1 00:00:00,680 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim 2 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:23,120 Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Mankie Listener discretion advised. In Prince 3 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 1: Harry's memoir Spare, he writes, I was twenty the first 4 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:32,000 Speaker 1: time I heard the story of what Pa allegedly said 5 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:36,160 Speaker 1: to Mummy the day of my birth. Wonderful. Now you've 6 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: given me an air and a spare. My work is 7 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: done a joke, presumably end quote. The label spare defined 8 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: pretty much all of the now estranged Prince Harry's royal 9 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: life and a good chunk of his self perception. It 10 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 1: is the title of his memoir, after all. Said memoir 11 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: recount many times when Harry fell more like a spare 12 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:05,280 Speaker 1: to his brother will than his own person, like how 13 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 1: Charles and William were not allowed to fly on the 14 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:11,480 Speaker 1: same plane in case one of them died, but no 15 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:16,720 Speaker 1: one cared what plane he Harry was on. In Harry's understanding, 16 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:20,640 Speaker 1: his role was to be a distraction in service to 17 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:24,399 Speaker 1: his brother and maybe one day provide a kidney or 18 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 1: other such spare parts. There were two particular groups, however, 19 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:33,840 Speaker 1: that cared a whole lot about what Prince Harry was 20 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:38,960 Speaker 1: doing as he got older. A large demographic of heterosexual women, 21 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: and more importantly here the British press. Harry believes the 22 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 1: tabloids singled him out to elevate the opinion of the 23 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:54,640 Speaker 1: other royals. By comparison the quote public sacrifice of the spare, 24 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 1: as Harry refers to it, there is perhaps no one 25 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:03,000 Speaker 1: who understood those public sacrifices of the spare and the 26 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:08,640 Speaker 1: nature of the press better than Harry's great aunt, Princess Margaret. 27 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 1: What could make the press even more vulturous than going 28 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 1: after the easy pickings of the spare? Going after a 29 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:21,240 Speaker 1: spare who was also a woman when my sister and 30 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:24,960 Speaker 1: I were growing up, Margaret would reflect later in life, 31 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:27,960 Speaker 1: she was made out to be the goody goody one 32 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:31,600 Speaker 1: that wasn't interesting, so the press tried to say I 33 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:36,400 Speaker 1: was wicked as hell. It didn't always work end quote. 34 00:02:36,639 --> 00:02:42,239 Speaker 1: That reputation would follow Margaret for her entire life, commenting 35 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 1: on and eventually also informing the person. She became daughter 36 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 1: of King George the sixth, younger sister and only sibling 37 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:55,800 Speaker 1: of the future Queen Elizabeth the IOND. Princess Margaret was 38 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 1: bound to become a celebrity. Her destiny was further sured 39 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:07,000 Speaker 1: by her socialite lifestyle and often objectively messy romantic life. 40 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:11,800 Speaker 1: She remains known as the rebel Princess, the Black Sheep, 41 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:16,520 Speaker 1: and an icon in her own right. A twenty seventeen 42 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:21,440 Speaker 1: biography was sold with the description she made John Lennon 43 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:26,480 Speaker 1: blush and Marlon Brando clam up. She cold shouldered Princess 44 00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:32,560 Speaker 1: Diana and humiliated Elizabeth Taylor. Andy Warhol photographed her. Jack 45 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 1: Nicholson offered her cocaine. Gorvidal revered her. John Falls hoped 46 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:42,200 Speaker 1: to keep her as his sex slave. No matter where 47 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 1: those anecdotes fall on the scale of truth, it cannot 48 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 1: be denied that Princess Margaret was a fixture in the 49 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:57,120 Speaker 1: heart of twentieth century culture. Beyond the press and the glitz. However, 50 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: was a woman coping with the nature of fi her 51 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:05,840 Speaker 1: own personal struggles, and yes, of course, these strange and 52 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:11,280 Speaker 1: unnatural pressures of being a royal and being a spare. 53 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:19,719 Speaker 1: I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is noble blood. Margaret was 54 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:23,760 Speaker 1: born on August twenty first, nineteen thirty, at Glamis Castle 55 00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:29,120 Speaker 1: in Scotland, her mother's ancestral home. Margaret's family actually delayed 56 00:04:29,279 --> 00:04:33,560 Speaker 1: to register her birth until October second, though, as Margaret 57 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:37,120 Speaker 1: would have been number thirteen on the local registry and 58 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:41,000 Speaker 1: superstition cautioned them to wait for another baby to be 59 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:44,640 Speaker 1: born in the village. Wonder what happened to that child. 