Netflix's critically acclaimed and award-winning series about the reign of Queen Elizabeth II hasn't just highlighted the life of the world's most famous monarch but has also given new light to other members of the royal family. Princess Margaret, The Countess of Snowden, who passed away on February 9th, 2002, has received renewed attention for her fascinating portrayal on the hit series. The stunning character is played convincingly by Vanessa Kirby, followed by Helena Bonham Carter. The Countess of Snowden's life may have been a lavish one, but it was filled with its fair share of tragedy. Here are the tragic details about her life.
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00:00Princess Margaret was Queen Elizabeth II's younger sister and only sibling who seemed
00:05to experience many tough times throughout her life. While Netflix's The Crown has delivered
00:10a mostly accurate portrayal of Margaret's life, her true story is well worth knowing.
00:17Being the kid's sister to the eventual queen was not without its challenges. The Queen,
00:21a 1996 biography of Queen Elizabeth II, quotes Princess Margaret as saying,
00:27When my sister and I were growing up, she was made out to be the goody-goody one. That
00:31was boring, so the press tried to make out I was wicked as hell."
00:35Although Margaret obviously did not agree with that assessment of her character, it's
00:39true that she and her sister were opposites. Christopher Warwick, author of the authorized
00:44biography, Princess Margaret, A Life of Contrasts, spoke about the royal sibling's relationship
00:49during an interview with The Cut. According to the author,
00:53The Queen, even when they were girls, always kept an eye on her sister because Margaret
00:58could be wayward. She could be cheeky. She could be naughty. In terms of personalities,
01:03Elizabeth and Margaret were as different as chalk and cheese.
01:07Princess Margaret was beloved by her father, King George VI. As a courtier recalled to
01:11The Telegraph in 2002, he used to look at her as if he couldn't believe this enchanting
01:16thing was his daughter. The daughter of one of the late king's courtiers added the observation
01:21that, quote,
01:22"...the king spoiled her dreadfully."
01:24But if court gossip is to be believed, her father was one of the only ones in the royal
01:29circle who felt so smitten by her. The courtier's daughter revealed,
01:33"...the courtiers didn't like her much. They found her amusing, but she used to keep her
01:37parents and everyone waiting for dinner because she wanted to listen to the end of a program
01:41on the wireless. I remember my father despairing of her."
01:45Even Margaret and Princess Elizabeth II's governess, Marion Crawford, thought the young
01:50princess crowded out her older sister. According to The Telegraph, Crawford was quoted as saying,
01:55"...we really are trying to separate them a bit because Princess Margaret does draw
01:59all the attention and Elizabeth lets her do that."
02:02Crawford would even conspire with friends to exclude Margaret from party invitations
02:07so Elizabeth could attend without her.
02:10King George VI was known to say of his two daughters that Elizabeth was his pride and
02:15Margaret was his joy. And just as King George VI loved his girls, they too loved him. Margaret
02:22was especially close to the king. Biographer Christopher Warwick told The Cut,
02:26"...the love of her life was one man, and he was the man who died before she was 22,
02:32and that man was her father, the king, whom she adored."
02:36On February 6, 1952, King George died suddenly at the age of 56. According to his biography,
02:43his death was later determined to be caused by a coronary thrombosis. Some time before,
02:48the king had been diagnosed with lung cancer and had one of his lungs removed.
02:52King George is thought to have passed away in his sleep in the early morning hours. The
02:56night before, he spent time playing with his grandchildren, Charles and Anne, and dining
03:01with Margaret, his beloved daughter.
03:04Princess Margaret began a secret relationship with group captain Peter Townsend in the early
03:10Townsend was married, but later divorced his wife and proposed to the princess. Margaret
03:14said yes, but they continued to keep their romance quiet. If Margaret were to marry a
03:19divorcee, it could appear as if Queen Elizabeth condoned divorce, something that was very
03:24much disapproved of by the Church of England, not to mention monumentally scandalous to
03:29the press. But with their plan to marry, the couple couldn't keep it a secret forever.
