Princess Margaret was Queen Elizabeth II's younger sister and only sibling who seemed
to experience many tough times throughout her life. While Netflix's The Crown has delivered
a mostly accurate portrayal of Margaret's life, her true story is well worth knowing.
Being the kid sister to the eventual queen was not without its challenges. The Queen,
a 1996 biography of Queen Elizabeth II, quotes Princess Margaret as saying,
"When my sister and I were growing up, she was made out to be the goody-goody one. That
was boring, so the press tried to make out I was wicked as hell."
Although Margaret obviously did not agree with that assessment of her character, it's
true that she and her sister were opposites.
Christopher Warwick, author of the authorized biography Princess Margaret: A Life of Contrasts,
spoke about the royal siblings' relationship during an interview with The Cut. According
to the author,
"The queen, even when they were girls, always kept an eye on her sister because Margaret
could be wayward. She could be cheeky. She could be naughty. In terms of personalities,
Elizabeth and Margaret were as different as chalk and cheese."
Princess Margaret was beloved by her father, King George VI. As a courtier recalled to
The Telegraph in 2002,
"He used to look at her as if he couldn't believe this enchanting thing was his daughter."
The daughter of one of the late king's courtiers added the observation that, quote, "The King
spoiled her dreadfully." But if court gossip is to be believed, her father was one of the
only ones in the royal circle who felt so smitten by her.
The courtier's daughter revealed,
"The courtiers didn't like her much they found her amusing but ... she used to keep her parents
and everyone waiting for dinner because she wanted to listen to the end of a programme
on the wireless. I remember my father despairing of her."
Even Margaret and Princess Elizabeth II's governess, Marion Crawford, thought the young
princess crowded out her older sister. According to The Telegraph, Crawford was quoted as saying,
"We really are trying to separate them a bit because Princess Margaret does draw all the
attention and Elizabeth lets her do that."
Crawford would even conspire with friends to exclude Margaret from party invitations
so Elizabeth could attend without her.
King George VI was known to say of his two daughters that Elizabeth was his pride, and
Margaret was his joy. And, just as King George VI loved his girls, they, too, loved him.
Margaret was especially close to the king.
Biographer Christopher Warwick told The Cut,
"The love of her life was one man, and he was the man who died before she was 22, and
that man was her father, the king, whom she adored."
On Feb. 6, 1952, King George died suddenly at the age of 56. According to his biography,
his death was later determined to be caused by a coronary thrombosis.
Some time before, the king had been diagnosed with lung cancer and had one of his lungs
removed. King George is thought to have passed away in his sleep in the early morning hours.
The night before, he spent time playing with his grandchildren, Charles and Anne, and dining
with Margaret, his beloved daughter.
Princess Margaret began a secret relationship with Group Captain Peter Townsend in the early
'50s. Townsend was married, but later divorced his wife and proposed to the princess. Margaret
said yes, but they continued to keep their romance quiet.
If Margaret were to marry a divorcee, it could appear as if Queen Elizabeth condoned divorce
something that was very much disapproved of by the Church of England, not to mention monumentally
scandalous to the press.
But, with their plan to marry, the couple couldn't keep it a secret forever. Due to
the Royal Marriages Act of 1772, Margaret would need to seek the queen's permission
to marry. If Elizabeth denied her request, Margaret could then petition Parliament after
one year's time.
But this would likely have caused an even larger scandal, prolonging the drama in the
public eye and doing untold damage to the royal family's image.
"The Queen is temporal governor of the church of England, and the church of England did
not, would not, recognize divorce."
In the end, Margaret and Townsend broke up. The princess issued a statement saying she'd
resolved to put the Church's teachings about marriage and her duty to the Commonwealth
above all else.
In letters discovered decades later, Princess Margaret revealed to then-prime minister Anthony
Eden in 1955 that she planned to meet with Peter Townsend in order to "properly decide"
whether she could or could not marry him. She revealed in one letter cited by The Telegraph,
"The Queen of course knows I am writing to you about this, but of course no one else
does, and as everything is so uncertain I know you will regard it certainly as a confidence."
Although Margaret may have seemed like she was pushed into breaking off her engagement
with Townsend, these letters prove that Margaret made the final decision. The princess' authorized
biographer, Christopher Warwick, confirmed to The Cut that, quote, "Peter Townsend was
not the great love of her life." Still, ending the relationship couldn't have been easy especially
after the entire world knew of her and Townsend's affair.
A year after issuing a statement about ending her relationship with Townsend, Margaret accepted
a marriage proposal from her friend Billy Wallace. According to The Telegraph, Margaret
reasoned to her pals that it was better to at least marry someone she liked rather than
remain unmarried for any longer.
"Congratulations!"
"Oh, Christ."
Despite Princess Margaret's decision to settle for Billy Wallace, the two did not marry.
According to The Telegraph, the couple never made a formal engagement announcement because
their relationship ended soon after they'd gotten engaged.
Wallace apparently admitted to Margaret that he'd had a brief affair while vacationing
in the Bahamas. He is quoted as saying,
"I had my chance and blew it with my big mouth, or she would have become Mrs. Wallace and
I would have been able to handle her."