60 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:49,320 Speaker 1: Margaret's parents were then known as the Duke and Duchess 61 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:53,640 Speaker 1: of York, making her Princess Margaret Rose of York. Her mother, 62 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:57,440 Speaker 1: Lady Elizabeth Bow's Lion, came from a long line of 63 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 1: Scottish peers of the Realm, while her father, Albert Frederick 64 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:06,680 Speaker 1: Arthur George, was the second son of King George the Fifth, 65 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:11,640 Speaker 1: himself the spare after his older brother David, and as 66 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:14,839 Speaker 1: fate would have it, he was a spare that would 67 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:19,800 Speaker 1: actually be required in service. But back before all of that, 68 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:23,320 Speaker 1: the Duke was determined to make sure his two daughters 69 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 1: looked back fondly on their quote early years as a 70 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:31,080 Speaker 1: golden age end quote as opposed to his own bleak 71 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:35,200 Speaker 1: memories of childhood. And while this meant they were raised 72 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:39,760 Speaker 1: with much love, the princesses did not receive much in 73 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: the way of an education. Margaret and Elizabeth's mother believed 74 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 1: her daughters needed only to be educated as quote nicely 75 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:54,440 Speaker 1: behaved young ladies. As the journalist Randolph Churchill once described, 76 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:59,320 Speaker 1: this meant that the girls would draw, dance, and appreciate music, 77 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:04,479 Speaker 1: as well as maintain proper manners and feminine grace. When 78 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:08,640 Speaker 1: their grandmother, Queen Mary, insisted on the importance of a 79 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:14,119 Speaker 1: broader education, the girl's mother dismissed the idea. I don't 80 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:17,880 Speaker 1: know what she meant, she apparently said, after all, I 81 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:22,159 Speaker 1: and my sisters only had governesses, and we all married, well, 82 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:27,520 Speaker 1: one of us very well. As an adult, Margaret would 83 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:31,960 Speaker 1: come to resent her mother for this. The princess's governess 84 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:35,800 Speaker 1: was a twenty four year old scotswoman named Mary Crawford, 85 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:41,159 Speaker 1: dubbed Crawfee by the young then Princess Elizabeth. Much of 86 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:45,240 Speaker 1: the information that we have about the young Princess's childhoods 87 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:49,040 Speaker 1: comes from Crawfee herself, but more on that in a bit. 88 00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:53,240 Speaker 1: We know that Margaret was an imaginative child. She would 89 00:06:53,279 --> 00:06:56,320 Speaker 1: be quick to place the blame for wrongdoings on an 90 00:06:56,320 --> 00:07:03,160 Speaker 1: imaginary friend cousin Halifax. The The imagination wasn't always cute 91 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:06,839 Speaker 1: to Crawfey, though, who painted a picture of Margaret as 92 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:12,880 Speaker 1: yes imaginative, talented, and witty but also naughty, untidy, and 93 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:17,560 Speaker 1: strong willed. An old story goes that when Margaret was 94 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:21,440 Speaker 1: dressed up as an angel to attend a fancy dress party, 95 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: her mother exclaimed, you don't look very angelic, Margaret. That's 96 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:30,160 Speaker 1: all right, equipped the princess, I'll be a holy terror. 97 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:35,720 Speaker 1: Many of these anecdotes come from Crawford's nineteen fifty book 98 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:40,240 Speaker 1: The Little Princesses, published only a few short years after 99 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:44,840 Speaker 1: her nineteen forty seven retirement upon the marriage of Elizabeth. 100 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:49,640 Speaker 1: The book was a commercial success, but as you might imagine, 101 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,080 Speaker 1: it felt like a betrayal to the royal family, who 102 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 1: did not consent to its publication, nor did they approve 103 00:07:57,200 --> 00:08:01,800 Speaker 1: of their characterizations. By this time, the public had plenty 104 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:05,840 Speaker 1: of established opinions on Margaret, but her portrayal in the 105 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:09,480 Speaker 1: book as a child who was spoiled and jealous of 106 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:14,720 Speaker 1: her quote priggish older sister only sought to confirm the 107 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:19,000 Speaker 1: public perceptions of the woman they thought they knew. Put 108 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:24,400 Speaker 1: in perhaps gentler terms, the girl's father once described Elizabeth 109 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:30,520 Speaker 1: as his pride and Margaret as his joy. Crawfey likely 110 00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:33,600 Speaker 1: didn't have her sights set on a tell all when 111 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:37,240 Speaker 1: she first took the job because who would care all 112 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:40,200 Speaker 1: that much about a tell all about the daughters of 113 00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:44,360 Speaker 1: a duke. But as we know, history took a different path. 114 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:48,520 Speaker 1: For those who haven't seen the Crown or are generally 115 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 1: unfamiliar with twentieth century English royal history, it can be 116 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:58,120 Speaker 1: briefly summarized like this. David, the Prince of Wales's future 117 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:01,360 Speaker 1: King of England, fell madly in love with a twice 118 00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:06,240 Speaker 1: divorced American woman named Wallace Simpson. The royal family was 119 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:09,600 Speaker 1: incredibly wary of that romance, believing her to be a 120 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:12,960 Speaker 1: wicked seductress, and as head of the Church of England, 121 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:17,320 Speaker 1: an institution that did not recognize divorce, she would never 122 00:09:17,440 --> 00:09:21,600 Speaker 1: make a suitable wife for a monarch. King George the 123 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:25,840 Speaker 1: Fifth died and David ascended to the throne as Edward 124 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:30,760 Speaker 1: the eighth. Edward did not care much about his new duties. 125 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:34,800 Speaker 1: In fact, he mostly seemed to care about his wicked 126 00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:41,079 Speaker 1: seductress divorcee girlfriend, who incidentally only became twice divorced after 127 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:45,360 Speaker 1: she officially left her second husband, which she hadn't earlier. 