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Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon |
| Princess Margaret | |
|---|---|
| Countess of Snowdon | |
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| Spouse | Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon (m. 1960, div. 1978) |
| Issue | |
| David, Viscount Linley Lady Sarah Chatto |
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| Full name | |
| Margaret Rose | |
| Titles and styles | |
| HRH The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon HRH The Princess Margaret HRH Princess Margaret of York |
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| Royal house | House of Windsor |
| Father | George VI |
| Mother | Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon |
| Born | 21 August 1930 Glamis Castle, Scotland |
| Baptised | 30 October 1930 Buckingham Palace, London |
| Died | 9 February 2002 (aged 71) King Edward VII Hospital, London |
| Burial | King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle |
The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II.
Margaret spent much of her early life in the company of her elder sister and parents, The Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI) and Elizabeth, Duchess of York (later the Queen Mother). Her life changed dramatically in 1936, when her uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicated to marry the divorced American Wallis Simpson. Margaret's father became King in Edward's place, and after her sister, Elizabeth, Margaret became second-in-line to the throne.
During World War II, Margaret and Elizabeth stayed at Windsor Castle, despite government pressure to evacuate to Canada. During the war years, she was not expected to partake in any public or official duties, instead learning the piano and developing her singing voice. After the war, she fell in love with a divorced older man, Group Captain Peter Townsend, her father's equerry. Her father died at around the same time, and her sister Elizabeth became Queen. Many in the government felt that Townsend was an unsuitable husband for the Queen's sister, and the Church of England refused to countenance the marriage. Under pressure, Margaret chose to abandon her plans, and instead accepted the proposal of the photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, who was created Earl of Snowdon by the Queen. The marriage, despite an auspicious start, soon became unhappy; both became involved in extramarital affairs, and the couple divorced in 1978.
Margaret was often viewed as a controversial member of the royal family. Her open affairs and divorce earned her a considerable amount of negative publicity -- particularly given her status as a Royal. Her health gradually deteriorated; a heavy smoker all her adult life, she had a lung operation in 1983 and suffered a bout of pneumonia in 1993. She suffered her first stroke in 1998, followed by two further strokes, the last in March 2001. Her final public appearance was at the 101st birthday celebrations of her mother. She died at King Edward VII Hospital, London, on 9 February 2002. After the funeral, Margaret's body was cremated, and placed in the royal vault at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle; two months later, after the death of her mother, her remains were re-interred beside the bodies of her parents at the George VI memorial chapel at St George's.
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Margaret was born Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret Rose of York on 21 August 1930 at Glamis Castle in Scotland, her mother's ancestral home.1 At the time of her birth, she was fourth in the line of succession to the British throne, and the first senior royal baby to be born in Scotland since Charles I in 1600.2 Her father was Prince Albert, The Duke of York (later George VI), the second son of King George V and Queen Mary. As a grandchild of the Sovereign in the male line, Margaret Rose was styled Her Royal Highness from birth. Her mother was Elizabeth, Duchess of York, the youngest daughter of the 14th Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne. The Duchess of York originally wanted the names 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."3 The King disliked the name Ann, but approved of the alternative "Margaret Rose".4 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 (for whom his brother, Prince George, stood proxy); her father's cousin Princess Ingrid of Sweden (for whom Lady Patricia Ramsay stood proxy); her great-aunt Princess Victoria; her maternal aunt Lady Rose Leveson-Gower; and her maternal uncle The Hon David Bowes-Lyon.5
Margaret's early life was spent primarily at the Yorks' residences at 145 Piccadilly (their town house in London) or Royal Lodge in Windsor.6 The Yorks were perceived by the public as an ideal family: father, mother and children,7 but unfounded rumours that Margaret was deaf and dumb were not completely dispelled until Margaret's first main public appearance at her uncle Prince George's wedding in 1934.8 She was educated alongside her sister, Princess Elizabeth, by their Scottish governess Marion Crawford. Her 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".9 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".10 Margaret was resentful about her limited education, especially in later years, aiming criticism at her mother.10 However, Margaret's mother told a friend that she "regretted" that her own daughters did not go to school like other children,11 and the employment of a governess rather than sending the girls to school may have been done only at the insistence of King George V.12
George V died when Margaret was five, and her uncle succeeded as King Edward VIII. Less than a year later, on 11 December 1936, Edward abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American, who neither the Church of England nor the Commonwealth governments would accept as Queen. Edward's abdication for love left a reluctant Duke of York in his place as King George VI.13 This made Margaret, as she put it, "heir apparent to the heir presumptive".14 The family moved into Buckingham Palace; Margaret's room overlooked The Mall.15
At the outbreak of World War II, Margaret and her sister 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 solid.16 They spent Christmas at Sandringham House, before moving to Windsor Castle just outside London for the remainder of the war.17 Lord Hailsham wrote to Prime Minister Winston Churchill to advise the evacuation of the princesses to the greater safety of Canada,18 to which their mother famously replied "The children won't go without me. I won't leave the King. And the King will never leave."19 When Margaret was twelve in 1942 her uncle and godfather, Prince George, was killed in an air crash. 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.20 Her contemporaries thought she was spoilt by her parents, especially her father, who allowed her to take liberties not usually permissible, such as being allowed to stay up to dinner at the age of 13.21 Marion 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, commenting, "oh, it's so much easier when Margaret's there—everybody laughs at what Margaret says".21 King George described Elizabeth as his pride and Margaret as his joy.22
Following 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 snuck out of the palace incognito to join the crowds chanting, "we want the King, we want the Queen!".23 On 1 February 1947, Margaret, Elizabeth and her 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".24 Margaret was chaperoned by Peter Townsend, the King's equerry. Later that year, Margaret was a bridesmaid at Elizabeth's wedding.
