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Princess Margaret redirects here. For other people named Princess Margaret, see
Princess Margaret (disambiguation)''
'The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon' (Margaret Rose Armstrong-Jones; née
Windsor;
21 August 1930 –
9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of
George VI and
Queen Elizabeth, and the younger sister of the current
British monarch,
Elizabeth II. She held the title
Countess of Snowdon by marriage.
Princess Margaret was always a controversial member of the
British Royal Family. As a young woman, she was a figure of glamour in post-war Britain and the Commonwealth. However, her private life was plagued by romantic disappointments, including her politically-thwarted love for a divorced older man in her youth, a subsequent, often unhappy marriage to a commoner, an acrimonious divorce beset with accusations of adultery, and, in her later years, a public affair with a much younger man.
Early life
She was born ''
Her Royal Highness'' 'Princess Margaret Rose of York' on
21 August 1930 at
Glamis Castle in
Scotland, her mother's ancestral home. Her father was
Prince Albert, The Duke of York, the second son of
George V and
Queen Mary. Her mother was
The Duchess of York (formerly Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon), a daughter of the 14th Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne. As a grandchild of the Sovereign in the male line, Margaret Rose was styled ''Her Royal Highness'' from birth. She was baptised in the Private Chapel of
Buckingham Palace on
30 October 1930 by
Cosmo Lang, the
Archbishop of Canterbury, and her godparents were her uncle the
Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII), her father's cousin
Princess Ingrid of Sweden, her great-aunt
Princess Victoria, her aunt
Lady Rose Leveson-Gower, and her uncle
The Hon David Bowes-Lyon.
[1]
Princess Margaret Rose of York was educated alongside her sister, Princess Elizabeth, by their governess,
Marion Crawford. In
1936, her uncle
Edward VIII abdicated the throne, and her father ascended as George VI. Margaret was then styled ''HRH'' 'The Princess Margaret'. She attended her parents' coronation in
1937. Margaret was from that point second in the
line of succession to the British Throne until the birth of her nephew,
Charles, Prince of Wales, in
1948.
During the
Second World War, Margaret stayed at
Windsor Castle, just outside
London. In
1952, her father died, and her older sister became
Elizabeth II.
Romance with Peter Townsend
Two years after her sister's coronation, Margaret became embroiled in a public scandal over her wish to marry
Group Captain Peter Townsend, a
Royal Air Force pilot and
Battle of Britain hero who had been a trusted member of the Royal Household as an
equerry to her father and sister. Sixteen years the Princess' senior, Townsend was also a divorcé, which, in the eyes of the government and the Church of England, made him an unsuitable husband for a Royal Princess, despite the fact that he had been the innocent party in his divorce from
Rosemary Pawle, who had committed adultery.
Although Margaret could have married Townsend with Parliamentary approval once she turned 25, she was informed that doing so would force her to give up her title, her
Civil List allowance, and her place in the line of succession. It was also suggested, entirely incorrectly, that she would be forced to leave the country . Under great pressure, not least because her role as a royal princess was virtually the only identity she had, and taking advice from the
Archbishop of Canterbury and senior politicians, she decided not to marry Townsend. She made a public announcement, reportedly partly crafted by Townsend himself, in which she stated that her decision had been made out of loyalty to the Crown and out of consciousness of the Church's teaching on the "indissolubility of Christian marriage."
In reality, however, papers released in
2004 indicate that, had she married Townsend, she could not have been legally deprived of her title or her
Civil List allowance. The only conditions should she decide to marry Townsend were that she would be removed from the line of succession and that any wedding would have to be civil rather than religious.
[2] Margaret and her sister had been misled by courtiers and politicians who were either still deeply fearful of potential marital scandal 20 years after the abdication of Edward VIII or simply determined to maintain the ''status quo'', regardless of the personal and emotional effects.
Marriage
After some more romantic interests, including future
Canadian Prime Minister John Turner, on
6 May 1960, Margaret married the photographer
Antony Armstrong-Jones, son of Ronald Armstrong-Jones and his first wife, Anne Messel, later Countess of Rosse, at
Westminster Abbey. She reportedly accepted his proposal a day after learning from Peter Townsend that he intended to marry a young Belgian woman.