128 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:50,600 Speaker 1: The royal family, realizing that the king actually intended to 129 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:56,360 Speaker 1: marry her, lost their collective minds, so Edward abdicated to 130 00:09:56,480 --> 00:10:01,000 Speaker 1: Mary Simpson and his younger brother ascended as George the 131 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:07,200 Speaker 1: sixth To Margaret, King, Edward was simply Uncle David in 132 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:11,640 Speaker 1: the days before Wallace Simpson. His public persona was more 133 00:10:11,679 --> 00:10:15,160 Speaker 1: in line with how people would come to see Margaret 134 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:20,920 Speaker 1: as a royal socialite, unconcerned with the rigidity and discipline 135 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:27,120 Speaker 1: his family and the position required. It was always Margaret's father, 136 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:31,200 Speaker 1: like her sister Elizabeth, who fell more in line with 137 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:36,640 Speaker 1: what was expected of a monarch. When Margaret's father unexpectedly 138 00:10:36,679 --> 00:10:41,280 Speaker 1: became king, Margaret was suddenly second in line to inherit 139 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:45,960 Speaker 1: the throne, and the family moved into Buckingham Palace. Unlike 140 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:49,600 Speaker 1: the rest of her family, Margaret did not undertake public 141 00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:53,439 Speaker 1: or official duties in those early years. Instead, she spent 142 00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:57,160 Speaker 1: much of her time as a child and teen learning 143 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:01,240 Speaker 1: the piano and practicing show tunes, which she would perform 144 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:05,720 Speaker 1: for guests. The dowager Queen Mary apparently used to describe 145 00:11:05,800 --> 00:11:10,520 Speaker 1: her granddaughter in French as ispege or mischievous, giving her 146 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:13,920 Speaker 1: an early reputation among those in the know as an 147 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:19,400 Speaker 1: enfhand tibe. Margaret's first big moment in the public eye 148 00:11:19,600 --> 00:11:23,880 Speaker 1: was in February nineteen forty seven, at age sixteen, when 149 00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:27,440 Speaker 1: all four members of the royal family embarked on a 150 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:31,840 Speaker 1: three month tour of South Africa. Margaret's role on the 151 00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:36,800 Speaker 1: trip was, apparently, quote a relatively thankless one. For Beside 152 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:40,840 Speaker 1: her sister, heir to the throne, she Margaret cut a 153 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:44,440 Speaker 1: less prominent figure in the eyes of the public. Yet 154 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:48,480 Speaker 1: throughout the daily round of civic ceremonies, that pretty and 155 00:11:48,679 --> 00:11:53,640 Speaker 1: highly personable young princess held her own. That's a quote 156 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:58,240 Speaker 1: from Peter Townsend, the King's equery and for the purposes 157 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:03,120 Speaker 1: of this trip, Margaret its chaperone. It's a fairly accurate 158 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:06,120 Speaker 1: assessment from a man who will come back to play 159 00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:10,280 Speaker 1: a much bigger role in the story soon. The press's 160 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:14,160 Speaker 1: focus at the time was Elizabeth, who turned twenty one 161 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:17,520 Speaker 1: during the trip and who made her first major speech, 162 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:23,199 Speaker 1: but stories were already beginning to circulate about the enfantibe's 163 00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:29,120 Speaker 1: eye rolls towards officials. Shortly after the family's returned to England, 164 00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:34,880 Speaker 1: the engagement between Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip was announced, 165 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:38,640 Speaker 1: even though the couple had privately gotten engaged before the 166 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:42,360 Speaker 1: trip even began. At the same time, it was agreed 167 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:46,360 Speaker 1: upon that Margaret had been a success in South Africa 168 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:51,160 Speaker 1: and would begin to take on more public duties, including 169 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:54,760 Speaker 1: some that formerly had belonged to her older sister. She 170 00:12:54,880 --> 00:13:01,679 Speaker 1: would launch ships, attend gala performances, inspect guards, visit charitable institutions, 171 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:06,800 Speaker 1: tour hospitals, you name it. This was the true beginning 172 00:13:06,920 --> 00:13:12,360 Speaker 1: of Margaret's tabloid life. As she stepped out more and more, 173 00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:16,400 Speaker 1: the press began to recognize something in her that they 174 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:21,079 Speaker 1: didn't quite see in her dutiful older sister star quality. 175 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:27,680 Speaker 1: She was pretty, glamorous, charismatic and single. When Christian Dyore 176 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:31,280 Speaker 1: launched his first collection in late nineteen forty seven and 177 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:35,920 Speaker 1: established the new look of cinched waists and full skirts 178 00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:39,520 Speaker 1: for women's fashion, Margaret was one of the first public 179 00:13:39,559 --> 00:13:45,360 Speaker 1: figures to adopt it, disregarding government disapproval of the extravagant style. 180 00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:49,600 Speaker 1: When Margaret arrived at an event for her parents' anniversary 181 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:53,720 Speaker 1: in this new style and a pair of very high heels, 182 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:58,120 Speaker 1: it said that her example was followed by ten million 183 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:03,200 Speaker 1: British women. The press fixated on her every detail. She 184 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:06,000 Speaker 1: had a twenty three inch waist and a thirty four 185 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:10,160 Speaker 1: inch bust and vivid blue eyes. They knew all her 186 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:13,440 Speaker 1: favorite haunts, the four hundred Club, than the Cafe de 187 00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:17,040 Speaker 1: Perry and Mirabelle, and they knew all the friends that 188 00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:19,760 Speaker 1: she met there, a group they would come to call 189 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:24,880 Speaker 1: the Margaret Set, mostly composed of the children of politicians 190 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:28,720 Speaker 1: or peers of the realm. They all had fantastic rich 191 00:14:28,760 --> 00:14:34,160 Speaker 1: people names like Sas Douglas, Lady Caroline Montague, Douglas Scott, 192 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:39,560 