Growing up in her sister’s shadow, Princess Margaret became a party girl and the black sheep of the royal family. Famed for her sharp tongue, her sister forbade her from marrying the man she loved. Instead, she married a serial cheater who destroyed her. She had affairs, became known as The X-Rated Queen of Mustique, and smoked and drank her life away. This is the tragic story of The Queen’s rebel sister, Princess Margaret.
She Was Born in Scotland
Princess Margaret Rose Windsor was born on August 21st, 1930, at Glamis Castle. She was the first royal born in Scotland for 300 years. Her parents were the Duke and Duchess of York, and her grandparents were King George V and Queen Consort Mary of Teck, who Margaret always looked down on as she was a lower-rank princess!
Margaret was fourth in line to the throne, after her uncle, father, and elder sister, Princess Elizabeth. Then, on January 20th, 1936, their grandfather passed away.
Edward VII Abdicates
George V’s eldest son, and the girls’ uncle, became King Edward VII. But the controversial prince was in love with twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. The Church of England forbade kings from marrying divorcées.
It was a major scandal, but eventually, after lots of wrangling to avert a constitutional crisis, King Edward VIII followed his heart and abdicated his throne for love. Edward married Wallis Simpson in 1937, and they lived out their days in exile in France as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
Margaret Rebels
The royal line skipped to Edward VIII’s brother. In December 1936, the princesses’ father became King George VI (pictured), while their mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, became Queen Consort. Shy 10-year-old Princess Elizabeth and confident six-year-old Princess Margaret suddenly found themselves first and second in line.
And that’s when Margaret started acting out. It all began when the king let Margo stay up past her bedtime to attend lavish royal dinners. Author and loyal friend Gore Vidal always said, “She was far too intelligent for her station in life.”
Elizabeth and Margaret Came to Blows
Their father said Elizabeth was his “pride,” while spoiled brat Margaret was his “joy.” Their Scottish governess, Marion Crawford, said the sisters were close despite Elizabeth being prim and proper and Margaret lively and extroverted.
The girls had a healthy sibling rivalry, and Crawford said Lilibet was “quick with her left hook. Margo was more of a close-in fighter, known to bite.” Margaret was “full of character” and “very sure of herself,” and “might get into trouble before she’s finished.” They weren’t wrong!
Margaret Started Smoking
During World War II, the royals were advised to evacuate the princesses to Canada. Their stubborn mother replied, “The children won’t go without me. I won’t leave without the King. And the King will never leave.” Stuck out of harm’s way in Windsor Castle, bright Margaret resented her limited education.
Her first act of rebellion was taking up smoking. When 13-year-old Margaret met their father’s new equerry, Group Captain Peter Townsend, on his first day at Buckingham Palace in 1944, Elizabeth told her sister, “Bad luck, he’s married!”
Margaret’s Childhood Crush
In 1945, Elizabeth joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service as a mechanic and ambulance driver, and Margaret became jealous, lamenting, “I was born too late!” By 15, Margaret was infatuated with the dashing Royal Air Force flying ace. The pair often went horseback riding together.
The royals became very fond of Townsend, and the King even viewed him as the son he never had. At one Buckingham Palace party, she ordered him to carry her upstairs, and he dutifully obliged in full view of the King.
She Fell for Her Father’s Equerry
Margaret blossomed into a beautiful young lady. By the time Princess Elizabeth married her childhood crush, Prince Philip, 17-year-old Margaret had fallen in love with Townsend on a 1947 South Africa tour. Not only was the dashing RAF officer married, but he also had two children and was 15 years Margaret’s senior.
Nevertheless, Townsend requested the bedroom next to the princess during a trip to Belfast that same October. Then, in 1950, Townsend discovered his wife, British socialite Rosemary Pawle, was having an affair…
World’s Most Eligible Bachelorette
Other than noting that Townsend was omnipresent in Buckingham Palace photos, the British media knew nothing of Margaret’s secret love. By the time she hit her 20s, the blue-eyed beauty was considered the world’s most eligible bachelorette who, according to the press, dated more than 30 bachelors.