03:34Due to the Royal Marriages Act of 1772, Margaret would need to seek the queen's permission
03:39to marry. If Elizabeth denied her request, Margaret could then petition Parliament after
03:44one year's time. But this would likely have caused an even larger scandal, prolonging
03:48the drama in the public eye and doing untold damage to the royal family's image.
03:53The queen is temporal governor of the Church of England, and the Church of England did
03:59not, would not, recognize divorce."
04:03In the end, Margaret and Townsend broke up. The princess issued a statement saying she'd
04:07resolved to put the church's teachings about marriage and her duty to the Commonwealth
04:11above all else.
04:13In letters discovered decades later, Princess Margaret revealed to then-Prime Minister
04:18Anthony Eden in 1955 that she planned to meet with Peter Townsend in order to properly
04:23decide whether she could or could not marry him. She revealed in one letter cited by The
04:28Telegraph,
04:29"[The Queen of course knows I am writing to you about this, but of course no one else
04:33does. And as everything is so uncertain, I know you will regard it certainly as a confidence."
04:39Although Margaret may have seemed like she was pushed into breaking off her engagement
04:42with Townsend, these letters prove that Margaret made the final decision.
04:47The princess' authorized biographer, Christopher Warwick, confirmed to The Cut that, quote,
04:52"[Peter Townsend was not the great love of her life.] Still, ending the relationship
04:56couldn't have been easy, especially after the entire world knew of her and Townsend's
05:00affair."
05:01A year after issuing a statement about ending her relationship with Townsend, Margaret accepted
05:06a marriage proposal from her friend Billy Wallace. According to The Telegraph,
05:11Margaret reasoned to her pals that it was better to at least marry someone she liked
05:15rather than remain unmarried for any longer.
05:18"'Congratulations!'
05:19"'Oh, Christ.'"
05:24Despite Princess Margaret's decision to settle for Billy Wallace, the two did not marry.
05:29According to The Telegraph, the couple never made a formal engagement announcement because
05:33their relationship ended soon after they'd gotten engaged.
05:36Wallace apparently admitted to Margaret that he'd had a brief affair while vacationing
05:40in the Bahamas. He is quoted as saying,
05:43"'I had my chance and blew it with my big mouth, or she would have become Mrs. Wallace
05:47and I would have been able to handle her.'"
05:49Two years later, Margaret met photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones at a dinner party.
05:54Later, Armstrong-Jones was hired to photograph Margaret, and their romance began. Anne de
05:59Corsi, author of Snowden, the biography, told Town & Country that the relationship was kept
06:04secret, saying,
06:05"'Nobody knew about their relationship. There wasn't a whisper about it.' It was as if they
06:10were hiding in plain sight."
06:12Because Armstrong-Jones was not seen as a suitable match for the princess, the press
06:16didn't think much of him attending parties with Margaret. When the couple announced their
06:20engagement in 1960, royal courtiers were both shocked and displeased. They thought Margaret
06:25should have married someone of her own class, not a commoner.
06:29On May 6, 1960, Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones, who then became known as
06:35Lord Snowden, married.
06:37But unfortunately, the princess didn't get her happily ever after. Anne de Corsi confirmed
06:42to Town & Country,
06:43"...the first few years were wonderful. They had a lot in common. There was banter between
06:47them. He would help her with her speeches."
06:49The couple was perhaps too similar in some ways, both being strong-willed and used to
06:54getting what they wanted. And then work started to get in the way.
06:57In 1962, Margaret's husband took a job as the artistic advisor for The Sunday Times.
07:02He set up a workshop in the basement of Kensington Palace. But rather than using that as an opportunity,
07:08to spend more time with Margaret, instead he seemed to be more focused on his work.
07:13In 1961, before their relationship took a turn for the worse, Antony Armstrong-Jones
07:18and Princess Margaret welcomed their first child, David. Soon after their second child,
07:23Sarah, was born in 1964, though, their relationship began faltering.
07:28According to the Evening Standard,
07:29"...Margaret caught her husband talking on the phone to a woman, and it was clear that
07:33they were more than just friends."