Speaker 1: and Sonny Blandford. Margaret and her friends were portrayed as 193 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:45,360 Speaker 1: glamorous socialites but also spoiled party animals, in other words, 194 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 1: the press's two favorite things one can be at nineteen, 195 00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:53,200 Speaker 1: Margaret was seen smoking for the first time out of 196 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:57,040 Speaker 1: a long ivory cigarette holder after dinner in a West 197 00:14:57,160 --> 00:15:01,760 Speaker 1: End restaurant, which incited backlash and started a trend. At 198 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:05,080 Speaker 1: the same time, those who saw her in a negative 199 00:15:05,160 --> 00:15:09,600 Speaker 1: light were only reinforced by the nineteen fifties publication of 200 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:14,280 Speaker 1: Crawfey's book, which characterized Margaret not only as a trouble 201 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:17,760 Speaker 1: making child, but a spoiled young adult who made a 202 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:21,880 Speaker 1: joke of everything She is. Britain's number one item for 203 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:26,280 Speaker 1: public scrutiny, read an American headline from around the same time. 204 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:29,480 Speaker 1: People are more interested in her than in the House 205 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:34,680 Speaker 1: of Commons or the dollar crisis. Despite being known as 206 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:39,560 Speaker 1: young and rebellious, Margaret did take her royal status very seriously. 207 00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:43,280 Speaker 1: To her friends, she was ma'am and her father was 208 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:46,480 Speaker 1: only to be referred to as His Majesty the King. 209 00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:51,240 Speaker 1: I feel sorry for her. A party guest apparently once said, 210 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:54,800 Speaker 1: she hasn't the faintest idea of what anyone is like, 211 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:58,680 Speaker 1: referring to the way that everyone would change when she 212 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:02,200 Speaker 1: stepped into a room. But it seemed that was the 213 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:06,440 Speaker 1: way Margaret wanted it. She was a notorious stickler for 214 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:10,760 Speaker 1: detail in her royal inspections, and the singer Peggy Lee 215 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:15,440 Speaker 1: remembered that when she performed at the Pagale, freshly ironed 216 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:19,160 Speaker 1: sheets had to be laid over the kitchen floor of 217 00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:23,280 Speaker 1: the club because they heard Princess Margaret would be arriving 218 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:27,640 Speaker 1: by a back entrance. In the spring of nineteen forty nine, 219 00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:30,920 Speaker 1: Margaret made an official visit to Italy, where she was 220 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:34,600 Speaker 1: mobbed everywhere she went like a film star. Crowds were 221 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:38,560 Speaker 1: eager to get a glimpse at Labella Margarita, a maid 222 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:41,440 Speaker 1: was paid by the press to find out what was 223 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:45,240 Speaker 1: in her hotel room, and a blurry photograph of Margaret 224 00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:48,720 Speaker 1: in a pale bathing suit made its way into newspapers 225 00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:53,880 Speaker 1: and magazines, sparking rumors that she was bathing nude. Rumors 226 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:57,680 Speaker 1: surrounding this Italian trip would reach new heights with the 227 00:16:57,760 --> 00:17:00,920 Speaker 1: release of a little film called Roman Holiday a few 228 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:05,240 Speaker 1: years later, in which Audrey Hepburn played a princess touring 229 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:09,240 Speaker 1: Italy who escapes her royal duties and ends up meeting 230 00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:12,880 Speaker 1: and falling in love with an American journalist played by 231 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:18,080 Speaker 1: Margaret's favorite actor, Gregory Peck. By that time, there was 232 00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:22,280 Speaker 1: an obvious parallel in the minds of the public Princess 233 00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:26,800 Speaker 1: Margaret and Peter Townsend told You if he'd be back. 234 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:33,240 Speaker 1: On June fourteenth, nineteen fifty three, the tabloid The People 235 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:37,320 Speaker 1: became the first to break news of the relationship between 236 00:17:37,359 --> 00:17:41,320 Speaker 1: the princess and her chaperone, with the headline they must 237 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:45,480 Speaker 1: deny it now, advising that it is high time for 238 00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:47,840 Speaker 1: the British public to be made aware of the fact 239 00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:52,080 Speaker 1: that scandalous rumors about the Princess Margaret are racing around 240 00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:56,680 Speaker 1: the world. Two months later, the film Roman Holiday was released, 241 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:00,520 Speaker 1: and the public interest surrounding the real couple was so 242 00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:04,680 Speaker 1: intense that Paramount was apparently made to record an extra 243 00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:09,040 Speaker 1: scene to establish that Audrey Hepburn's character was not a 244 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:12,920 Speaker 1: member of the British royal family. According to the actress, 245 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:16,480 Speaker 1: the parallel was milked for all it was worth. But 246 00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:19,840 Speaker 1: whether or not screenwriters had heard rumors of the real 247 00:18:19,840 --> 00:18:26,480 Speaker 1: life affair or Paramount just got incredibly lucky, we'll never know. Townsend, 248 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:30,200 Speaker 1: for his part, was not present for the real life 249 00:18:30,359 --> 00:18:35,480 Speaker 1: Italian trip. Some background on him. Townsend was a captain 250 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:38,760 Speaker 1: in the Royal Air Force and a decorated World War 251 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:42,359 Speaker 1: II hero. When the King wanted someone from the Royal 252 00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:46,639 Speaker 1: Air Force to represent at court, Townsend was recommended to 253 00:18:46,720 --> 00:18:50,760 Speaker 1: him to serve as a temporary equerry, which quickly became 254 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:54,080 Speaker 1: a permanent position as the King became fond of him. 255 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:57,960 Speaker 1: