service 133 Following the ceremony the couple made the traditional appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace 133 The honeymoon was a six week Caribbean cruise aboard the royal yacht Britannia 142 As a wedding present Colin Tennant gave her a plot of land on his private Caribbean island Mustique 143 The newlyweds moved into rooms in Kensington Palace 144 In 1961 Margaret s husband was created Earl of Snowdon The couple had two children both born by Caesarean section at Margaret s request 145 David born 3 November 1961 and Sarah born 1 May 1964 102 The marriage widened Margaret s social circle beyond the court and aristocracy to include show business celebrities and bohemians At the time it was thought to reflect the breaking down of British class barriers 146 The Snowdons experimented with the styles and fashions of the 1960s 147 Separation and divorce edit Both parties in the marriage regularly engaged in extramarital relationships Lord Snowdon had a series of affairs including with long term mistress Ann Hills and Lady Jacqueline Rufus Isaacs daughter of the 3rd Marquess of Reading Anne De Courcy s 2008 biography summarises the situation with a quote from a close friend If it moves he ll have it 148 Reportedly Margaret had her first extramarital affair in 1966 with her daughter s godfather Anthony Barton a Bordeaux wine producer 149 63 A year later she had a one month liaison with Robin Douglas Home a nephew of former British prime minister Alec Douglas Home 150 63 Margaret claimed that her relationship with Douglas Home was platonic but her letters to him which were later sold were intimate 151 Douglas Home who suffered from depression died by suicide 18 months after the split with Margaret 63 Claims that she was romantically involved with musician Mick Jagger 152 actor Peter Sellers and Australian cricketer Keith Miller are unproven 153 According to biographer Charlotte Breese entertainer Leslie Hutchinson had a brief liaison with Margaret in 1955 154 A 2009 biography of actor David Niven included assertions based on information from Niven s widow and a good friend of Niven s that he had had an affair with the princess who was 20 years his junior 155 In 1975 Margaret was listed among women with whom actor Warren Beatty had had romantic relationships 156 John Bindon an actor from Fulham who had spent time in prison sold his story to the Daily Mirror boasting of a close relationship with Margaret 157 nbsp Margaret shakes hands with Mayor of Amsterdam Gijs van Hall 14 May 1965Beyond extramarital relationships the marriage was accompanied by drugs alcohol and bizarre behaviour by both parties such as Snowdon s leaving lists of things I hate about you for Margaret to find between the pages of books she read According to biographer Sarah Bradford one note read You look like a Jewish manicurist and I hate you 158 By the early 1970s the couple had drifted apart In September 1973 Colin Tennant introduced Margaret to Roddy Llewellyn Llewellyn was 17 years her junior In 1974 she invited him as a guest to Les Jolies Eaux the holiday home she had built on Mustique 159 It was the first of several visits Margaret described their relationship as a loving friendship 160 Once when Llewellyn left on an impulsive trip to Turkey Margaret became emotionally distraught and took an overdose of sleeping tablets 161 I was so exhausted because of everything she later said that all I wanted to do was sleep 162 As she recovered her ladies in waiting kept Snowdon away from her afraid that seeing him would distress her further 163 In February 1976 a picture of Margaret and Llewellyn in swimsuits on Mustique was published on the front page of a tabloid the News of the World The press portrayed Margaret as a predatory older woman and Llewellyn as her toyboy lover 164 On 19 March 1976 Margaret and Snowdon publicly acknowledged that their marriage had irretrievably broken down and that they had decided to separate 165 166 Some politicians suggested removing Margaret from the civil list Labour MPs denounced her as a royal parasite 167 and a floosie 168 On 24 May 1978 the decree nisi for the couple s divorce was granted 166 In the same month Margaret was taken ill and diagnosed as suffering from gastroenteritis and alcoholic hepatitis 169 although Warwick denied that she was ever an alcoholic 31 On 11 July 1978 the divorce was finalized 170 It was the first divorce of a senior member of the British royal family since that of Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh in 1901 Allegedly it wasn t something Margaret wanted she tried to make her marriage succeed but there were too many challenges Devastated by the divorce Margaret never remarried 171 On 15 December 1978 Snowdon married Lucy Lindsay Hogg but he and Margaret remained close friends 172 In 1981 Llewellyn married Tatiana Soskin whom he had known for 10 years 173 Margaret remained close friends with them both 174 Public life edit nbsp Margaret and Snowdon with Lyndon B and Lady Bird Johnson at the White House 17 November 1965Among Margaret s first official engagements was launching the ocean liner Edinburgh Castle in Belfast in 1947 175 Subsequently Margaret went on multiple tours of various places in her first major tour she joined her parents and sister for a tour of South Africa in 1947 Her tour aboard Britannia to the British colonies in the Caribbean in 1955 created a sensation throughout the West Indies and calypsos were dedicated to her 176 As colonies of the British Commonwealth of Nations sought nationhood Margaret represented the Crown at independence ceremonies in Jamaica in 1962 177 and Tuvalu and Dominica in 1978 Her visit to Tuvalu was cut short by an illness which may have been viral pneumonia 178 and she was flown to Australia to recuperate 179 Other overseas tours included East Africa and Mauritius in 1956 the United States in 1965 Japan in 1969 and 1979 180 the United States and Canada in 1974 181 Australia in 1975 182 the Philippines in 1980 183 Swaziland in 1981 184 and China