07:35It seems while Armstrong-Jones was away for work, he was also involved in a series of
07:39flings with other women. But as upsetting as the affairs were to Margaret, she wasn't
07:44without her own share of guilt. According to Anne de Courcy, Margaret also engaged in
07:49her own set of affairs.
07:51Both Armstrong-Jones and Margaret continued to have their separate affairs into the 70s,
07:55but they were able to keep their liaisons from the press. That is, until Margaret and
08:00her lover, landscape gardener Roddy Llewellyn, were photographed vacationing together in
08:04the Caribbean, and before long, their images were plastered on the covers of tabloids.
08:10Soon after Princess Margaret's affair with Roddy Llewellyn was made public, Antony Armstrong-Jones
08:16and the princess announced their separation. Some years later, in 1978, the couple revealed
08:21that they would be divorcing. The princess' spokesman told The New York Times,
08:26The marriage has broken down, and the couple have lived apart for two years. These are
08:30obviously the grounds for divorce. Naturally, Princess Margaret and Lord Snowden will continue
08:35to see each other on the same friendly basis as they have with each other over the last
08:39two years.
08:40When news of her affair broke, a member of parliament dubbed Margaret a parasite, while
08:45another labeled the princess an embarrassment to the whole nation. And that's just the kinds
08:49of things they said about her before she filed for divorce.
08:53After the divorce announcement was made public, John Lee, a Labor Party legislator, said he
08:58planned to question parliament about Margaret's titles and funds. As The New York Times noted
09:03at the time,
09:04That is a polite way of saying that Mr. Lee will demand a cut in her salary, which is
09:08paid by parliament, and possibly a change in her royal position.
09:13Princess Margaret did not lose her royal title after divorcing Antony Armstrong-Jones, but
09:18she did lose and miss out on a lot of other things throughout her life. Royal expert Ingrid
09:23Seward told Express,
09:25When you look at Princess Margaret, she never found the happiness she should have done.
09:29She was always completely in the shadow of her elder sister, because her elder sister
09:33was queen, and Princess Anne said she used to feel like an also-ran. That is, a loser.
09:39Although she loved her big sis dearly, Margaret also felt that she could never quite compare
09:43to the queen. A confidant of Margaret later quoted her as saying,
09:48I guess I'll be second best to my grave.
09:51Princess Margaret's life was not only marred by tragedy, but also by poor mental and physical
09:56health. As her marriage was collapsing in the 70s, Margaret was reported to have suffered
10:01a nervous breakdown. Margaret was also a heavy drinker, which led her to developing hepatitis
10:06in the mid-80s. In addition to drinking heavily, Margaret was a chain smoker, reportedly picking
10:11up the habit in her teenage years. After her father passed away, Margaret began to smoke
10:16even more, having as many as 60 cigarettes a day.
10:20By the early aughts, Margaret had suffered a cancer scare, repeated migraines, the aforementioned
10:26hepatitis, bronchitis, laryngitis, pneumonia, and several strokes. In 2002, after developing
10:33heart complications from a fourth stroke at the age of 71, it was announced that Margaret
10:38died peacefully in her sleep. Margaret's funeral was held on the 50th anniversary of her father's
10:43death and at the same location, St. George's Chapel in Windsor.
10:48You can't comb through Princess Margaret's life and ignore all the ways in which it was
10:52affected by tragedies, but that doesn't mean Margaret's life was all dark all the time.
10:57Although Christopher Warwick, her authorized biographer, did confirm that Margaret ended
11:01up alone in the end, there is more to her story than just her failed relationships and
11:06heartbreak. Warwick told The Cut,
11:08"...it's sad, but the idea that she was a sad woman simply is not true. There were times
11:12when she was very, very lonely. But my goodness, she was a lady who loved life and enjoyed
11:18friends. We've all gone through sad and unhappy times in our life, and she was no different."
11:23Warwick claimed that she was not at all a sad or tragic character. Despite enduring
11:28all of her many tragedies, she did not give them the power to define her.