He was twenty nine when he was hired, and accomplished 256 00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:02,280 Speaker 1: in his military career, but failing from a middle class background, 257 00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:06,480 Speaker 1: which made him something of an outsider at court. He 258 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:11,280 Speaker 1: was also notably married, but fourteen year old Margaret is 259 00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:15,439 Speaker 1: still said to have quickly developed a crush. The story 260 00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:17,959 Speaker 1: goes she told friends she fell in love with him 261 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:21,040 Speaker 1: when she was sixteen on the South African tour, but 262 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:25,040 Speaker 1: to the public, both Margaret and Townshend had claimed there 263 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:28,479 Speaker 1: were no inklings of romance until after he and his 264 00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:33,000 Speaker 1: wife separated in nineteen fifty one, and the couple confessed 265 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:36,399 Speaker 1: their love to each other only after his divorce was 266 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:39,679 Speaker 1: granted in nineteen fifty two on the grounds of his 267 00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:45,000 Speaker 1: wife's adultery. The relationship carried on privately for about a year, 268 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:49,119 Speaker 1: with those in the nose stressing about its possibilities and 269 00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:53,439 Speaker 1: hoping it to be a brief affair. That was until 270 00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:59,960 Speaker 1: their accidental public debut at Elizabeth's coronation in June nineteen 271 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:04,960 Speaker 1: fifty three, following the death of their father the year before. There, 272 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:09,679 Speaker 1: photographers caught a glimpse of Margaret brushing a bit of 273 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:15,160 Speaker 1: lint off Townsend's uniform, which was perceived as too intimate 274 00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:19,920 Speaker 1: and tender not to be romantic in nature. The secret 275 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:23,119 Speaker 1: was out the next day in papers across the continent 276 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:27,520 Speaker 1: and in America, but the British press actually held off 277 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:30,800 Speaker 1: covering the story as long as they could to remain 278 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:34,400 Speaker 1: in the Palace's favor, as they had done earlier during 279 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:38,960 Speaker 1: the time of Edward and Wallace Simpson. When the People 280 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:42,480 Speaker 1: was finally first to cover the story twelve days later, 281 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:46,680 Speaker 1: they used an old trick to get around the issue 282 00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:51,520 Speaker 1: of loyalty by expressing mock outrage at these rumors on 283 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:56,240 Speaker 1: Margaret's behalf. It is quite unthinkable that a royal princess, 284 00:20:56,560 --> 00:20:59,600 Speaker 1: third in line of succession to the throne should even 285 00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:01,960 Speaker 1: content and plate a marriage with a man who has 286 00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:06,800 Speaker 1: been through the divorce courts. Behind the scenes, Margaret and 287 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:11,720 Speaker 1: Townsend had been thinking about marriage, but Elizabeth had advised 288 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:15,840 Speaker 1: them to wait a year, most likely secretly hoping the 289 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:19,800 Speaker 1: relationship would fizzle out, but not wanting to disappoint her 290 00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:23,200 Speaker 1: beloved sister. There was also the matter of the Royal 291 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:27,199 Speaker 1: Marriages Act of seventeen seventy two, which meant that until 292 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:31,320 Speaker 1: Margaret was twenty five, she would need Elizabeth's consent to 293 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:36,879 Speaker 1: marry someone of her choice. Once the relationship got the 294 00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:40,480 Speaker 1: public's attention, it became a matter not just of royal 295 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:44,520 Speaker 1: gossip but a matter of government, and with both the 296 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:47,600 Speaker 1: government and the Crown opposed to the match, it was 297 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:51,800 Speaker 1: recommended that Townsend be sent away for some time. He 298 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:57,320 Speaker 1: was effectively exiled to Brussels without Margaret's knowledge. But what 299 00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:01,000 Speaker 1: did the public really think of the relationship. At the 300 00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:05,560 Speaker 1: time of Townsend's exile, the Daily Mirror polled its readers 301 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:10,840 Speaker 1: asking them should they marry? Sixty seven thousand, nine hundred 302 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:15,640 Speaker 1: and seven Mirror readers voted yes, only two thousand, two 303 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:19,840 Speaker 1: hundred and thirty five said no. With the floodgates open, 304 00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:23,199 Speaker 1: every paper in the country soon had an opinion on 305 00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:26,719 Speaker 1: the marriage, with some arguing that Margaret was setting a 306 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:30,960 Speaker 1: poor example in her potential willingness to defy the Church, 307 00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:36,600 Speaker 1: while others considered the church's opinion outdated and supported the 308 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:42,160 Speaker 1: couple as a romance, defying all odds. Others simply considered 309 00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:46,159 Speaker 1: it a matter of personal choice. Michael Foot, a future 310 00:22:46,280 --> 00:22:50,840 Speaker 1: Labor Party leader, wrote in The Tribune, this intolerable piece 311 00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:54,440 Speaker 1: of interference with a girl's private life is all part 312 00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:58,040 Speaker 1: of the absurd myth about the Royal family which has 313 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:02,600 Speaker 1: been so sedulously built up by interested parties in recent years. 