Wikimedia Commons // Fotograaf Onbekend // Anefo // CC0
The list included millionaire Billy Wallace, David Mountbatten, Lord Blandford, Michael I of Romania, Dominic Elliot, Colin Tennant, Prince Henry of Hesse-Kassel, Lord Dalkeith, and future Canadian Prime Minister John Turner. But they couldn’t have been further from the mark.
The King Knew
Townsend and Pawle separated in July 1951, and the British press jumped on the news. Rather conveniently, the RAF war hero maintained he didn’t fall for Margaret until August 1951.
He claimed that while the royal family was enjoying a picnic at Balmoral, Margaret woke him up from a nap, and he suddenly couldn’t deny his feelings. The king saw the whole thing. But as Townsend waited for his divorce, the chain-smoking King’s health declined. George VI underwent surgery for lung cancer.
Her Sister Becomes Queen
On February 6th, 1952, King George VI passed away aged just 56. Both girls were devastated by the loss of their father, and Margaret was so grief-stricken that she had to be prescribed sedatives. Elizabeth immediately became Queen Elizabeth II and went on to rule gloriously for another seven decades.
However, Princess Margaret started acting out. To cope with her grief, she fell into Townsend’s arms, and she didn’t care who found out. After his divorce came through, Margaret and Townsend announced their engagement.
The Queen Refuses Permission
Now, as we know from King Edward VIII, the Church of England didn’t allow remarriage if the former spouse was still alive. Queen Elizabeth was the Church’s supreme governor, so Margaret needed her sister’s special dispensation to marry a divorcé.
The Queen told Margaret, “Under the circumstances, it isn’t unreasonable for me to ask you to wait a year,” hoping their relationship would peter out. Margaret was spotted with a bevy of bachelors on her arm, but she was secretly still seeing Townsend.
The Secret Is Out
On June 2nd, 1953, Princess Elizabeth was crowned Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey. The whole country celebrated their new Queen… with tea and cake and street parties.
During the grand coronation, one eagle-eyed reporter noticed Princess Margaret picking fluff from Peter Townsend’s coat. And with that tiny, innocent, loving touch, the secret was out! Townsend admitted, “I never thought a thing about it, and neither did Margaret.” The RAF pilot later said, “After that, the storm broke.”
Scandalous Rumors
On June 14th, the news broke. The People newspaper ran the headline “They Must Deny it NOW!” as the front-page read: “Scandalous rumors about Princess Margaret are racing around the world.” Townsend was immediately posted abroad to the British Embassy in Brussels, Belgium.
On October 12th, 1955, Townsend returned to England, and reporters and paparazzi swarmed Balmoral Castle to try and snap photographs of an engagement ring. One newspaper noted, “Nothing much else than Princess Margaret’s affairs is being talked of in this country.”
Did The Queen Betray Margaret?
In season one of Netflix’s wonderful (though totally embellished) series The Crown, Queen Elizabeth — played brilliantly by Claire Foy — told Princess Margaret — played equally wonderfully by Vanessa Kirby — that she would no longer be a royal if she married Peter Townsend.
But The Queen kicking her own sister out of the royal family couldn’t be true, could it? Well, in 2004, National Archive papers show that The Queen and Prime Minister Anthony Eden drew up a plan that would have allowed Margaret and Townsend to marry… but there was a catch.
Margaret Changes Her Mind
She and any potential children would be removed from the line of succession. The final draft was produced on October 28th, 1955. Three days later, the BBC broadcast a statement from Princess Margaret saying that out of duty to the Commonwealth, “I would like it to be known that I have decided not to marry Group Captain Peter Townsend.”
The couple was heartbroken, and Margaret was “thoroughly drained, thoroughly demoralized” by the whole affair. Peter resigned from the RAF and traveled the world for 18 months.
