From partying with rock stars to drinking vodka in bed, Princess Margaret lived fast
and hard. But being the polar opposite of her stoic older sister also had its downsides.
Not many of us can be called a rule breaker from day one, but Princess Margaret broke
a royal tradition that had lasted for three centuries. Margaret was born to King George VI
and Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother on August 21, 1930, the youngest of their two daughters.
Given the full title of Princess Margaret Rose Windsor, Countess of Snowdon, the little princess
was a welcome addition to the family and broke royal custom as soon as she entered the world.
Margaret was born to her parents at Glamis Castle in Scotland,
the place of her mother's heritage. While this may not seem like a big deal,
Margaret was the first member of the royal family to be born in Scotland in more than
300 years up until that point, ushering in a new era of royal rule-breaking.
From then on, Margaret became a bit of a maverick and displayed an early interest in
the arts and music. Educated by both her mother and a governess, Margaret's early life was full
of riches and intellect. It’s nothing less you’d expect for a young princess. Of course,
everything changed when King Edward VIII abdicated the throne in 1936,
making her — at just 6 years old — the second heir to the crown following her oldest sister.
Though they were just 10 and 6 years old when their father ascended the throne,
the then-Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret were dedicated to
the crown and their father's time as a monarch from an early age.
Not only did their father take over the monarchy in the wake of his brother's abdication, but he
was shortly met with one of the world's most horrific events — World War II. Great Britain,
and London specifically, fell under attack throughout the war,
and children in the country were evacuated to the countryside to escape violence. It
was a terrifying time for everyone involved, and Elizabeth and Margaret
did what they could to show the country a united front and offer a sense of comfort.
As noted by the BBC, Elizabeth was just 14 and Margaret was 10 at the
time when they took to the airwaves to wish the children of Great Britain
peace and prosperity as they evacuated to Canada, the Americas, and beyond.
The radio broadcast was the first time that the future queen and her
sister spoke to the Commonwealth citizens and still stands as the
earliest recorded message from the queen's lifetime.
"And we are both going to say goodnight to you. Come on, Margaret."
"Goodnight, children."
Princess Margaret loved a good party. Though she was a princess, she didn't let her aristocratic
label stop her from having a royally good time. As she developed into her youth and teenage hood,
Margaret quickly painted herself with a different brush than that of her sister
and became a bit of an icon. Christopher Warwick, who wrote Princess Margaret: A Life of Contrasts,
sat down with The Cut to discuss the princess and her party girl era. He told the outlet:
"There are things that we do that you don't expect royalty to do,
and doing this was pretty cool and trendy and shocking at the same time,
but [Princess Margaret] was perceived as being a very glamorous trendsetter."
Commenting that she was a "very modern person," Warwick noted that Margaret was only one of two
women that the press paid attention to amid the 1950s — the other was Elizabeth Taylor.
Embracing the high life as a teenager and young adult, Princess Margaret certainly
indulged throughout her lifetime. Though we knew Queen Elizabeth II as a bit frugal,
always put together, and never flaunting her wealth, Margaret was the exact opposite.
Since her sister was already the Queen,
Margaret knew that working as a serious royal was never going to be a part of
her life so she lived frivolously — and her morning routine as an adult makes that clear.
As detailed by Vogue, Margaret's mornings would typically start around 9 a.m. and
she would be served breakfast in bed. The outlet went on to note:
"[Margaret's meal would be] followed by two hours in bed listening to the radio,
reading the newspapers [...] and chain-smoking."
By 12:30 p.m., she'd indulge in a "vodka pick-me-up," and by the evening,
Margaret would join whichever guests were lucky enough to score an invite
for dinner. But said guests couldn't start eating until Margaret was at the table,
per royal protocol — which was a bit of an issue, given that she was notoriously late.
Detailed by Nancy Mitford in Love From Nancy: The Letters of Nancy Mitford,
Margaret didn't even start getting ready until dinner was supposed to start.
Perhaps one of the most defining aspects of Princess Margaret's life came in the form
of her affair with Group Captain Peter Townsend. As noted by Harper's Bazaar,
Margaret and Peter — a pilot in the Royal Air Force and an equerry for the king — met in 1947.
Not only was he 15 years older than the princess,
but he was in the process of divorcing his then-wife. Anyone who watches the
royal family knows that divorce was, and still is, to an extent, a huge red flag.
Divorce is extremely tricky for royals, making Margaret and Townsend's love affair
nearly impossible. To make matters even more complex, Margaret was not even 25 years old,
meaning that her older sister had to approve of whoever she married. Eventually,
the couple painfully went their separate ways, with Margaret stating at the time
that she couldn’t go through with their romance given her royal status.
"It was essentially seen as a sin to marry a divorced man."
As Princess Margaret and Queen Elizabeth II grew into their respective roles within the
royal family, their differences became even more apparent. Elizabeth was the dedicated
monarch who did everything by the book, and Margaret was the rebel who lived life
largely on her own terms. As such, there grew both loyalty and tension between the sisters,
with famed royal biographer Andrew Morton telling Vogue:
"There's an awful lot of jealousy because Margaret was the one who
commanded attention and she loved the spotlight. It's a complex relationship;
it's one of loyalty and support, but also primal jealousy."
