Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (1930-2002)


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I think in 1930 that to most people in Britain and the Empire the Prince of Wales was still Prince Charming, adored and loved. Among the general public though, as Edward neared his forties, there was probably a bit of bewilderment that he showed no signs of wanting to be married, that he hadn't found a nice upper class gel to share his life.

The Yorks, with their settled happily married life and two little girls, were the ideal family to most in the middle classes at that time, and there was a great deal of favourable media about them, always.
 
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Curryong said:
I think in 1930 that to most people in Britain and the Empire the Prince of Wales was still Prince Charming, adored and loved in 1930. Among the general public though, as Edward neared his forties, there was probably a bit of bewilderment that he showed no signs of wanting to be married, that he hadn't found a nice upper class gel to share his life.

T
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True... THe Duchess of York was very charming and the image fo the 2 pretty little things, and their happy Mother and father was attractive. Edward did retain the Prince Charming image for a long time even when he was getting on a bit.. and nobody seemed to be very bothered that he hadn't married by well into his 30s.. so I think that in the mind of the public perhaps there was a growing idea that "he was a natural bachelor" and that the next heir wold in all probablilty be Pss Eliz of York....
 
As a child, Princess Margaret would not have contemplated that she was so close in line to the throne. With the marriages of her uncles Henry and George, the general public may still have thought Prince Edward would marry soon.
 
It was reported that when Elizabeth and Margaret's father became king due to the abdication, six year old Margaret asked her sister if this meant that one day she'd be Queen. When Elizabeth replied that it did, Margaret has been quoted as stating "Poor you!".

Both girls had a full understanding of how things worked. They lived it.

http://time.com/5298945/queen-elizabeth-princess/
 
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CyrilVladisla said:
As a child, Princess Margaret would not have contemplated that she was so close in line to the throne. With the marriages of her uncles Henry and George, the general public may still have thought Prince Edward would marry soon.
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Prince Henry was the last of Edward's brothers to marry, in November 1935 at the age of 35. At that point Edward was 41! I would think that even the most optimistic and adoring of Britons at that time would be contemplating the likelihood of a bachelor King on the throne in the near future!

I doubt that the York princesses studied the current line of succession every day! However, Margaret was only six and a half when the abdication crisis broke. Before her seventh birthday Margaret saw her father the new King, crowned, and she and her family were ensconced at Buckingham Palace. So, from a very early age, say six yrs, Margaret had a very clear idea, IMO, of where she and her sister stood in the line of succession.
 
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Yeah the issue is would Edward marry and if he married would his wife be of child-bearing age. For those who kept tabs on such things, as time passed and Edward remained unmarried, the likelihood increased that the crown would pass to the York line. Of course Elizabeth and Margaret could have been bumped down in the line of succession if their parents had a boy, but I recall a documentary mentioning that after Margaret, "there would be no more babies" for the Yorks.
 
in Marg's early childhood, her father was heir presumptive to the throne.. and she and Eliz were his heirs.. so Im sure she was aware of how close she stood ot the throne....and then when she was still a young child, her father actualy became King so of course she knew how close she was to the throne...
 
Unfortunately, I think a son would find it difficult to write an objective biography of his mother, particularly if he's determined to show her best side. Of course she had many admirable qualities that were seen by her family & friends but she could also be very selfish, pompous & rude.

The two biographies about her I've most enjoyed are Theo Aronson's 'Princess Margaret' and Craig Brown's 'Ma'am Darling'. The latter shouldn't be read in isolation as it lays bare her worst behaviour.
 
Lilyflo said:
Unfortunately, I think a son would find it difficult to write an objective biography of his mother, particularly if he's determined to show her best side. Of course she had many admirable qualities that were seen by her family & friends but she could also be very selfish, pompous & rude.
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It would be difficult, but not impossible. Lady Pamela Hicks certainly pulled no punches regarding her mother when writing her memoirs.

Lilyflo said:
The two biographies about her I've most enjoyed are Theo Aronson's 'Princess Margaret' and Craig Brown's 'Ma'am Darling'. The latter shouldn't be read in isolation as it lays bare her worst behaviour.
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I had a weird reaction to "Ma'am Darling." I was absolutely furious on Margaret's behalf. I realized through reading it that Peter Townsend really preyed on Margaret during a period where she was lonely and vulnerable following the death of her father. And then to learn the extent of Tony Snowdon's gaslighting of Margaret during their marriage made me even angrier. It will be interesting to see how their son writes about their marriage.
 
I have never understood how Margaret, who moved in all those circles, did not realize what all her husband was into, the lifestyles he was involved in, when she married him. I've read a couple biographies that indicate this as well as a more recent documentary.



LaRae
 
Pranter said:
I have never understood how Margaret, who moved in all those circles, did not realize what all her husband was into, the lifestyles he was involved in, when she married him. I've read a couple biographies that indicate this as well as a more recent documentary.