Two-Hour Breakfasts
Margaret had always been a wild child, but after being forced to give up on her dream of marrying her beloved Peter Townsend, she became a royal maverick. In her mid-20s, she started taking two-hour breakfasts in bed, then chain-smoking while listening to the radio and scattering newspapers across her bedroom floor.
At 12:30 pm, the rebellious fashion icon would appear downstairs for a Russian adult beverage “pick-me-up” before she and her mother shared a four-course lunch and a bottle of vino.
Billy Wallace
When Margaret was finally ready to start dating again, she got together with an old flame, Billy Wallace. He was the millionaire heir to the Scottish coal and ironmasters and came from one of Britain’s wealthiest families. Billy proposed several times, and Margaret eventually accepted in 1956.
However, before an official announcement could be made, Billy admitted he had a fling with the partying princess in the Bahamas. The engagement ended, and Billy later confessed, “I had my chance and blew it with my big mouth.”
Antony Armstrong-Jones
In 1957, Buckingham Palace hired Antony Armstrong-Jones to photograph the Queen and Prince Philip’s tour of Canada. The dashing, motorbike-riding Welsh rebel soon found himself hanging out with royals. At Lady Elizabeth Cavendish’s dinner party, he found himself seated next to the mysterious, beautiful, rebellious Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret.
They got on like a house on fire, although Margo left believing he preferred men. She was half right. Antony was soon commissioned to photograph Princess Margaret, and they began a secret love affair.
She Fell Under His Spell
The troubled and trouble-making firebrand Welsh dragon was a narcissistic charmer who could talk anyone into anything.
While Margaret was used to exclusive banquets with royal elites, glamorous celebrities like Cliff Richard, Armstrong-Jones would pick the princess up on his motorbike, and zoom across London to his slum-like Bermondsey flat with a shared bathroom to eat fish n’ chips wrapped in yesterday’s newspapers. But Margaret didn’t care, she was falling in love, or more accurately, falling under his hypnotic spell.
Royal Engagement
After proving a hit with Prince Charles and The Queen Mother during The Balmoral Test, in October 1959, Antony proposed with a ruby engagement ring, surrounded by diamonds in the shape of a rosebud.
Margaret accepted his proposal, but perhaps only because he popped the question the day after she discovered Peter Townsend was engaged to a beautiful Belgian woman named Marie-Luce Jamagne, who was the spitting image of Margaret! Charmer Antony Armstrong-Jones did, however, have one advantage over Peter Townsend. He had never been married.
Royal Wedding
On May 6th, 1960, Princess Margaret finally married Antony Armstrong-Jones in a lavish Westminster Abbey ceremony. She wore a Norman Hartnell dress with the Poltimore tiara. The ceremony was the first royal wedding to be broadcast on TV, and 300 million viewers watched.
While the usual foreign royals didn’t attend, the couple appeared on Buckingham Palace’s balcony. Armstrong-Jones might have had a double-barreled name, but he was the first commoner to marry into the royal family in 400 years. And he had a reputation for sleaze.
The Honeymoon Period
The newlyweds embarked on a six-week, $115,000 Caribbean cruise aboard the royal yacht Britannia. Colin Tennant gave Margaret land on his Caribbean island, Mustique. They moved into their 20-room Kensington Palace apartment, a gift from Elizabeth.
As a commoner, Antony couldn’t become a Duke, so he was created Earl of Snowdon in 1961. In 1962, he took the infamous photo of Margaret wearing a tiara in a bubbly bathtub. The couple had two children, David and Sarah, born in 1961 and 1964.
Soulmates
The Snowdens seemed like besotted soulmates. They lived a life of luxury, drinking and dancing in Swinging Sixties Soho clubs. Tony often smoked illicit substances and drove his Aston Martin the 20 miles from Kensington Palace to Windsor Castle, through London traffic in just 12 minutes.
If they got bored at dinner parties, they would rip off a piece of bread and place it in the middle of the table whenever someone said something clichéd. By the end of the night, whoever had collected the most bread would win the game.