in 1987 185 In August 1979 Margaret s cousin Lord Mountbatten and members of his family were killed by a bomb planted by the Provisional Irish Republican Army 186 That October while on a fundraising tour of the United States on behalf of the Royal Opera House Margaret was seated at a dinner reception in Chicago with columnist Abra Anderson and Mayor Jane Byrne Margaret told them that the royal family had been moved by the many letters of condolence from Ireland 187 The following day Anderson s rival Irv Kupcinet published a claim that Margaret had referred to the Irish as pigs 188 Margaret Anderson and Byrne all issued immediate denials 187 but the damage was already done 189 The rest of the tour drew demonstrations and Margaret s security was doubled in the face of physical threats 190 Charity work edit Margaret s main interests were welfare charities music and ballet 191 She was president of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children NSPCC 191 the Royal Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Children 1st 192 and Invalid Children s Aid Nationwide also called I CAN She was also Grand President of the St John Ambulance Brigade 191 Margaret was president or patron of numerous organisations such as the West Indies Olympic Association the Girl Guides 191 Northern Ballet Theatre 193 Birmingham Royal Ballet 194 Scottish Ballet 192 Tenovus Cancer Care 195 the Royal College of Nursing 195 and the London Lighthouse an AIDS charity that has since merged with the Terrence Higgins Trust 16 In her capacity as president of the Royal Ballet she played a key role in launching a fund for Dame Margot Fonteyn who was experiencing financial troubles 196 With the help of the Children s Royal Variety Performance she also organized yearly fundraisers for NSPCC 196 At some points Margaret was criticized for not being as active as other members of the royal family 191 Illness and death edit nbsp Margaret in later lifeMargaret s later life was marred by illness and disability 197 She began smoking cigarettes in her late teens and had continued to smoke heavily for many years thereafter 198 199 In the 1970s she suffered a nervous breakdown and was treated for depression by Mark Collins a psychiatrist from the Priory Clinic 200 Later on she suffered from migraines laryngitis and bronchitis 201 In January 1980 she was operated on at the London Clinic to remove a benign skin lesion 197 On 5 January 1985 she had part of her left lung removed the operation drew parallels with that of her father 34 years earlier 202 In 1991 she gave up smoking though she continued to drink heavily 203 In January 1993 Margaret was admitted to hospital for pneumonia She experienced a mild stroke on 23 February 1998 at her holiday home in Mustique 204 Early the following year she suffered severe scalds to her feet in a bathroom accident which affected her mobility in that she required support when walking and sometimes used a wheelchair 205 She was hospitalized on 10 January 2001 due to loss of appetite and swallowing problems after a further stroke 206 207 By March 2001 strokes had left her with partial vision and paralysis on the left side 208 Margaret s last public appearances were at the 101st birthday celebrations of her mother in August 2001 and the 100th birthday celebration of her aunt Princess Alice Duchess of Gloucester that December 209 Margaret died in the King Edward VII s Hospital London at 06 30 GMT on 9 February 2002 aged 71 three days after the 50th anniversary of her father s death She was 11th in line to the throne at the time of her death The previous day she had suffered another stroke that was followed by cardiac problems 210 197 192 Prince Charles paid tribute to his aunt in a television broadcast 211 212 UK politicians and foreign leaders sent their condolences as well 213 214 Following her death private memorial services were held at St Mary Magdalene Church and Glamis Castle 215 Margaret s coffin draped in her personal standard was taken from Kensington Palace to St James s Palace before her funeral 216 Her funeral was held on 15 February 2002 the 50th anniversary of her father s funeral 217 In line with her wishes the ceremony was a private service at St George s Chapel Windsor Castle for family and friends 218 Unlike most other members of the royal family she was cremated at Slough Crematorium 219 Her ashes were temporarily placed in the Royal Vault of St George s Chapel The Queen Mother died seven weeks after Margaret and Margaret s ashes were moved to the King George VI Memorial Chapel in St George s following her mother s funeral 220 217 221 A state memorial service was held at Westminster Abbey on 19 April 2002 222 Another memorial service to mark the 10th anniversary of their deaths was held on 30 March 2012 at St George s Chapel Windsor Castle which was attended by Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family 223 Legacy editImage edit We thank thee Lord who by thy spirit doth our faith restore When we with worldly things commune amp prayerless close our door We lose our precious gift divine to worship and adore Then thou our Saviour fill our hearts to love thee evermore Princess Margaret s epitaph which she wrote herself is carved on a memorial stone in St George s Chapel Windsor Castle 224 Observers often characterized Margaret as a spoiled snob capable of cutting remarks and hauteur 225 Critics claimed that she even looked down on her grandmother Queen Mary because Mary was born a princess with the lower Serene Highness style whereas Margaret was a Royal Highness by birth 226 Their letters however provide no indication of friction between them 227 Margaret could also be charming and informal People who came into contact with her could be perplexed by her swings between frivolity and formality 228 Marion Crawford wrote in her memoir Impulsive and bright remarks she made became headlines and taken out of their context began to produce in the public eye an oddly distorted personality that bore little resemblance to the