Further commenting on the dynamic between the sisters, Anne Glenconner,
who served as Margaret's lady-in-waiting, opened up about the element that Margaret
was keenly envious of: Elizabeth's education. Glenconner told People:
"She always minded about not being educated as well as the queen. The queen had people
from Eton and Cambridge, naturally. But Princess Margaret was never part of that."
Though Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip got married before she ascended the throne,
Princess Margaret's love life was a far more sordid and interesting component of royal life
that the public could sink their teeth into. After her love affair with Peter Townsend came
to an end, Margaret moved on and eventually married Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1960.
The couple had their fair share of problems but despite this, their reputation in the glittering
circles of high society was unmatched. Margaret's biographer Christopher Warwick told People:
"During the 60s, before their marriage started going wrong, they were royalty's golden couple.
Stories about them were legion, with their star-studded parties at Kensington Palace.
If you were being invited by them you were being invited to breathe in rarified air."
"He is everything that sort of goes against
royal protocol. He is extremely fun-loving. He is a bohemian."
Making the couple that much more interesting, Vogue pointed out,
the two had a bit of a game that they played with one another at palace dinner parties. Dubbed the
"bread game," Margaret and Armstrong-Jones would listen in on conversations and tear off a small
piece of bread whenever someone uttered a "cliché" phrase, placing the piece of bread
on the table. Whichever between them had the most bread at the end of the meal would win.
Eventually, Princess Margaret's marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones went south. As the relationship
reached a breaking point, going their legal separate ways was the only option. It was 1976
when photos of Margaret and her rumored "boy toy" Roddy Llewellyn hit the papers. Not only was she a
married princess, but he was 17 years younger than her, and the dynamic created quite a field day.
But, as her lady-in-waiting Anne Glenconner detailed for Hello!, the princess was at a
breaking point in her marriage and though she saw divorce as a horrible path to walk,
it was the solution she was looking for. Glenconner told the outlet:
"She hated the idea of divorce, and resisted for a long time, but I watched as Tony placed
her in an impossible position, demeaning her and goading her into making it inevitable."
When the divorce was finally upon her, Armstrong-Jones sent Margaret's secretary
in with the news. When the secretary told Margaret that Armstrong-Jones was leaving her,
Margaret said in response, according to History,
"Thank you, Nigel. I think that's the best news you've ever given me."
If we've presented anything, it's that Princess Margaret was a royal trailblazer in more ways
than one. She partied, got divorced, was fraught with dedication and jealousy, and marched to the
beat of her own drum despite what anyone else thought. With all this in mind, it doesn't
come as a huge shock that she had a number of peculiarities that she came to be known for.
As noted by Vogue, Margaret was first and foremost known for her checkbook.
When writing a check out to someone, she wouldn't sign the money order with
anything other than "Margaret." Not her last name, not her royal title, nothing — simply,
"Margaret." Additionally, Margaret had a thing about squirrels — meaning she
absolutely despised them. Margaret made her hatred of squirrels clear, and once attacked
a group of them with an umbrella after she saw a lady handing them morsels of food in a park.
To top off the list, Margaret once tried to create a contraption by
"gluing matchboxes onto tumblers," according to Vogue. She did this so
she could light a cigarette while drinking at the same time — her two favorite habits.
Princess Margaret embraced just about every perk and luxury of
royal life. Instead of driving herself as many royals do, Margaret traveled by
chauffeured limousine — even Queen Elizabeth II was spotted behind the wheel on occasion.
She'd often request that her vehicle be escorted by motorcycles, and she was even
known to charter a helicopter to fly her a mere 13 miles down the road. She'd also
shop in Harrods and Marks & Spencer and pay with cash or with her famous "Margaret" signed checks.
Like clockwork, Margaret got her hair done every Friday, and her clothing budget knew
no bounds. When it came to travel, the princess didn't spare any expense. Her
honeymoon alone cost $115,000 in 1960 which is about $1.1 million in 2022. To top it off,
she required people to call her "ma'am," and to friends, she was "ma'am darling."
On February 9, 2002, Princess Margaret suffered her third stroke and died shortly after at King
Edward VII's Hospital in London. Known for her heavy drinking and smoking,
Margaret's death was quickly tied to her bad habits, but her friends defended her honor in
the wake of her death. According to Today, a friend of Margaret's said at the time:
"Of course, the princess grew up in an age where
drinking and smoking was much more acceptable. We all did. However,
I don't believe she was addicted to alcohol. It's preposterous. She just got very used to it."
In addition to her partying ways, Margaret underwent surgery in 1985 to remove a part
of her left lung — eerily reminiscent of her father's own procedure years prior. In 1999,
her health was once again in the headlines when
she burned her feet in a hot bath of water, hindering her mobility.
"Friends say Princess Margaret found her illnesses increasingly hard to cope with."
Her sister Queen Elizabeth II was visibly shaken by the death of her younger sister and would go on
to live another 20 years without the person who had been there for her through thick and thin.