Sham Marriage
But behind the scenes, the relationship was a facade. Even before they were married, Antony had affairs with men and women, and even conducted hanky panky with a posh married couple on their country estate in Bath.
He slept with anyone and everyone, and author Anne De Courcy wrote in her 2008 biography, “If it moves, he’ll have it.” While married to Margaret, Antony had affairs with his long-term mistress, Ann Hills, and Lady Jacqueline Rufus-Isaacs. Eventually, Margaret thought… two can play at that game!
Margaret’s Steamy Affairs
By 1966 — with Helena Bonham Carter taking on The Netflix role — Margaret cheated with winemaker Anthony Barton. Next, her love letters to former Prime Minister’s nephew, pianist Robin Douglas-Home were discovered. Robin took his own life 18 months later.
Rumors swirled that she also had affairs with actors David Niven, Peter Sellers, and Warren Beatty, Australian cricketer Keith Miller, London gangster John Bindon, and the Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger! She once told French filmmaker Jean Cocteau, “Disobedience is my joy,” while Spanish artist Picasso desperately wanted to marry her.
Things I Hate About You
Their toxic marriage became increasingly bizarre. Antony would leave lists of insults titled “things I hate about you” for his wife to find. Photographer Lord Lichfield said that when they argued, it was like they were exchanging gunfire.
The Princess always had a reputation for being charming and quick-witted, but she was becoming increasingly rude, cruel, spoiled, and snooty. At one high-society New York party, the hostess asked Margaret how the Queen was keeping. She replied, “Which one? My sister, my mother, or my husband?”
Margaret Was Downright Rude!
When Swinging Sixties supermodel Twiggy said, “I’m Lesley Hornby, Ma’am, but people call me Twiggy.” Princess Margaret retorted, “How unfortunate.” Once, she demanded a police motorbike escort for the four-mile trip from Kensington Palace to Waterloo Station.
Wikimedia Commons // twiggylawson.com // Public Domain
Margo hated squirrels, and when she saw a woman feeding them in a park, she began whacking the squirrels with an umbrella! As Margaret fell into a booze and smoke-fueled haze, she “tried to combine the smoking and drinking by gluing matchboxes onto tumblers, so she could strike matches while drinking.”
She Was Always Late
Everything always revolved around Margaret at Buckingham Palace. Royal protocol dictated that dinner couldn’t begin until Princess Margaret arrived, but she was always unfashionably late.
British aristocrat Nancy Mitford observed, “Dinner was at 8.30 and at 8.30 Princess Margaret’s hairdresser arrived, so we waited for hours while he concocted a ghastly coiffure.” When the Princess went for a week-long trip to the USA, she took $10,000 worth of clothing with her. She famously only wore an outfit once before washing it.
The X-Rated Queen of Mustique
In 1973, among rumors of wild, free-love parties, Margo developed a “loving relationship” with titled landscape gardener Roddy Llewellyn. When photos of the Princess and her “toy-boy” in swimsuits surfaced, the tabloids labeled her a “floosie,” a “royal parasite,” and nicknamed her The X-Rated Queen of Mustique.
When Roddy left for Turkey, Margaret tried to take her own life with sleeping pills. When Lord Napier told Margaret that Antony had filed for divorce, Margaret replied, “Thank you, Nigel. I think that’s the best news you’ve ever given me.”
Autumn Years
Years of Antony’s abuse took a heavy toll. Margaret eventually had a nervous breakdown and became sick. She entertained young men, lost friends, and became “tiresome, spoiled, idle, and irritating” in Mustique. Her drinking and smoking led to her having her left lung partially removed.
In the 1990s, she suffered strokes and scalded her feet with boiling water, leaving her partially paralyzed. Princess Margaret passed away in her sleep at King Edward VII’s Hospital, London, on February 9th, 2002, three days after the 50th anniversary of her father’s passing. The Queen’s rebel sister was 71.