Margaret we knew 229 Margaret s acquaintance Gore Vidal the American writer wrote She was far too intelligent for her station in life He recalled a conversation with Margaret in which discussing her public notoriety she said It was inevitable when there are two sisters and one is the Queen who must be the source of honour and all that is good while the other must be the focus of the most creative malice the evil sister 230 nbsp Margaret left and Cliff Richard at the 59 Club London in 1962As a child Margaret enjoyed pony shows but unlike other family members she did not express interest in hunting shooting and fishing in adulthood 196 She became interested in ballet from a very young age and enjoyed participating in amateur plays She directed one such play titled The Frogs with her aristocratic friends as cast members 196 Actors and film stars were among the regular visitors to her residence at Kensington Palace 196 In January 1981 she was the castaway in an episode of BBC Radio 4 s Desert Island Discs There she chose Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky s Swan Lake as her favourite piece of music 231 In 1984 she appeared as herself in an episode of the radio drama The Archers becoming the first member of the royal family to take part in a BBC drama 232 Margaret s private life was for many years the subject of intense speculation by media and royalty watchers Her house on Mustique designed by her husband s uncle Oliver Messel a stage designer was her favourite holiday destination 233 Allegations of wild parties and drug taking also surfaced in the media 234 Following Margaret s death her lady in waiting Lady Glenconner said that Margaret was devoted to the Queen and tremendously supportive of her 235 Margaret was described by her cousin Lady Elizabeth Shakerley as somebody who had a wonderful capacity for giving a lot of people pleasure and she was making a very very very good and loyal friend 236 Another cousin Lord Lichfield said that Margaret was pretty sad towards the end of her life because it was a life unfulfilled 235 The Independent wrote in Townsend s 1995 obituary that The immense display of popular sentiment and interest in the relationship can now be seen to have constituted a watershed in the nation s attitude towards divorce 41 The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church received much of the popular anger toward the end of the relationship 114 Randolph Churchill believed that rumours that Fisher had intervened to prevent the Princess from marrying Townsend has done incalculable harm to the Church of England 106 a Gallup poll found that 28 agreed and 59 disagreed with the Church s refusal to remarry a divorced person while the other spouse was alive 114 Biographer Warwick suggests that Margaret s most enduring legacy is an accidental one Perhaps unwittingly Margaret paved the way for public acceptance of royal divorce Her life if not her actions made the decisions and choices of her sister s children three of whom divorced easier than they otherwise would have been 237 Eden reportedly told Elizabeth in Balmoral when discussing Margaret and Townsend that regardless of outcome the monarchy would be damaged 71 In 1995 Harold Brooks Baker was quoted in Townsend s obituary In my opinion this was the turning point to disaster for the royal family After Princess Margaret was denied marriage it backfired and more or less ruined Margaret s life The Queen decided that from then on anyone someone in her family wanted to marry would be more or less acceptable The royal family and the public now feel that they ve gone too far in the other direction 120 Fashion and style edit nbsp Margaret in 1965During her lifetime Margaret was considered a fashion icon 238 239 240 Her fashion earned the nickname The Margaret Look 240 The princess dubbed a royal rebel styled herself in contrast to her sister s prim and timeless style adopting trendy mod accessories such as brightly coloured headscarves and glamorous sunglasses 238 241 242 Margaret developed a close relationship with atelier Christian Dior wearing his designs throughout her life and becoming one of his most prominent customers In 1950 he designed a cream gown worn for her 21st birthday which has been cited as an iconic part of fashion history 243 244 245 Throughout the decade Margaret was known for wearing floral print dresses bold hued ballgowns and luxurious fabrics accessorising with diamonds pearls and fur stoles 242 241 British Vogue wrote that Margaret s style hit her stride in the mid 60s where she was photographed alongside celebrities like The Beatles Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren 246 Margaret was also known for her magnificent hats and headdresses including a canary feather hat worn on a 1962 Jamaica visit and a peacock feather pillbox hat to the 1973 Royal Ascot 242 Marie Claire stated that the princess refused to compromise on her style later in life continuing with trends of big sleeves and strapless evening gowns 242 In April 2007 an exhibition titled Princess Line The Fashion Legacy of Princess Margaret opened at Kensington Palace showcasing contemporary fashion from British designers such as Vivienne Westwood inspired by Margaret s legacy of style Christopher Bailey s Spring 2006 collection for Burberry was inspired by Margaret s look from the 1960s 247 Finances edit In her lifetime Margaret s fortune was estimated to be around 20 million with most of it being inherited from her father 248 She also inherited pieces of art and antiques from Queen Mary and Dame Margaret Greville left her 20 000 in 1943 248 In 1999 her son Lord Linley sold his mother s Caribbean residence Les Jolies Eaux for a reported 2 4 million 248 At the time of her death Margaret received 219 000 from the civil list 248 Following her death she left a 7 6 million estate to her two children which was cut down to 4 5 million after inheritance tax 248 In June 2006 much of Margaret s estate was auctioned by Christie s to meet the tax and in her son s words normal