In 1949, the former royal governess, Marion Crawford, published a biography of Elizabeth and Margaret's childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in which she described Margaret's "amusing and outrageous ... antics", saying that Margaret misbehaved as a child but got away with it.25 The royal family were appalled at what they saw as Crawford's invasion of their privacy and breach of trust, as a result of which Crawford was ostracised from royal circles.26
As a beautiful young woman, with an 18-inch waist and "vivid blue eyes",27 Margaret enjoyed socialising with high society and the young, aristocratic set. She was often featured in the press at balls, parties, and night-clubs.28 The number of her official engagements increased, which included a tour of Italy, Switzerland and France, and she joined a growing number of charitable organisations as President or Patron.29
Her twenty-first birthday party was held at Balmoral in August 1951.30 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.31 Within six months, her father was dead and her sister was Queen.
Margaret was grief-stricken by her father's death, and was prescribed sedatives to help her sleep.32 She wrote, "He was such a wonderful person, the very heart and centre of our happy family."33 She was consoled by her deeply-held Christian beliefs.34 With her widowed mother, Margaret moved out of Buckingham Palace and into Clarence House, while her sister and her family moved out of Clarence House and into Buckingham Palace.35 Peter Townsend was appointed Comptroller of her mother's household.36
Following some other romantic interests, including future Canadian Prime Minister John Turner, on 6 May 1960, Margaret married the photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey. She reportedly accepted his proposal a day after learning from Peter Townsend that he intended to marry a young Belgian woman,37Marie Luce-Germagne, who was said to bear a striking resemblance to the Princess.
The ceremony was the first royal wedding to be broadcast on television.37 In 1961, the Princess's husband was created Earl of Snowdon, whereupon she became formally styled HRH the Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon. The couple had two children: David Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah (Armstrong-Jones) Chatto
The marriage widened Princess Margaret's social circle beyond the Court and aristocracy to include show business and bohemians, and was seen at the time as reflecting the breakdown of class barriers.38
Princess Margaret began her royal duties at an early age. She attended the silver jubilee of her grandparents, George V and Queen Mary, aged five 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.39
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. She was also the president or patron of numerous sports and wildlife conservation organisations, such as the British Olympic Association, the Royal Yachting Association and the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.
| British Royalty |
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| House of Windsor |
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| George VI |
| Elizabeth II |
| Margaret, Countess of Snowdon |
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 favorite 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. Her supposed Mustique indiscretions form an important part of the background of the quasi-historical 2008 film The Bank Job.
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.37 Unproven allegations have also claimed she had been romantically involved with musician Mick Jagger, actor Peter Sellers, and the Australian cricketer, Keith Miller.40 Tough-guy actor John Bindon is supposed to have been so close to her that he was warned-off by MI5 - the only time he was seriously scared-off by a physical threat. According to Margaret: The Secret Princess, an ITV programme 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's.
In the late 1970s, revelations of an affair with Roddy Llewellyn,37 an aspiring young garden designer, led to her divorce from Lord Snowdon, on 11 July 1978,41although the marriage was generally regarded as over long before the affair became 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."42 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 honour and all that is good, while the other must be the focus of the most creative malice, the evil sister."42
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.
Princess Margaret died in the King Edward VII Hospital on 9 February 2002 at the age of 71, after suffering a massive stroke. Her funeral was held on 15 February 2002 - 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 was also the last time the Queen Mother was seen in public before her own death only six weeks later: she was advised by many not to attend but she insisted on attending her daughter's funeral — though a full state memorial service was not held for Princess Margaret until several weeks later. Unlike most other deceased members of the Royal Family, Princess Margaret was cremated, at Slough Crematorium. 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. She was the third grandchild and first granddaughter of George V and Queen Mary to die.
Princess Margaret was eleventh 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 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 Channel 4 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 graduate 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.
In the notorious puppet parody of British public life in the 1980s, Spitting Image, Princess Margaret was portrayed as a drunk and a typical "stupid aristocrat", proposing to call her great-nephew Prince Harry "Johnnie Walker" after the whisky.
She is mentioned several times in the 2006 film The Queen.
The 2008 movie The Bank Job is based on an actual 1971 bank robbery on a Lloyds Bank branch where many details remain shrouded in mystery. The film surmises that British intelligence set up the robbery to gain possession of a safety deposit box containing potentially scandalous sex photos of Princess Margaret.
| Styles of The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon |
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| Reference style | Her Royal Highness |
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| Spoken style | Your Royal Highness |
| Alternative style | Ma'am |
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Princess Margaret Rose Cave, Victoria, Australia
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