LaRae
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What was he into exactly? He liked a fun life, he had a lot of affairs.. Im sure Margaret knew about this and she herself was no slouch at having affairs when the marriage broke down
 
Princess Margaret and her 2 children arriving in London on February 26th,1974

 
Antony Armstrong-Jones was not only annoyed with his wife, but also with the servants for running up such large household bills.
 
I don't know why. It wasn't his money that was solely supporting their household. He had a point if the servants really were being completely extravagant, but surely he knew, before he and Margaret married in 1960, that she had been a King's daughter and was the Queen's sister, and therefore used to a certain standard of living. That included employing a large staff, comparitively speaking.

Tony had lived in a pretty bohemian way in the 1950s in his studio flat near the Thames, but de he really expect Princess Margaret to live in a flat and do her own housework, lol! Surely he knew her better than that!
 
Curryong said:
I don't know why. It wasn't his money that was solely supporting their household. He had a point if the servants really were being completely extravagant, but surely he knew, before he and Margaret married in 1960, that she had been a King's daughter and was the Queen's sister, and therefore used to a certain standard of living. That included employing a large staff, comparitively speaking.

Tony had lived in a pretty bohemian way in the 1950s in his studio flat near the Thames, but de he really expect Princess Margaret to live in a flat and do her own housework, lol! Surely he knew her better than that!
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I think that Margo went to his flat and probably enjoyed the Bohemian fun of it when they were dating.. and he perhaps thoguth that she was eager to have a simpler more relaxed way of life. But Marg I believe was prone to swivelling..being the fun informal princess at times and then suddenly reverting to "Im the queen's sister and you're a nobody" mode. I suppose Tony was stupid not to realise this.. but - I can see why he mgith have expected her to be a bit more flexible. He probably did find the servants too many and wasteful and Margo too extravagant. ANd I think that he idd in his way have a genuine social conscience and a bit more knowledge of how less fortunate people lived in those days so he found it hard to accept that the RF lived so formally and extravagantly.
 
Today in Royal History is the 89th birthday of Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon! She died age age 71 on 9 February 2002.
 
A lesser known fact: Margaret Thatcher and Princess Margaret regularly exchanged correspondences and it appears that Thatcher is closer to Princess Margaret than to the Queen. Based on available correspondences, it seems that the two share the attribute of being opinionated on political issues. The Queen on the other hand, isn't opinionated about political issues but that's because her job requires her to show neutrality.

The letters between Thatcher and Princess Margaret were reported on The Guardian and ITV.
 
victoriaalix said:
A lesser known fact: Margaret Thatcher and
The letters between Thatcher and Princess Margaret were reported on The Guardian and ITV.
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I watched a documentary about her the other night.. She never comes off well. But I was surprised that Snowdon seems to have been very much a bisexual. He had a lot of affairs with women but quite a few it seems with men as well. but Margo was just a terribly spoiled selfish woman..
 
Margaret had the same sort of entitled attitudes as Andrew, but of course she had grown up in a time when that was probably more acceptable from royalty. However Snowden was certainly no angel either, and had many affairs since his teens with both sexes. I don't think he was suited to marriage at all. He was never monogamous during any of his marriages or longterm relationships.
 
Curryong said:
Margaret had the same sort of entitled attitudes as Andrew, but of course she had grown up in a time when that was probably more acceptable from royalty. However Snowden was certainly no angel either, and had many affairs since his teens with both sexes. I don't think he was suited to marriage at all. He was never monogamous during any of his marriages or longterm relationships.
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No, I get the impression that they were both selfish and flighty, and it seems the marriage had very few good years.. they were boht at each other's throats, having revenge affairs and rows all the time. I don't know if M was aware that he was bisexual when they married..(Perhaps it did come as a shcok to her though I can't believe it was a shock that he had other women...)

Snowdon did have something of a social conscience, which does not seem to have ever troubled Margaret.. There's really not much one can say about her that's favourable.
 
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When you read Lady Anne Glenconnor's book "Lady in Waiting", a different side of Margaret is shown, by someone who knew her really well. Margaret's life was unfulfilled but there are good things about her.
 
Yes, I'm sure she had a good and caring side as almost all human beings do. She did especially well with her Lighthouse AIDS charity. Life dealt Margaret several blows, bad health in her last years, that long very unhappy love affair in her twenties which left its mark, and a marriage which started off well and then became an absolute nightmare.
 
Curryong said:
Yes, I'm sure she had a good and caring side as almost all human beings do. She did especially well with her Lighthouse AIDS charity. Life dealt Margaret several blows, bad health in her last years, that long very unhappy love affair in her twenties which left its mark, and a marriage which started off well and then became an absolute nightmare.
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I think that Diana's work for Lighthouse was certainly better known than Margaret's, and her "caring side" was limited. She did charity work but that's part of the royal role...
I agree Snowdon was not a great husband but I don't think she was the world's best wife and they problaby weren't suited to each other...
 
janet14 said:
When you read Lady Anne Glenconnor's book "Lady in Waiting", a different side of Margaret is shown, by someone who knew her really well. Margaret's life was unfulfilled but there are good things about her.
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Can I ask what you mean by "unfulfilled"?
 
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