family requirements such as educating her grandchildren 249 though some of the items were sold in aid of charities such as the Stroke Association 250 Reportedly Elizabeth had made it clear that the proceeds from any item that was given to her sister in an official capacity must be donated to charities 251 A world record price of 1 24 million was set by a Faberge clock 252 The Poltimore Tiara which she wore for her wedding in 1960 sold for 926 400 253 The sale of her effects totalled 13 658 000 253 254 In popular culture edit Actresses who have portrayed Margaret include Lucy Cohu The Queen s Sister 2005 Katie McGrath The Queen 2009 255 Ramona Marquez The King s Speech 2010 Bel Powley A Royal Night Out 2015 Olivia Benjamin Father Brown 2023 and Vanessa Kirby Helena Bonham Carter and Lesley Manville who all played different stages of Margaret s life during The Crown 2016 2023 256 257 The young Princess Margaret was played by Beau Gadsdon 258 The 2008 heist film The Bank Job revolves around alleged photos of Margaret 259 A character Pantomime Princess Margaret made regular appearances in the BBC s 1970s comedy show Monty Python s Flying Circus 260 Titles styles honours and arms edit nbsp Royal monogram 261 Titles and styles edit 21 August 1930 11 December 1936 Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret of York 262 11 December 1936 6 October 1961 Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret 263 6 October 1961 9 February 2002 Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret Countess of SnowdonHonours edit See also List of honours of the British royal family by country Companion of the Order of the Crown of India CI 12 June 1947 264 Dame of Justice of the Order of St John of Jerusalem DJStJ 23 June 1948 265 Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order GCVO 1 June 1953 266 Dame Grand Cross of the Order of St John of Jerusalem GCStJ 20 June 1956 267 Royal Victorian Chain 21 August 1990 268 Royal Family Order of George V 269 Royal Family Order of George VI 270 Royal Family Order of Elizabeth II 269 Foreign honours edit nbsp Netherlands Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion 1948 271 nbsp Zanzibar Order of the Brilliant Star of Zanzibar First Class 1956 271 nbsp Belgium Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown 1960 271 nbsp Uganda Order of the Crown Lion and Spear of Toro Kingdom 1965 271 nbsp Japan Order of the Precious Crown First Class 5 October 1971 271 Honorary military appointments edit nbsp Australia nbsp Colonel in Chief of the Women s Royal Australian Army Corps 272 nbsp Bermuda nbsp Colonel in Chief of the Bermuda Regiment 273 nbsp Canada nbsp Colonel in Chief of the Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada nbsp Colonel in Chief of the Princess Louise Fusiliers nbsp Colonel in Chief of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment nbsp New Zealand nbsp Colonel in Chief of the Northland Regiment 274 nbsp United Kingdom nbsp Colonel in Chief of the 15th 19th The King s Royal Hussars 275 nbsp Colonel in Chief of the Light Dragoons 276 nbsp Colonel in Chief of the Royal Highland Fusiliers Princess Margaret s Own Glasgow and Ayrshire Regiment nbsp Colonel in Chief of the Queen Alexandra s Royal Army Nursing Corps 277 nbsp Colonel in Chief of the 1st East Anglian Regiment Royal Norfolk and Suffolk 278 nbsp Deputy Colonel in Chief of the Royal Anglian Regiment 279 nbsp Honorary Air Commodore Royal Air Force Coningsby 280 Awards edit Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award 2003 281 Arms edit Coat of arms of Princess Margaret Countess of Snowdon nbsp Notes The Princess s personalized coat of arms were those of the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom with a label for difference Escutcheon Quarterly 1st and 4th gules three lions passant guardant or 2nd or a lion rampant gules within a double tressure flory counterflory gules 3rd azure a harp or stringed argent Orders The Royal Victorian Order ribbon VICTORIA Other elements The whole differenced by a label of three points Argent first and third charged with a Tudor rose the second with a thistle proper 282 Banner nbsp The princess s personal standard was that of Royal Standard of the United Kingdom labelled for difference as in her arms nbsp in Scotland Symbolism As with the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom The first and fourth quarters are the arms of England the second of Scotland the third of Ireland Issue editName Birth Marriage IssueDavid Armstrong Jones 2nd Earl of Snowdon 3 November 1961 8 October 1993Separated 2020 Serena Stanhope Charles Armstrong Jones Viscount LinleyLady Margarita Armstrong JonesLady Sarah Armstrong Jones 1 May 1964 14 July 1994 Daniel Chatto Samuel ChattoArthur ChattoAncestry editAncestors of Princess Margaret Countess of Snowdon 283 8 Edward VII of the United Kingdom4 George V of the United Kingdom9 Princess Alexandra of Denmark2 George VI of the United Kingdom10 Francis Duke of Teck5 Princess Victoria Mary of Teck11 Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge1 Princess Margaret Countess of Snowdon12 Claude Bowes Lyon 13th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne6 Claude Bowes Lyon 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne13 Frances Dora Smith3 Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon14 Charles Cavendish Bentinck7 Cecilia Nina Cavendish Bentinck15 Caroline Louisa BurnabyReferences edit In 2002 the Church of England changed its policy on marriages of divorced persons Under certain circumstances it now permits a person with a former spouse still living to remarry in church 1 2 No 33636 The London Gazette 22 August 1930 p 5225 Heald p 1 Warwick pp 27 28 Davies Caroline 11 February 2002 A tale of two sisters enduring affection The Daily Telegraph Archived from the original on 10 January 2022 Princess Margaret Growing up CBBC 9 February 2002 Retrieved 26 June 2022 Henry John Forbes Simson 1872 1932 BJOG An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 39 4 920 