314 00:23:03,520 --> 00:23:06,920 Speaker 1: He argued that the laws of England allowed for divorce 315 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:10,080 Speaker 1: and the royal family was just as subject to those 316 00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:15,880 Speaker 1: laws as anyone else behind the scenes. Despite Townsend's forced exit, 317 00:23:16,359 --> 00:23:18,680 Speaker 1: those close to the couple would say in the following 318 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:21,879 Speaker 1: years that they were still very much in love and 319 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:27,560 Speaker 1: spoke constantly. This discourse continued for another two years and 320 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:32,199 Speaker 1: reached a climax around Margaret's twenty fifth birthday, which was 321 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:35,160 Speaker 1: the year she would no longer need the monarch's consent 322 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:39,600 Speaker 1: to marry. Come on, Margaret, read the Daily Mail's front 323 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:43,200 Speaker 1: page two days before her birthday. She could end the hubbub. 324 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:47,680 Speaker 1: Will she please make up her mind? In October nineteen 325 00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:51,639 Speaker 1: fifty five, only a few months after her birthday, Margaret's 326 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:56,440 Speaker 1: and Townsend officially reunited. But it wasn't a private affair. 327 00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:01,760 Speaker 1: Quote The restraint which had until now characterized the British 328 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:06,200 Speaker 1: press in its coverage of the royal persons disappeared forever, 329 00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:11,880 Speaker 1: writes biographer THEO. Aronson. The final crisis of the world's 330 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:16,040 Speaker 1: greatest royal romance was played out in the most merciless 331 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:21,200 Speaker 1: of spotlights. En The estate where the two stayed together 332 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:26,119 Speaker 1: was surrounded day and night, complete with airplanes circling above, 333 00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:29,879 Speaker 1: and the press would not relent, even in spite of 334 00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:35,240 Speaker 1: the Queen's Secretary's please for privacy. Despite the public fervor 335 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:39,240 Speaker 1: in favor of the romance, the government did not relent 336 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:43,280 Speaker 1: its stance against the marriage. They declared that if the 337 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:47,560 Speaker 1: princess insisted on marrying Townshend, then a bill would be 338 00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:50,719 Speaker 1: placed in front of Parliament stripping her of all of 339 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:55,040 Speaker 1: her rights, privileges, and income. She would also have to 340 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:58,439 Speaker 1: be married in a civil ceremony and be forced to 341 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:03,080 Speaker 1: live out of the country for the first few years. Ultimately, 342 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:07,760 Speaker 1: despite her, by all accounts, genuine love for Townsend, it 343 00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:12,879 Speaker 1: was not the life she wanted. In his memoirs, Townsend wrote, quote, 344 00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:15,920 Speaker 1: it was too much to ask of her, too much 345 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:18,399 Speaker 1: for her to give. We would have been left with 346 00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:23,280 Speaker 1: nothing but our devotion to face the world. Finally making 347 00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:29,040 Speaker 1: a decision, he said, liberated them after several tumultuous years. Quote, 348 00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:32,439 Speaker 1: at last we could talk without that crushing weight of 349 00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:37,480 Speaker 1: world opinion, the sympathy, the criticism, the pity, and the anger, 350 00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:41,480 Speaker 1: all the mass of emotion which had weighed so heavily 351 00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:47,320 Speaker 1: on our minds end. Quote. Of those many opinions, Margaret 352 00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:51,720 Speaker 1: allegedly later told friends, they were so against us it 353 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:55,359 Speaker 1: almost made me change my mind and marry him after all. 354 00:25:56,520 --> 00:26:02,360 Speaker 1: Years later, friends and Townsend came to similar conclusions. Margaret 355 00:26:02,359 --> 00:26:05,359 Speaker 1: was simply not ready to be a housewife and a 356 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:10,080 Speaker 1: stepmother to two sons at age twenty five. In the 357 00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:13,119 Speaker 1: wake of the Townshend affair, you can imagine the press 358 00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:18,280 Speaker 1: only wanted more and more of Margaret. One daily Mirror 359 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:25,400 Speaker 1: headline simply asked, is she sad? Yes? Probably. Margaret coped 360 00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:28,960 Speaker 1: with the aftermath by leading a more active social life 361 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:33,520 Speaker 1: than ever, reviving the pre engagement socialite days of the 362 00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:37,600 Speaker 1: Margaret set with an even greater emphasis on her love 363 00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:42,800 Speaker 1: of live theater and entertainment, though it never quieted down. 364 00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:47,160 Speaker 1: The next major frenzy of press to reach Townshend Heights 365 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:51,399 Speaker 1: would come not with her marriage to but her divorce 366 00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:56,280 Speaker 1: from Anthony Armstrong Jones. The couple first met in nineteen 367 00:26:56,359 --> 00:26:59,720 Speaker 1: fifty eight at a dinner party, and Margaret was drawn 368 00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:03,679 Speaker 1: to the man with footholds in both the aristocratic and 369 00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:08,800 Speaker 1: artistic worlds. His father was a barrister, his mother a socialite. 370 00:27:09,359 --> 00:27:13,000 Speaker 1: In his youth, he found he was not particularly skilled 371 00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:17,040 Speaker 1: at school or sports, but he had a unique passion 372 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:20,560 Speaker 1: for photography and had by the point of their meeting 373 00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:25,879 Speaker 1: built a career as a celebrated theatrical and portrait photographer. 