Princess Margaret: The Trouble With Townsend | FULL MOVIE | 2022

Princess Margaret. Known for her glamour and beauty, her early love for nightlife and the arts, and her consistent appearance in the papers. She struggled throughout her life to balance an independent spirit and artistic temperament with her duties as a member of Britain's royal family. From her dramatic almost-marriage to her very public divorce, Margaret's turbulent love life dominated the royal spotlight for years. The princess's romantic entanglements were the stuff of rumour, tabloid speculation and scandal. Yet they played a critical role in modernising royal love along the way. I once said to her about her having this label of being a controversial member of the royal family and she said, but I'm not controversial, I'm just living my own life. And seen from her point of view, that's exactly what she was doing. Very often, it's the news media that has made her life and made her out to be more controversial than she actually was. Here you are on the one hand, this media figure, then on the other hand, here you are, this private individual that's quite different. So there was this kind of clash really between the public perception and the person who was. I think a lot of the things they wrote aren't true, especially, you know, they keep on saying this tragic princess. Well, I don't think she was. She really enjoyed her life, a lot of it. Her intense life was a tabloid editor's dream. Despite being the second born, she did a lot of things first, such as her marriage to a so-called commoner, Anthony Armstrong Jones, which has since paved the way for her nieces and nephews, and even her great-nephews, Prince William and Prince Harry. Her wedding was also the first to be televised, with over 20 million people tuning in to see the new royal couple. Hand in hand with her marriage was her shocking divorce, which almost became her unwritten legacy, and normalised royal divorce for the future generations, despite the backlash she faced at the time. Coming of age at a unique time, when celebrity culture and tabloid journalism were just beginning, her status as younger sister to the Queen of the Commonwealth and her natural beauty made her the first choice for the press to write stories about, particularly when they were so scandalous. Eventually, her extensive charitable work, combined with the new, more modern sympathy for the restricted options she faced, gained her a measure of public respect. Princess Margaret had a large part in modernising the royal family, more so than her sister, the Queen. She'd been the most loyal and wonderful friend to me, very supportive. She was very brave, very courageous, and these last two years, when she was so ill, she was extremely brave. I have great admiration for how she coped with it all. Although she may have been a darling of the gossip columns, she will always be remembered as a glamorous individual who stood out amongst royal stereotypes. Princess Margaret Rose was born on the 21st of August 1930, the second daughter of then Duke and Duchess of York, in Glamis Castle in Scotland. However, the registration of her birth was delayed by several days to avoid her being numbered 13 in the parish register. At the time of her birth, Princess Margaret was fourth in the line of succession to the British throne. Her early life was perceived as perfect by the public, the ideal family of four. She did have a happy childhood. You know, that King George VI, her father, or the Duke of York as he then was, he always referred to himself, his wife, and two daughters as us four. And they were a royal family within the broader royal family. But because they never anticipated their ranks and their position and their responsibilities changing, they were very much, they anticipated carrying on as being this very close-knit, very loving us four, you know. So Princess Margaret and her sister did have hugely enjoyable and very loving childhood. When they were children, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, of course, they had, apparently, Princess Margaret had a pretty good left hook. So, you know, and Princess Elizabeth would sometimes complain, Margaret always wants what I want. So I think, you know, what you actually see there between the two of them is sibling rivalry, you know, as there would be with other children, other sisters, other brothers. It's, you know, it's something that one always has to remember, is that essentially these, you know, they may have been princesses, they may have been royal, but they were also human. And, you know, and this was the tone of their lives, that they were very, very close. But, of course, there were kind of moments where they would kick and they would bite and they would fight, you know, or particularly Princess Margaret would. Four years younger than her sister, Elizabeth, Margaret was six years old when her uncle abdicated the throne, completely unaware that this was about to change her life forever. In 1936, the reigning King George V died, and his eldest son, Edward, ascended to the throne as King Edward VIII. However, before the year had concluded, he had abdicated the throne in order to marry his true love, a twice-divorced American woman, Wallis Simpson. This meant that Margaret's father, reluctantly, had to take the crown and become the next king, putting Margaret second in line to the throne. Her elder sister, Princess Elizabeth, became the heir presumptive, a title that impacted Margaret's childhood greatly. After King Edward abdicated his new throne, the Yorks became king and queen. Elizabeth, at 10, was now heir presumptive. Reviewing the girl guides at Windsor Castle, the little princesses Elizabeth, 12, and Margaret, 8, assumed new importance. When their uncle, David, as he was known to the family, otherwise King Edward VIII, abdicated, it was Princess Elizabeth who told Princess Margaret, and she said, Uncle David's going away and Papa is to be king. And Princess Margaret said to her, Does that mean you're going to be queen? And Elizabeth said, Yes, one day. And nothing more was ever said about it or between them. And Princess Elizabeth, as we know very well, is able to compartmentalise aspects of her life. So she realised, this girl of 10, that one day she would become queen. But she tucked that away and she carried on being a normal, natural 10-year-old. I mean, things did change for Princess Elizabeth as heir as presumptive because it was felt that on an educational level, that she needed higher education, particularly when you think of the British Constitution and matters like that, that it was now crucial that she should be very well aware of. And so she