923 December 1932 doi 10 1111 j 1471 0528 1932 tb16082 x S2CID 221490066 Ma am darling The princess driven by loyalty and duty The Independent 25 February 1998 Retrieved 10 April 2013 Heald p 6 Warwick p 33 Her godparents were the Prince of Wales her paternal uncle for whom his brother Prince George stood proxy Princess Ingrid of Sweden her paternal cousin for whom another cousin Lady Patricia Ramsay stood proxy Princess Victoria her paternal great aunt Lady Rose Leveson Gower her maternal aunt and the Hon David Bowes Lyon her maternal uncle 8 Warwick p 31 Warwick pp 31 32 Crawford pp 14 34 Heald pp 7 8 Warwick pp 35 39 Warwick pp 34 120 Warwick pp 45 46 Quoted in Warwick p 52 a b c d e Bradford Lisa Sheridan in From Cabbages to Kings quoted by Warwick pp 51 52 Warwick p 52 Captain Scott and J M Barrie an unlikely friendship The Telegraph Archived from the original on 10 January 2022 Retrieved 1 August 2019 Heald p 11 Warwick p 71 Heald p 18 Warwick p 76 Royal Support for the Scouting and Guiding Movements Official Website of the British Monarchy archived from the original on 24 January 2009 retrieved 25 July 2008 The charitable princess BBC News 9 February 2002 retrieved 17 December 2008 Crawford p 110 Warwick p 98 Crawford pp 104 119 Warwick pp 99 101 Warwick p 102 Biography of HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Activities as Queen Official website of the British monarchy retrieved 28 July 2009 Crawford pp 137 141 a b Children s Hour Princess Elizabeth BBC Archive 13 October 1940 archived from the original on 27 November 2019 retrieved 16 September 2022 Dempster p 8 a b c Puente Maria 8 February 2019 Princess Margaret PBS takes a look at the original Rebel Princess USA Today Retrieved 19 November 2020 Bradford Heald p 9 Botham p 9 Hardman Robert 2022 Queen of Our Times The Life of Elizabeth II Pegasus Books published 17 March 2022 ISBN 978 1643139098 Aronson p 92 How a young Princess Elizabeth celebrated VE Day unnoticed among the crowds in London The Independent 14 June 2020 Retrieved 8 November 2023 A Royal Night Out What really happened the night the Princesses left the palace for VE Day Tatler 30 April 2020 Retrieved 8 November 2023 a b Helen Molesworth Property from the Collection of Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret Countess of Snowdon Christie s Auction House Jewellery Department London 2006 Auction of the Property of HRH Princess Margaret Aronson p 97 Heald p 39 a b c De la Noy Michael 21 June 1995 Obituary Gp Capt Peter Townsend The Independent Retrieved 7 November 2020 Heald p 53 Crawford p 111 Crawford p 164 Younger Princess Favorite The Hastings Daily Tribune 20 November 1947 p 21 Warwick p 140 Warwick pp 138 139 Warwick pp 140 142 a b c d e f g h i j k Botham Noel 2012 2 In Pursuit of Romance Margaret The Last Real Princess Kings Road Publishing ISBN 978 1784187224 Warwick pp 154 159 The secrets of Margaret s London www standard co uk 12 April 2012 Retrieved 3 February 2022 Royal Betrothal Story is Denied Barrier Miner 5 August 1948 Retrieved 3 February 2022 Life Time Inc 31 October 1949 Crawford Marion 1953 Princess Margaret London Purnell and Sons Ltd p 16 Royal legs seen in can can Mail 16 July 1949 Retrieved 3 February 2022 Princess Margaret has high time on Paris fling The Burlington Free Press 26 November 1951 p 16 The Princess stays at the dance till 2am Evening Standard 11 June 1952 p 5 In Trance After Meeting Princess Advertiser 22 May 1953 Retrieved 3 February 2022 Shafer Jack 13 February 1977 Comeback of ex vegetable man The Sunday News p 25 North Rex 6 June 1954 Oh How Silly It All Was Sunday Pictorial p 1 Taves Isabella 6 July 1958 Will Princess Margaret Ever Marry Denton Record Chronicle p 26 a b c Princess Top Squire Is Gay Playboy Who Flaunts Protocol St Petersburg Times INS 16 May 1955 p 30 Retrieved 10 November 2020 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Davies Caroline 10 February 2002 A captivating woman The Daily Telegraph UK Archived from the original on 10 January 2022 Retrieved 17 October 2008 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Laguerre Andre 10 October 1955 Clue to a Princess s Choice Life pp 135 144 Retrieved 6 November 2020 Princess Margaret And Milford Haven Subject Of Romantic Gossipers Newcastle Sun 25 November 1947 Retrieved 5 June 2022 Princess Visits Earl Examiner 18 November 1954 Retrieved 5 June 2022 Heald p 105 Schenectady Gazette Schenectady Gazette Princess Meg To Marry Commoner Named Jones Victoria Advocate Victoria TX Associated Press 27 February 1960 p 1 Retrieved 10 May 2013 Princess Margaret and future PM John Turner may have nearly married letters reveal CBC News 21 February 2015 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Barrymaine Norman 1 October 1958 The Story of Peter Townsend The Australian Women s Weekly p 3 Retrieved 7 November 2020 Billy Wallace To Marry Meg Star News Star Wire Services 1 March 1958 p 2 Retrieved 10 November 2020 Heald p 84 Warwick p 163 a b c d GREAT BRITAIN The Princess amp the Hero Time 20 July 1953 ISSN 0040 781X Retrieved 11 November 2020 Warwick p 167 The day the King died BBC 6 February 2002 archived from the original on 30 May 2018 retrieved 29 May 2018 a b c d e f Lacey Robert 2008 15 Mindful of the Church s Teaching Monarch The Life and Reign of Elizabeth II Simon and Schuster pp 187 198 ISBN 978 1439108390 a b c Delffs Dudley 2019 Chapter 4 Conviction and Compromise Growing Through Private and Public Criticism The Faith of Queen Elizabeth The Poise Grace and Quiet Strength Behind the Crown Zondervan ISBN 978 0310356981 a b c Courcy Anne de 9 January 2009 The Princess and the Photographer Vanity Fair Retrieved 5 November 2020 Bryant Kenzie 29 December 2017 A New Theory About Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend s Relationship Has Emerged Vanity Fair Retrieved 7 November 2020 Edwards Anne 1990 Royal Sisters 1st ed New York William Murrow p 197 ISBN 0 688 07662 9 Bradford Sarah 28 February 2002 Elizabeth A Biography of Her Majesty the Queen Penguin Books