374 00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:29,480 Speaker 1: The couple were able to keep their courtship a secret 375 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:33,359 Speaker 1: from the press, and the announcement of their engagement in 376 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:38,440 Speaker 1: February nineteen sixty came as a surprise. It was framed 377 00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:42,040 Speaker 1: as a second chance at happiness after being denied her 378 00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:46,360 Speaker 1: marriage to Townsend, and the public finally got their reverse 379 00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:51,440 Speaker 1: Cinderella story of a commoner marrying a princess. Not everyone 380 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:56,720 Speaker 1: was thrilled with Antony's relatively humble background. As The Times 381 00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:00,760 Speaker 1: put it, there was quote no recent press for the 382 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:04,320 Speaker 1: marriage of one so near the throne, outside the ranks 383 00:28:04,359 --> 00:28:10,160 Speaker 1: of international royalty and the British peerage end quote. Their 384 00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:14,320 Speaker 1: wedding was the first royal wedding to be televised, as 385 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:19,160 Speaker 1: was fitting for the modern princess and her quote simple 386 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:23,800 Speaker 1: wedding dress was designed by Norman Hartnell, and it was 387 00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:28,680 Speaker 1: considered a statement of Margaret's individuality. As a wedding present, 388 00:28:28,800 --> 00:28:31,480 Speaker 1: a friend gifted Margaret a plot of land on his 389 00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:37,159 Speaker 1: private Caribbean island Moustique, which would become infamously associated with 390 00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:41,440 Speaker 1: Margaret years later. To the public. The couple, now known 391 00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:46,000 Speaker 1: as the Snowdens after Antony's appointment as the Earl of Snowden, 392 00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:51,200 Speaker 1: were favorites, seen as living a sheikh bohemian lifestyle while 393 00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:53,440 Speaker 1: the rest of the royal family was stuck in the 394 00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:58,320 Speaker 1: Victorian era. They were both interested in fashion and adopted 395 00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:01,480 Speaker 1: the maud look, which only led to the couple being 396 00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:07,480 Speaker 1: more photographed. They ran in celebrity circles. Margaret befriended Drag 397 00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:12,840 Speaker 1: Queen's playwrights. Musicians John Lennon knew the couple as priceless. 398 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:18,240 Speaker 1: Margarine and Bonnie armstrove behind the scenes and two children later. 399 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:23,120 Speaker 1: The marriage was rocky, with Armstrong Jones realizing a bit 400 00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:26,200 Speaker 1: too late that he was not fit for a life 401 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:30,560 Speaker 1: of royal engagements, and he yearned to reignite the career 402 00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:34,760 Speaker 1: he had been forced to leave behind. Both husband and 403 00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:39,200 Speaker 1: wife began to engage in extramarital affairs. By the end 404 00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:44,160 Speaker 1: of nineteen sixty six, Margaret was smoking and drinking excessively 405 00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:49,160 Speaker 1: to cope with the fracturing relationship. As early as nineteen 406 00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:53,000 Speaker 1: sixty seven, the press began to share whispers that there 407 00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:57,960 Speaker 1: was trouble in Paradise. A well known royal gossip writer 408 00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:01,560 Speaker 1: once admitted to the author, Aim Andrew Duncan, that he 409 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:04,760 Speaker 1: was making up stories about the Snowdens to sell to 410 00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:09,239 Speaker 1: foreign magazines. Of course I exaggerate, he claimed, What are 411 00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:13,240 Speaker 1: they going to do? Sue me? The instability for the 412 00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:17,000 Speaker 1: couple continued four years, but came to a head in 413 00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:21,840 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six when Margaret was photographed swimming on her 414 00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:26,280 Speaker 1: private island with a man seventeen years her junior. He 415 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:31,800 Speaker 1: was Roddy Llewellyn, a young landscape gardener and aristocrat. They 416 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:34,560 Speaker 1: had met three years earlier, when she was forty three 417 00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:37,880 Speaker 1: and he was twenty five, and he was invited to 418 00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:42,320 Speaker 1: lunch with the princess and mutual friends. The two apparently 419 00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:46,240 Speaker 1: got on well immediately, and Margaret, having been through so 420 00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:50,800 Speaker 1: much emotional turmoil in recent years, was excited at the 421 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:55,840 Speaker 1: prospect of starting something new with the younger man. However, 422 00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:59,040 Speaker 1: soon after it began, the affair proved to be too 423 00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:02,520 Speaker 1: much for Luella, who had his own history of mental 424 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:06,680 Speaker 1: health struggles. He fled abroad seeking an escape from it, 425 00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:09,920 Speaker 1: but eventually came back to check into the care of 426 00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:14,360 Speaker 1: a psychiatrist. Margaret, for her part, was devastated by his 427 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:18,960 Speaker 1: departure and took too many sleeping pills. I was so 428 00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:23,600 Speaker 1: exhausted because of everything. She later reflected that all I 429 00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:28,400 Speaker 1: wanted to do was sleep. Margaret and Roddy were able 430 00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:32,360 Speaker 1: to reconcile after both of their healths had improved, and 431 00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:37,560 Speaker 1: they resumed what Margaret called their loving friendship. They visited 432 00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:41,440 Speaker 1: Margaret's house on Mustique together, where they were photographed by 433 00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:45,320 Speaker 1: a photographer who had snuck onto the island posing as 434 00:31:45,360 --> 00:31:49,320 Speaker 1: a tourist. Margaret, Roddy, and a couple staying with them 435 00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:53,920 Speaker 1: all had gone swimming together, but when the photos were published, 436 00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:56,920 Speaker 1: they were cropped to make it look like Margaret and 437 00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:00,920 Speaker 1: the young man were alone. They appeared on the front 438 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:04,200 Speaker 1: page of News of the World, and the royal family 439 00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:07,880 Speaker 1: was rocked with the scandal they hadn't seen since the 440 