The ceremony could be considered the first "modern" royal wedding thanks to the wider availability of television in the UK. In 1961, the princess's husband was created
Earl of Snowdon, whereupon she became formally styled ''HRH'' 'The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon'.
They had two children:
★
David Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley
★
Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones
The marriage widened Princess Margaret's social circle beyond the Court and aristocracy to include show business and
bohemia, and was seen at the time as reflecting the breakdown of class barriers.
[3]
Royal duties
Princess Margaret began her royal duties at a very early age. She attended the
silver jubilee of her grandparents, George V and Queen Mary, aged 5 in
1935. She later attended her parents' coronation in 1937. Her first major royal tour occurred when she joined her parents and sister for a tour of
South Africa in
1947. Her first solo tour was to the British colonies in the Caribbean in 1955. So great was her popularity at the time that the tour created a sensation throughout the West Indies, and calypsos were dedicated to her.
[4]
As colonies of the British Commonwealth sought nationhood, Princess Margaret went on to repeatedly represent the British Crown at their independence ceremonies.
The Princess's main interests were welfare charities, music and ballet. She was President of the National Society and of the Royal Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and Invalid Children's Aid Nationwide (also called 'I CAN'). Formerly Commandant-in-Chief of the Ambulance and Nursing Cadets of the
St. John Ambulance Brigade, she later became Grand President of the St John Ambulance Brigade and Colonel-in-Chief of Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps.
Private life
Princess Margaret's private life was for many years the subject of intense speculation by media and Royal-watchers. She owned a house on the Caribbean island of
Mustique, a private resort that was her favourite holiday destination and where many of its houses were designed by her husband's uncle, the stage designer
Oliver Messel. Allegations of wild parties and drug taking were made in a documentary broadcast after the Princess’s death.
Reportedly, her first extramarital affair took place in 1966, with her daughter's godfather, Bordeaux wine producer
Anthony Barton, and a year later she had a one-month liaison with
Robin Douglas-Home, a nephew of a former British Prime Minister. Douglas-Home committed suicide 18 months after the split with Margaret.
[5] Unproven allegations have also claimed she had been romantically involved with musician
Mick Jagger, actor
Peter Sellers, and the Australian cricketer,
Keith Miller.
[6] According to ''Margaret: The Secret Princess'', an
ITV program broadcast in Britain in February 2003, Princess Margaret also reportedly had a two-year affair with
Sharman Douglas, the daughter of an American ambassador to the Court of St. James.
In the 1970s, revelations of an affair with
Roddy Llewellyn, an aspiring young garden designer, led to her divorce, on
11 May 1978,
[7] from Lord Snowdon, although the marriage was generally regarded as over long before the affair was made public. This was the first divorce of a senior Royal since
Princess Victoria of Edinburgh in
1901.
As her friend
Gore Vidal once wrote, "She was far too intelligent for her station in life." Vidal, in his memoirs ''
Point to Point Navigation'', recalled a conversation with Princess Margaret, in which she discussed her public notoriety, saying, "It was inevitable: when there are two sisters and one is the Queen, who must be the source of honor and all that is good, while the other must be the focus of the most creative malice, the evil sister."
[8]
Later life
The Princess's later life was marred by illness and disability. She experienced a mild stroke in 1998 at her holiday home in Mustique. Later in the same year, the Princess severely scalded her feet in a bathroom accident, which affected her mobility to the extent she required support when walking and was sometimes restricted to a wheelchair. In 2000 and 2001, further strokes were diagnosed. Margaret’s last public appearance was at the 100th birthday celebration of her aunt,
Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester in December
2001.
Death and remembrance
Princess Margaret died in hospital on
9 February 2002 at the age of 71, after suffering a massive stroke. Her funeral was held on the 50th anniversary of her father's funeral and occurred during the
Golden Jubilee year of the Queen. The ceremony was a private family event—it also was the last time the
Queen Mother was seen in public before her death—though a full state memorial service was held for her several weeks later. Unlike most other Royal family members following their deaths, Princess Margaret was
cremated. Her ashes have been placed in the tomb of her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother in the King George VI Memorial Chapel in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.
Princess Margaret had been twelfth in the line of succession to the British Throne at the time of her death.