Limited ISBN 978 0 14 193333 7 White Ralphe M 1969 The Royal Family An Informal Portrait 1st ed New York David McKay Inc pp 157 8 a b c d e f Brown Craig 2018 Ninety Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret Farrar Straus and Giroux pp 87 91 94 96 ISBN 978 0374719685 Judd Denis 2012 George VI London I B Tauris amp Co Ltd p 248 ISBN 9781780760711 The Londoner s Diary Caravan Artist Evening Standard 31 July 1951 Warwick p 170 Warwick pp 170 171 Heald p 89 Warwick p 180 Barber Frances 11 November 1952 Princes Margaret Is Said To Have The Look Of Love Dayton Daily News p 52 Heald p 91 Warwick p 176 Warwick p 182 Townsend Peter 1978 Time and Chance London William Collins Sons amp Co Ltd p 194 ISBN 0002118572 WHO IS TOWNSEND Australian Women s Weekly 23 March 1955 Retrieved 25 October 2021 Queen Was At Home To Riders At Windsor The Tatler and Bystander 11 6 August 1952 Hardman Robert 17 March 2022 Queen of Our Times The Life of Elizabeth II Pan Macmillan ISBN 978 1 5290 6343 1 Stoneman William H 9 August 1952 Margaret s Captain Quite A Hero Miami Herald Air Ace Wins Divorce Truth 21 December 1952 Retrieved 25 October 2021 Hart Davis Duff 2007 King s Counsellor The Diaries of Sir Alan Lascelles 2nd ed London Phoenix p 410 ISBN 978 0 7538 2225 8 Channon Henry 2022 Wednesday 18 February 1953 In Heffer Simon ed Diaries 1943 57 London Penguin Randon House ISBN 978 1 529 15174 9 Princess Margaret who is pretending to be ill with gastric flu and perhaps half is has announced her intention of marrying Peter Townsend The Queen quoted by Princess Margaret in Warwick p 186 a b c d Princess Margaret The Guardian Retrieved 27 July 2014 a b c d e Barrymaine s 1958 biography dates The Times s editorial to 24 October an error which other works even Townsend s autobiography repeats Edwards Anne 2017 Royal Sisters Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret Rowman amp Littlefield pp 268 269 364 ISBN 978 1630762667 Retrieved 9 November 2020 London Press Quiet About Royal Affair Eugene Register Guard Associated Press 23 July 1953 p 2A Retrieved 7 November 2020 Warwick p 187 a b c d Ann Sumner Holmes 13 October 2016 The Church of England and Divorce in the Twentieth Century Legalism and Grace Routledge pp 78 79 ISBN 9781848936171 Retrieved 3 January 2019 a b c Lacey Robert 2017 The Crown The Official Companion Elizabeth II Winston Churchill and the making of a young queen 1947 1955 Crown Archetype pp 160 270 272 ISBN 978 1524762285 Warwick p 191 a b c d e Paul Reynolds 19 November 2016 Did the Queen stop Princess Margaret marrying Peter Townsend bbc co uk BBC Retrieved 19 November 2016 a b Vickers Hugo 17 November 2019 How accurate is The Crown We sort fact from fiction in the royal drama The Times ISSN 0140 0460 Retrieved 7 November 2020 Warwick p 203 Warwick p 192 Palace Challenged To Deny Royal Romance Sarasota Herald Tribune United Press 30 May 1955 p 8 Retrieved 7 November 2020 a b c d e f g h i Kynaston David 2010 Family Britain 1951 1957 Bloomsbury Press pp 519 528 ISBN 978 0 8027 1964 5 a b c Uproar Over Romance Is Discussed Ocala Star Banner Associated Press 18 October 1955 p 1 Retrieved 7 November 2020 Murison Krissi 2 November 2019 Helena Bonham Carter interview talking toyboys and tiaras with The Crown s Princess Margaret The Times ISSN 0140 0460 Retrieved 8 November 2020 a b England Excitedly Awaits Confirmation of Its Hopes The Free Lance Star Associated Press 14 October 1955 p 1 Retrieved 7 November 2020 a b Date s in Doubt Britons Are Convinced They ll Wed The Free Lance Star Associated Press 15 October 1955 p 1 Retrieved 8 November 2020 a b c Meg Gives Up Townsend As Love Submits to Duty Pittsburgh Post Gazette Associated Press 1 November 1955 pp 1 2 Retrieved 8 November 2020 a b c d e Lyall Sarah 21 June 1995 Peter Townsend Dies at 80 Princess Margaret s Love Published 1995 The New York Times p A16 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 5 November 2020 a b Nikkhah Roya 7 November 2009 Princess Margaret recently unearthed letter sheds new light on decision not to marry The Telegraph Retrieved 20 May 2023 Theo Aronson 1997 Princess Margaret Regnery Pub ISBN 978 0 89526 409 1 Dempster Nigel 1981 H R H the Princess Margaret a life unfulfilled London New York Quartet Books ISBN 978 0 7043 2314 8 Shawcross William 2 October 2009 Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother The Official Biography Pan Macmillan ISBN 978 0 230 74810 1 Princess Margaret 31 October 1955 quoted in Warwick p 205 Marr Andrew 2012 The Real Elizabeth An Intimate Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II Henry Holt and Company ISBN 978 1429950022 Townsend s Hurt of Rejection Healed Desert Sun UPI 4 September 1970 p 8 Retrieved 7 November 2020 Heald Tim 2007 Princess Margaret a life unravelled Internet Archive London Weidenfeld amp Nicolson ISBN 978 0 297 84820 2 Dempster Nigel 1981 H R H the Princess Margaret a life unfulfilled Internet Archive London New York Quartet Books ISBN 978 0 7043 2314 8 Rocco Fiammetta 3 October 1993 When Princess Margaret The Independent Aronson Theo 1997 Princess Margaret London Regency Inc p 308 ISBN 9780895264091 The Australian Women s Weekly 1933 1982 5 Oct 1977 p13 Trove Retrieved 5 June 2022 a b c d e 1960 Margaret weds Armstrong Jones BBC Retrieved 14 May 2018 Princess Margaret s wedding BBC Retrieved 14 May 2018 A Close Look at the British Royal Family s Engagement Rings slide 4 Vogue Retrieved 15 May 2018 Bonner Mehera 25 October 2017 The Most Gorgeous Royal Engagement Rings Your Official Guide to Who Owns What Marie Claire UK Retrieved 15 May 2018 Heald p 112 looked strikingly like Princess Margaret Warwick p 223 more than a passing resemblance to the Princess Heald pp 114 115 Warwick p 225 Princess Margaret daughter of George VI Westminster Abbey Retrieved 14 May 2018 Warwick p 227 Margaret names her bridesmaids Royal Musings 24 March 2010 Heald pp 119 121 Warwick pp 229 230 Heald p 122 Warwick p 271 Heald p 141 Warwick p 233 Heald pp 140 141 Haden Guest Anthony 1965 The New Class The