Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon,
CI,
GCVO (Margaret Rose Armstrong-Jones, née
Windsor)
21 August 1930 –
9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of
King George VI and
Queen Elizabeth, and sister of the current
British monarch,
Queen Elizabeth II. She held the title
Countess of Snowdon by marriage.
Princess Margaret was always a controversial member of the
British Royal Family. Her private life was plagued by romantic disappointments, including falling in love with 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.
She was born
HRH Princess Margaret of York on
21 August 1930 at
Glamis Castle in
Scotland, her mother's ancestral home. Her father was
The Prince Albert, Duke of York, the second eldest son of
King George V and
Queen Mary. Her mother was
The Duchess of York (formerly Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon), a daughter of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne. As a grandchild of the Sovereign in the male line, she 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 the
Prince of Wales,
Princess Ingrid of Sweden,
Princess Victoria,
Lady Rose Leveson-Gower and
The Hon. David Bowes-Lyon.
Princess Margaret was educated alongside her sister, Princess Elizabeth, by their governess,
Marion Crawford. In
1936, her uncle
King Edward VIII abdicated the throne, and her father became King George VI. Margaret was then styled
HRH The Princess Margaret. She attended her parents' coronation in
1937.
During the
Second World War, Margaret stayed at
Windsor Castle, just outside
London. In
1952, her father died, and her sister became
Queen Elizabeth II.
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 (not to be confused with
Pete Townshend of The Who). Townsend was several years Margaret's senior and divorced, which made him an unsuitable husband for a Royal Princess. Margaret soon came under heavy pressure not to marry Townsend, with suggestions she would lose her title, Civil List allowance, and place in the line of succession. Taking advice from the
Archbishop of Canterbury and senior politicians, she decided not to marry him and made a public announcement in which she stated that her decision was made out of loyalty to the Crown and out of consciousness of her position and responsibilities as well as the Church's teaching on the indissolubility of Christian marriage.
However, papers released in
2004 indicate that, had she married Townsend, she would have been allowed to keep her title as well as her
Civil List allowance. [
1]
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. The ceremony could be considered the first "modern" royal wedding thanks to the wider availability of television in the UK. In honour of his Welsh descent, her husband was created
Earl of Snowdon. Margaret was then formally styled
HRH The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon.
Together they had two children:
David Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones (now
Lady Sarah Chatto)
There are currently four grandchildren of Princess Margaret and her former husband, Lord Snowden:
1.
The Hon. Charles Armstrong-Jones, son of Viscount and Viscountess Linley.
2.
The Hon. Margarita Armstrong-Jones, daughter of Viscount and Viscountess Linley.
3.
Samuel Chatto, elder son of Lady Sarah and Daniel Chatto.
4.
Arthur Chatto, younger son of Lady Sarah and Daniel Chatto.
Princess Margaret began her royal duties at a very early age. She attended the
silver jubilee of her grandparents, King 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.
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. 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.
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 hedonist private resort that was her favourite holiday destination. (It was designed by her husband's uncle, the stage designer
Oliver Messel.) Revelations of wild parties and drug taking were made in a documentary broadcast after the Princess’ death.
In the 1970s, revelations of an affair with
Roddy Llewellyn, a much younger gardener, led to her divorce 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.
She had affairs with
Anthony Barton, her daughter's godfather, and with
Robin Douglas-Home, the nephew of a former British Prime Minister. Douglas-Home's suicide 18 months after the split with Margaret scandalised Britain. She was also rumored to have been romantically involved with musician
Mick Jagger and actor
Peter Sellers, although the true extent of her relationships with these two men has never been clear. 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.
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 celebrations of her aunt,
Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester in December
2001.
Margaret died in hospital on
9 February 2002 at the age of 71, after suffering a massive stroke. Her funeral was on the 50th anniversary of her father's funeral and occurred during the jubilee year of the Queen. Her funeral was a private family event, though a full state memorial service was held for her several weeks later. Her funeral was the last time the Queen Mother was seen in public before her death.
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The coat of arms of Princess Margaret. |
Titles
*Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret of York (from birth to 1936)
*Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret (1936 to 1947)
*Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret, CI (1947 to 1953)
*Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret, CI, GCVO (1953 to 1960)
*Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret, Mrs Antony Armstrong-Jones, CI, GCVO (1960 to 1961)
*Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, CI, GCVO (1961 until her death)
Honours
*Dame Grand Cross of the
Royal Victorian Order 1953
*
Royal Victorian Chain 1990
*Dame Grand Cross of the
Order of St. John of Jerusalem*
Imperial Order of the Crown of India 1947
Honorary military appointments
Colonel in Chief*15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars
*
The Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Margaret's Own Glasgow and Ayrshire Regiment)
*
Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps*
The Highland Fusiliers of Canada*
The Princess Louise Fusiliers (of Canada)
*
The Royal Newfoundland Regiment*
The Bermuda RegimentDeputy Colonel-in-Chief*
The Royal Anglian RegimentRoyal Air Force *Honorary Air Commodore
*Royal Air Force Coningsby
*
List of British princesses*
Royal Family Website Memorial for Princess Margaret