Princess Margaret's nephew,
Charles, Prince of Wales, talked about her after her death:
''"My Aunt was one of those remarkable people who apart from being incredibly vital and attractive, and of course when she was young so many people remember her for that vitality and attractiveness and indeed her incredible beauty, but she also, and I think many people do not realise this, but she had such incredible talent."''
In popular culture
In Episode 30 of ''
Monty Python's Flying Circus'', a
pantomime Princess Margaret appears in a nature film sequence harpooning a breakfast tray.
Princess Margaret was portrayed by
Lucy Cohu in the BBC TV drama ''
The Queen's Sister'' (2005), by Trulie MacLeod in the TV drama ''The Women of Windsor'' (1992), and by Hannah Wiltshire in the TV drama ''
Bertie and Elizabeth''
In April 2007, an exhibition entitled ''Princess Line - The Fashion Legacy of Princess Margaret'' opened at
Kensington Palace, showcasing contemporary fashion from British designers such as
Burberry and
Vivienne Westwood inspired by Princess Margaret's 'legacy' of style. Vivienne Westwood's clothing in her
Harris Tweed collection of 1987 was inspired by the clothes worn by the Queen and Princess Margaret as children, while Christopher Bailey's Spring 2006 collection for Burberry was inspired by 'archive images of HRH Princess Margaret'. Alongside the contemporary fashion pieces, the exhibition displayed a number of Princess Margaret's original accessories, all inside her former wardrobe room at Kensington Palace. Other contemporary designers showcased included
Hardy Amies,
Topshop,
Marks & Spencer and
Central Saint Martins graudate
Gemma Ainsworth, while Margaret's accessories include turbans, classic hats worn to
Ascot and a replica of the
Poltimore Tiara worn for her wedding to
Lord Snowdon in 1960.
The exhibition is the result of a unique collaboration between
Historic Royal Palaces and
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles
★ '
21 August 1930 –
11 December 1936': ''Her Royal Highness'' Princess Margaret of York
★ '
11 December 1936 –
6 May 1960': ''Her Royal Highness'' The Princess Margaret
★ '
6 May 1960 –
6 October 1961': ''Her Royal Highness'' The Princess Margaret, ''Mrs'' Antony Armstrong-Jones
★ '
6 October 1961 –
9 February 2002': ''Her Royal Highness'' The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
Honours
★ 'GCVO':
Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, ''
1953''
★ 'CI':
Companion of the Crown of India, ''
1947''
★ 'GCStG':
Dame Grand Cross of St John of Jerusalem, ''
1956''
★
Royal Victorian Chain, ''
1990''
★
Royal Family Order of King George V
★
Royal Family Order of King George VI
★
Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II
Honorary military appointments
'British'
★ Colonel-in-Chief, of the 15th/19th, The King's Royal Hussars
★ Colonel-in-Chief, of the
Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Margaret's Own Glasgow and Ayrshire Regiment)
★ Colonel-in-Chief, of
Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps
★ Deputy Colonel-in-Chief, of the
Royal Anglian Regiment
★ Honorary Air Commodore,
Royal Air Force
★ Royal Air Force Coningsby
'Commonwealth Realms'
★ Colonel-in-Chief, of the Highland Fusiliers of
★ Colonel-in-Chief, of the
Princess Louise Fusiliers
★ Colonel-in-Chief, of
The Royal Newfoundland Regiment
★ Colonel-in-Chief, of the
Bermuda Regiment
Ancestry
Legacy
★
Princess Margaret Hospital, Hong Kong
★
Princess Margaret Road,
Hong Kong
★
Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto
★ Princess Margaret Boulevard in
Toronto
See also
★
List of British princesses
External links
★
Royal Family Website Memorial for Princess Margaret
★
Princess Margaret at the Internet Movie Database
★ http://www.queensimages.com -Original press photos of Princess Margaret and Queen Elizabeth from 1950's
References
1. Vickers, Hugo, ''Elizabeth: The Queen Mother'' (Arrow Books/Random House, 2006) p.114-5
2. BBC News "Margaret was offered marriage deal"
3. Haden-Guest, Anthony: "The New Class", ''The Queen'' (magazine), 1965
4. Payne, David John: My Life With Princess Margaret (1962) p17
5. [1]
6. [2]
7. Newspapers Remembered - Royalty
8. Gore Vidal, ''Point to Point Navigation'', New York: Doubleday, 2007, p. 212.
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