Queen Warwick p 239 Lord Snowdon small in stature big in bed www telegraph co uk 20 June 2008 Retrieved 24 September 2022 Heald p 170 Warwick p 245 Heald p 170 Warwick pp 245 246 Aronson p 229 Cricinfo Players and Officials Keith Miller Cricinfo retrieved 13 October 2008 Breese Charlotte 2012 Chapter Twelve The Sweet Smell 1956 1959 Hutch London Bloomsbury ISBN 978 1 4088 3113 7 Munn Michael 24 May 2009 Oh God I wanted her to die The Sunday Times Retrieved 29 May 2009 Playgirl Volume 3 1975 Aronson p 260 Bradford Sarah 1996 Elizabeth A Biography of Britain s Queen London a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link Heald p 194 Warwick p 255 Margaret quoted in Warwick p 256 Heald p 198 Warwick p 257 Quoted in Warwick p 257 Warwick p 257 Warwick p 258 Heald p 197 Warwick p 258 a b 1976 Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon to split BBC 19 March 1976 Retrieved 14 May 2018 Dennis Canavan quoted in Warwick p 260 Willie Hamilton quoted in Warwick p 261 Pimlott Ben 1996 The Princess and the Press The Fate of Margaret PBS Retrieved 16 March 2018 Aronson p 268 Nolasco Stephanie 29 June 2021 Princess Margaret was a deeply Christian woman who desperately wanted her doomed marriage to work author Fox News Retrieved 8 November 2023 Warwick p 263 Warwick p 274 Heald p 308 Warwick p 256 Princess Margaret and Northern Ireland BBC 9 February 2002 Retrieved 19 March 2018 Payne p 17 Heald pp 149 150 Heald pp 206 207 Heald p 207 Heald pp 154 163 210 Heald p 187 Heald pp 188 190 Heald pp 225 226 Heald pp 229 233 Heald pp 245 247 1979 IRA bomb kills Lord Mountbatten BBC On This Day 27 August 1979 a b Warwick p 267 Heald p 217 Warwick p 267 Apple R W Jr 1981 British Uneasy Over Irish Cancel Visit To U S By Princess Margaret The New York Times Retrieved 16 March 2018 Warwick pp 267 268 a b c d e The charitable princess BBC 9 February 2002 Retrieved 19 March 2018 a b c Scots sorrow at death of princess BBC 9 February 2002 Retrieved 27 May 2018 Northern ballet theatre Archived from the original on 25 May 2013 Retrieved 10 April 2013 Tributes pour in from across England BBC 9 February 2002 Retrieved 27 May 2018 a b Welsh tributes flow for princess BBC 9 February 2002 Retrieved 27 May 2018 a b c d e Margaret Devotee of the Arts 9 February 2002 Retrieved 19 April 2021 a b c Princess s history of ill health BBC 9 February 2002 Retrieved 18 March 2018 Heald pp 32 33 Princess Margaret smoking walesonline co uk 9 February 2002 Retrieved 31 August 2021 Her addiction to strong Chesterfield cigarettes was rivalled only by her partiality to Famous Grouse whisky at home and gin in hot climates Bates Stephen 29 March 2001 Princess Margaret resting after stroke The Guardian Retrieved 12 March 2021 Princess Margaret Her failing health CBBC 9 February 2002 Retrieved 26 June 2022 Warwick p 276 Heald p 256 A lifetime dogged by ill health The Guardian 9 February 2002 Retrieved 18 March 2018 Warwick pp 290 291 Princess Margaret The medical care BBC 11 January 2001 Retrieved 16 March 2018 Charles visits Princess Margaret BBC 15 January 2001 Retrieved 16 March 2018 Warwick pp 299 302 Warwick p 303 Warwick p 304 Heir to the throne on death of his aunt AP Archive YouTube 24 July 2015 Archived from the original on 11 December 2021 Retrieved 27 May 2018 Charles My darling aunt BBC 9 February 2002 Retrieved 27 May 2018 Blair s condolences for Royal Family BBC 10 February 2002 Retrieved 18 April 2021 World tributes to Princess Margaret BBC 9 February 2002 Retrieved 18 April 2021 Prayers for Princess Margaret BBC 10 February 2002 Retrieved 18 April 2021 Princess to be cremated BBC 12 February 2002 Retrieved 19 March 2018 a b A break in Royal tradition BBC 15 February 2002 Retrieved 19 March 2018 Warwick p 306 Davies Caroline 16 February 2002 Bell tolls for Margaret s final journey The Daily Telegraph Archived from the original on 10 January 2022 Retrieved 19 March 2018 Warwick pp 306 308 Margaret s ashes to be interred with Queen Mother s coffin Irish Examiner 31 March 2002 Retrieved 15 September 2022 Heald p 295 Tributes to Queen Mother and Princess Margaret at Windsor memorial BBC 30 March 2012 Retrieved 30 March 2022 Heald p 294 Heald pp 130 131 222 223 Heald p 89 Heald pp 15 16 89 Heald p 146 Crawford p 226 Vidal Gore 2006 Point to Point Navigation London Little Brown ISBN 0 316 02727 8 HRH Princess Margaret BBC Radio 4 23 January 1981 Retrieved 19 April 2021 Princess Margaret makes a guest appearance on The Archers BBC 22 June 1984 Retrieved 19 April 2021 See for example Roy Strong quoted in Heald p 191 Gonzales Erica 7 December 2019 The Truth About Princess Margaret s Overdose Scene in The Crown Harper s Bazaar Retrieved 2 December 2020 a b Princess Margaret Tributes at a glance BBC 9 February 2002 Retrieved 28 May 2018 Margaret s cousin attacks cruel media BBC 10 February 2002 Retrieved 28 May 2018 Warwick pp 308 309 a b Algoo Jennifer 8 November 2019 Princess Margaret s Greatest Fashion Moments Through the Years Harper s Bazaar Retrieved 28 October 2021 Newis Smith Josh 12 September 2014 Princess Margaret We Take A Look At The Forgotten Royal Style Icon s Wardrobe Grazia Daily Retrieved 28 October 2021 a b Tromans Chelsea 29 December 2019 Princess Margaret s Greatest Fashion Moments Through the Years Marie Claire Retrieved 28 October 2021 a b Wong Brittany 17 November 2019 Princess Margaret s Style Evolution From Peak Princess To Style Icon HuffPost Retrieved 28 October 2021 a b c d Goldstone Penny 20 April 2020 A look back at Princess Margaret s most daring looks Marie Claire UK Retrieved 28 October 2021 Katz Brigit Princess Margaret s Iconic 21st Birthday Dress Goes on Display Smithsonian Magazine Retrieved 28 October 2021 Hills Megan C February 2019 The Christian Dior exhibition in London The story behind Princess Margaret s iconic gown and more The Standard Retrieved 28 October 2021 Frost Karie 30 January 2019 Princess Margaret s iconic 21st birthday gown goes on display at the V amp A s Dior exhibition Harper s Bazaar McDermott Kerry 17 November 2019 Princess