Two years later, Margaret met photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones at a dinner party.
Later, Armstrong-Jones was hired to photograph Margaret and their romance began.
Anne de Courcy, author of Snowdon: The Biography, told Town & Country that the relationship
was kept secret, saying,
"Nobody knew about their relationship, there wasn't a whisper about it."
It was as if they were hiding in plain sight. Because Armstrong-Jones was not seen as a
suitable match for the princess, the press didn't think much of him attending parties
with Margaret.
When the couple announced their engagement in 1960, royal courtiers were both shocked
and displeased. They thought Margaret should've married someone of her own class not a "commoner."
On May 6, 1960, Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones, who then became known as
Lord Snowden, married. But, unfortunately, the princess didn't get her happily ever after.
Anne de Courcy confirmed to Town & Country,
"The first few years were wonderful. They had a lot in common, there was banter between
them he would help her with her speeches."
The couple was perhaps too similar in some ways, both being strong-willed and used to
getting what they wanted. And then work started to get in the way.
In 1962, Margaret's husband took a job as the artistic advisor for The Sunday Times.
He set up a workshop in the basement of Kensington Palace, but rather than using that as an opportunity
to spend more time with Margaret, instead he seemed to be more focused on his work.
In 1961, before their relationship took a turn for the worse, Antony Armstrong-Jones
and Princess Margaret welcomed their first child, David. Soon after their second child,
Sarah, was born in 1964, though, their relationship began faltering.
According to The Evening Standard, Margaret caught her husband talking on the phone to
a woman, and it was clear that they were more than just friends. It seems, while Armstrong-Jones
was away for work, he was also involved in a series of flings with other women.
But as upsetting as the affairs were to Margaret, she wasn't without her own share of guilt.
According to Anne de Courcy, Margaret also engaged in her own set of affairs.
Both Armstrong-Jones and Margaret continued to have their separate affairs into the '70s,
but they were able to keep their liaisons from the press. That is, until Margaret and
her lover, landscape gardener Roddy Llewellyn, were photographed vacationing together in
the Caribbean, and, before long, their images were plastered on the covers of tabloids.
Soon after Princess Margaret's affair with Roddy Llewellyn was made public, Antony Armstrong-Jones
and the princess announced their separation. Some years later, in 1978, the couple revealed
that they would be divorcing.
The princess' spokesman told The New York Times,
"The marriage has broken down and the couple have lived apart for two years. These are
obviously the grounds for divorce. Naturally, Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon will continue
to see each other on the same friendly basis as they have with each other over the last
two years."
When news of her affair broke, a Member of Parliament dubbed Margaret a "parasite," while
another labeled the princess "an embarrassment to the whole nation." And that's just the
kinds of things they said about her before she filed for divorce. After the divorce announcement
was made public, John Lee, a Labor Party legislator, said he planned to question Parliament about
Margaret's titles and funds. As The New York Times noted at the time,
"That is a polite way of saying that Mr. Lee will demand a cut in her salary, which is
paid by Parliament, and possibly a change in her royal position."
Princess Margaret did not lose her royal title after divorcing Antony Armstrong-Jones, but
she did lose and miss out on a lot of other things throughout her life. Royal expert Ingrid
Seward told Express,
"When you look at Princess Margaret, she never found the happiness she should have done.
She was always completely in the shadow of her elder sister, because her elder sister
was Queen. And Princess Anne said she used to feel like an also-ran."
That is, a loser.
Although she loved her big sis dearly, Margaret also felt that she could never quite compare
to the queen. A confidante of Margaret later quoted her as saying,
"I guess I'll be second best to my grave."
Princess Margaret's life was not only marred by tragedy, but also by poor mental and physical
health. As her marriage was collapsing in the '70s, Margaret was reported to have suffered
a nervous breakdown. Margaret was also a heavy drinker, which led to her developing hepatitis
in the mid '80s.
In addition to drinking heavily, Margaret was a chain smoker, reportedly picking up
the habit in her teenage years. After her father passed away, Margaret began to smoke
even more having as many as 60 cigarettes a day.
By the early aughts, Margaret had suffered a cancer scare, repeated migraines, the aforementioned
hepatitis, bronchitis, laryngitis, pneumonia, and several strokes.
In 2002, after developing heart complications from a fourth stroke at the age of 71, it
was announced that Margaret died peacefully in her sleep. Margaret's funeral was held
on the 50th anniversary of her father's death and at the same location, St. George's Chapel
in Windsor.
You can't comb through Princess Margaret's life and ignore all of the ways in which it
was affected by tragedies, but that doesn't mean Margaret's life was all dark, all the
time.
Although Christopher Warwick, her authorized biographer, did confirm that Margaret ended
up alone in the end, there is more to her story than just her failed relationships and
heartbreak.
Warwick told The Cut,
"It's sad, but the idea that she was a sad woman simply is not true. There were times
when she was very, very lonely. But my goodness, she was a lady who loved life and enjoyed
friends. We've all gone through sad and unhappy times in our life and she was no different."
Warwick claimed that she was not at all a sad or tragic character. Despite enduring
all of her many tragedies, she did not give them the power to define her.
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