00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:13,560 Speaker 1: days of Townsend. The press hounded her toy boy, while 441 00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:18,239 Speaker 1: politicians took to calling Margaret a royal parasite and a 442 00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:23,880 Speaker 1: fluozy who wasted taxpayer money vacationing with younger men. It 443 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:28,000 Speaker 1: was also apparently the final nail in the coffin of 444 00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:34,160 Speaker 1: the Snowden marriage, an excuse to finally seek divorce. Of course, 445 00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:38,959 Speaker 1: it's now seen as an ironic twist that Margaret's first 446 00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:43,880 Speaker 1: major scandal began with a divorce and her second major 447 00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:50,280 Speaker 1: scandal ended with one more quote unquote. Serious newspapers took 448 00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:54,640 Speaker 1: to blaming the divorce on the gossip rags. Almost since 449 00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:57,600 Speaker 1: the day of their marriage, the press, fed by bitchy 450 00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:02,360 Speaker 1: society gossip, took a prairie and intrusive interest in their 451 00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:07,000 Speaker 1: private life. Noted The Times as Philip Howard, upon the 452 00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:11,320 Speaker 1: royal split the princess, he said, was fair game quote 453 00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:17,320 Speaker 1: for our national hypocrisy masquerading as morality. The earlier assertion 454 00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:21,640 Speaker 1: that the British press forever changed with the Townshend affair 455 00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:27,000 Speaker 1: was accurate and representative of the kind of invasiveness royal 456 00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:31,680 Speaker 1: women like Princess Diana, Sarah Ferguson and Megan Markle would 457 00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:36,600 Speaker 1: one day face. In nineteen seventy eight, shortly after the 458 00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:41,920 Speaker 1: divorce was finalized, Margaret fell ill. While she continued to 459 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:46,000 Speaker 1: be involved in the arts and charity works, she struggled 460 00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:49,400 Speaker 1: greatly with her health for the remainder of her life 461 00:33:49,760 --> 00:33:54,160 Speaker 1: due to her chronic smoking and drinking. Her last public 462 00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:58,200 Speaker 1: appearances were at the one hundred and first birthday celebration 463 00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:01,760 Speaker 1: of her mother and the one hundredth birthday celebration of 464 00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:06,680 Speaker 1: her aunt Alice. Margaret died at age seventy one from 465 00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:12,200 Speaker 1: complications after a stroke. Later in life, Margaret herself reflected 466 00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:14,800 Speaker 1: on what she felt her role in the public I 467 00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:19,680 Speaker 1: was quote in my own humble way. I've always tried 468 00:34:19,680 --> 00:34:22,320 Speaker 1: to take some of the burden off of my sister. 469 00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:25,680 Speaker 1: She can't do it all, you know, and I leap 470 00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:29,600 Speaker 1: at the opportunity to help. Sometimes it can be very 471 00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:33,800 Speaker 1: formal and boring. But I've got a reflex against that now. 472 00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:37,320 Speaker 1: It's very much up to one not to be bored. 473 00:34:47,120 --> 00:34:50,759 Speaker 1: That's the story of Princess Margaret's public life. But keep 474 00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:54,719 Speaker 1: listening after a brief sponsor break to hear about one 475 00:34:54,920 --> 00:35:10,120 Speaker 1: particularly juicy alleged dalliance. Throughout her lifetime, Margaret was linked 476 00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:13,480 Speaker 1: to far more men than I had time to mention today, 477 00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:17,360 Speaker 1: but some were so iconic that they deserve special mention. 478 00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:21,359 Speaker 1: The rumor mill has long alleged that Llewellyn wasn't the 479 00:35:21,400 --> 00:35:25,960 Speaker 1: only man Margaret courted in Mustique. Mick Jagger visited the 480 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:30,200 Speaker 1: island on Margaret's invitation and evidently enjoyed it. So much 481 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:34,120 Speaker 1: that he eventually built a home there. The two met 482 00:35:34,160 --> 00:35:37,560 Speaker 1: at a birthday party in the early nineteen seventies, and 483 00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:41,680 Speaker 1: while the wording may be different, all sources note that 484 00:35:41,719 --> 00:35:45,160 Speaker 1: Margaret's dress was low cut when she made her first 485 00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:49,239 Speaker 1: introduction to the singer. They spent the night chatting, and 486 00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:53,480 Speaker 1: a source from a Jagger biography alleges that after that 487 00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:58,040 Speaker 1: they spoke on the phone constantly, and Margaret invited him 488 00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:02,000 Speaker 1: to social events any other women. She found him sexy 489 00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:06,799 Speaker 1: and exciting. If you saw them together dancing the way 490 00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:10,160 Speaker 1: she'd put her hand on his knee and giggle at 491 00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:13,640 Speaker 1: his stories like a schoolgirl, you'd have thought there was 492 00:36:13,719 --> 00:36:18,840 Speaker 1: something going on. Neither Margaret nor Mick Jagger have ever 493 00:36:18,880 --> 00:36:23,240 Speaker 1: spoken about a relationship, but it said they remained friends 494 00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:42,200 Speaker 1: until Margaret's death. Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio 495 00:36:42,680 --> 00:36:46,400 Speaker 1: and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankee. Noble Blood is 496 00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:51,040 Speaker 1: created and hosted by me Dana Schwartz, with additional writing 497 00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:56,840 Speaker 1: and researching by Hannah Johnston, hannah's Wick, Mira Hayward, Courtney Sender, 498 00:36:56,960 --> 00:37:01,080 Speaker 1: and Lori Goodman. The show is edited and produced by 499 00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:06,520 Speaker 1: Noemi Griffin and rima Il Kahali with supervising producer Josh 500 00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:12,040 Speaker 1: Thain and executive producers Aaron Manke, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. 501 00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:18,640 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 502 00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:21,040 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.