Margaret s Royal Style In 21 Divine Vintage Photos British Vogue Retrieved 28 October 2021 Heald pp 296 297 a b c d e Pook Sally 26 June 2002 Margaret leaves 7 6m fortune to her children The Daily Telegraph Archived from the original on 10 January 2022 Retrieved 2 June 2018 Nikkhah Roya 14 January 2007 Viscount Linley defends royal auction The Daily Telegraph Archived from the original on 10 January 2022 Retrieved 2 June 2018 Heald pp 297 301 Alderson Andrew 11 June 2016 Queen urges Margaret s heirs to avoid another royal gift scandal The Daily Telegraph Archived from the original on 10 January 2022 Retrieved 2 June 2018 Princess s gems tiara for auction CNN 9 June 2006 Retrieved 2 June 2018 a b Heald p 301 Royal auction raises over 13 5m BBC 15 June 2006 Retrieved 2 June 2018 Five actresses to play the Queen for C4 The Guardian 27 January 2009 Retrieved 4 March 2009 The Crown all you need to know about Netflix s 100 million series from the shocking first scene to Matt Smith s topless rowing The Daily Telegraph 14 October 2016 Archived from the original on 10 January 2022 Moore Matthew 14 December 2019 The Crown sees Wikipedia surge on British history searches The Times Retrieved 16 December 2019 Dominick Nora 18 December 2023 The Crown Featured The Best Casting For A Young Claire Foy And Vanessa Kirby For The Final Season BuzzFeed Retrieved 19 December 2023 Thorpe Vanessa 9 February 2008 Anger at royal slur in bank robbery film The Guardian Retrieved 19 April 2021 Cogan Brian Massey Jeff 2014 Everything I Ever Needed to Know About I Learned from Monty Python History Art Poetry Communism Philosophy the Media Birth Death Religion Literature Latin Transvestites Botany the French Class Systems Mythology Fish Slapping and Many More St Martin s Press p 102 ISBN 978 1466842168 Bowcott Owen 30 December 2016 Your humble and devoted servant letters between Thatcher and Princess Margaret released The Guardian Retrieved 9 February 2023 The Heart of The Empire 6th May 1935 Royal Collection Trust Retrieved 24 August 2023 King George V and Queen Mary stand before the altar rails of St Paul s Cathedral members of the Royal Family including the Duke and Duchess of York later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret of York are standing behind Princess Margaret at no time assumed the title Princess Margaret Mrs Antony Armstrong Jones see e g issues of the London Gazette 1 November 1960 25 November 1960 24 February 1961 28 February 1961 3 March 1961 and 24 March 1961 No 37976 The London Gazette Supplement 6 June 1947 p 2569 No 38339 The London Gazette 29 June 1948 p 3787 No 39863 The London Gazette Supplement 26 May 1953 p 2940 No 40818 The London Gazette 29 June 1956 p 3803 No 52253 The London Gazette 24 August 1990 p 13769 a b Vickers Hugo 1994 Royal Orders Boxtree p 147 ISBN 9781852835101 Royal Family Orders Official website of the British monarchy Royal Household Archived from the original on 7 March 2013 Retrieved 13 April 2016 a b c d e Goodey Emma 21 December 2015 Princess Margaret The Royal Family Retrieved 16 December 2020 No 39865 The London Gazette Supplement 26 May 1953 p 2997 No 49902 The London Gazette 19 October 1984 p 14141 No 15 PDF New Zealand Gazette 3 March 1955 p 332 Archived PDF from the original on 9 October 2022 No 41535 The London Gazette Supplement 28 October 1958 p 6639 No 54745 The London Gazette Supplement 21 April 1997 p 4766 No 40286 The London Gazette Supplement 24 September 1954 p 5499 No 41801 The London Gazette Supplement 25 August 1959 p 5421 No 43422 The London Gazette Supplement 28 August 1964 p 7419 No 47234 The London Gazette Supplement 10 June 1977 p 7079 QEII Award recipients updated Aug 2016 PDF Royal Academy of Dance Archived from the original PDF on 8 August 2017 Retrieved 8 August 2017 Marks of cadency in the British royal family Heraldica org retrieved 17 October 2008 Louda Jiri Maclagan Michael 1999 1981 Lines of Succession Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe 2nd ed London Little Brown p 34 ISBN 978 0 316 84820 6 Bibliography editAronson Theo 2001 Princess Margaret A Biography London Michael O Mara Books Limited ISBN 1 85479 682 8 Botham Noel 2002 Margaret The Last Real Princess London Blake Publishing Ltd ISBN 1 903402 64 6 Bradford Sarah Harrison B Goldman L January 2006 Margaret Rose Princess countess of Snowdon 1930 2002 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography revised October 2008 ed Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 ref odnb 76713 Retrieved 7 December 2008 Subscription or UK public library membership required Crawford Marion 1950 The Little Princesses London Cassell and Co Heald Tim 2007 Princess Margaret A Life Unravelled London Weidenfeld and Nicolson ISBN 978 0 297 84820 2 Warwick Christopher 2002 Princess Margaret A Life of Contrasts London Carlton Publishing Group ISBN 0 233 05106 6External links edit nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to Princess Margaret Countess of Snowdon nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Princess Margaret Countess of Snowdon Profile on the official site of the British Monarchy HRH Princess Margaret 1930 2002 at BBC News Death of Princess Margaret British Columbia Archives video of Princess Margaret at a reception HMS Hood Discovery 1958 3 Newspaper clippings about Princess Margaret Countess of Snowdon in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW Portraits of Princess Margaret Countess of Snowdon at the National Portrait Gallery London nbsp Princess Margaret Countess of SnowdonHouse of WindsorBorn 21 August 1930 Died 9 February 2002Academic officesPreceded byThe Earl of Harrowby President of the University College of North Staffordshire1956 1962 College becomes Keele UniversityNew title Chancellor of Keele University1962 1986 Succeeded byThe Lord Moser Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Princess Margaret Countess of Snowdon amp oldid 1207696607, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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