was given this additional instruction by the then Provost of Eton College, Sir Henry Martin. And I talked to Princess Margaret about this on one occasion and said that, You didn't get that higher education. She said, No, it was always a bone of contention. And I said, Well, it was really very short-sighted. Because when you think that your grandfather, King George V, was the second son and he was called to the throne, your father was the second son and the same thing happened with him. Here you were the second child. There was only a heartbeat between you and your sister. Yet you did not get the same further education that Princess Elizabeth got. And she said it was always a bone of contention. The family were catapulted into the spotlight, her father now centre of the world stage. Becoming king put a great strain on his life, something his family noticed daily. The dynamic between the sisters began to change as Elizabeth was being prepared for a life serving her country. Margaret began to feel overlooked, giving herself the nickname Second Best Rose. She began to receive a separate education to her sister, who was now required to take part in more public engagements and coaching for her pending role as the next monarch. As all eyes fell on Elizabeth during the family's public engagements, Margaret began to feel more irrelevant. Despite this, the sisters had a really good relationship growing up. Elizabeth was always kind to her, looking out for her younger sister. Throughout their lives, because there was this incredibly strong loving bond between Princess Margaret and Princess Elizabeth, that there was always that support there throughout their lives. You know, they were as different as chalk and cheese. Princess Elizabeth, very uncomplicated, very straightforward. Princess Margaret, very complex. Her sister, in later life, described her as being an enigma. And really, that about sums her up, because she was a very enigmatic personality. Margaret was allowed to be more daring than her sister, since the public eye wasn't focusing on her. She grew into a sociable, funny teenager, qualities that would later become her best known characteristics. Now second best to her sister, new heir to the throne, Margaret had to make her mark in the world less conventionally. I don't think Princess Margaret consciously lived her life thinking of the differences between her and her sister. It wouldn't have made any sense for her to have done so. But it has been said that she was jealous of her sister. Well, I always counter that by saying, given how close they were always throughout their life, you know, even if it was just to say hello, they'd talk on the telephone every day. It's very difficult to maintain that close bond, as well as being jealous of somebody, you know. But I think there were things about the Queen's life, or Princess Elizabeth's life when she became Queen, that Princess Margaret minded rather more than was jealous of. You know, there were things in the elder sister's life, naturally, that would come to her either as heiress presumptive, or when the time came as Queen. So there were those slight differences. One very early one was at the time of their parents' coronation in May of 1937. And the two princesses, white lace dresses had been designed for them, special gold coronets had been made for them, and also trains, the purple robes of their rank. And Margaret was a bit bothered by the fact that her train was shorter than her sister's. And she complained about this. And it had to be explained to her that it had nothing to do with rank. She wasn't being demoted in any way. What this was, what it meant was that the train was cut in relation to their height. So as Margaret was shorter, she obviously had a shorter train. So there was just that kind of little thing. Well, why doesn't that also apply to me? As she grew up, of course, she knew perfectly well why there would be those kind of certain differences. Naturally, she became more outgoing, a regular partygoer. She had a strong affinity for smoking and drinking. She was also seen as a fashion icon, a trait that followed her throughout her life. She always said, well, I can have all the fun. I mean, I think she realised that if she'd been queen, it would have been a very different life. And she was very loyal to the queen. She would never, no, she always knew that she was the younger sister. Tragedy struck in 1952 when King George VI died in his sleep after struggling with lung cancer, which elevated Elizabeth, just 25 at the time, to the throne. Margaret and her father were exceptionally close, and it was believed that she was one of the last people to see him in his final hours. This was a year that would shape her life in many ways. Her enjoyment for an occasional cigarette became a serious addiction, and she became known for smoking up to 60 strong cigarettes a day. Suddenly, Margaret felt more alone than ever. Her sister was now married with children and was preparing to become queen. Her mother was surrounded with consults who had been by her side throughout her marriage to her late husband. Margaret found she had nobody to turn to, until she found a man who could sympathise with her loss. Group captain Peter Townsend had served as the late king's equerry for many years and had known Princess Margaret since she was aged 14. He had accompanied the royal family on many engagements overseas and had witnessed firsthand how close she had become with her father. He was a handsome and decorated soldier, and Margaret found herself growing closer to him. They spent more and more time together, with Margaret feeling comforted by his presence. She found herself falling in love with him. However, there was one thing that stood in the way of her happy ending. Peter was a married man. The death of her father pushed her further into the arms of Group Captain Peter Townsend, who consoled her throughout the tragedy. Despite being 16 years her senior, Peter developed a strong affection for Margaret and subsequently divorced his wife in 1952 with the intention of marrying the princess. He joined the king's household as a querry when she was 15. And he was 16 years older than her, so he wouldn't have taken a great deal... I mean, apart from being his boss's daughter, he wouldn't have taken a great deal of interest in her. And certainly, when he first joined the household, he wouldn't have had any kind of romantic notions about her whatsoever. It was only later on that their feelings developed, and one reason for this was the loss of King George VI, the father, that she absolutely adored. And I've always said that when people have said to me about Townsend being the great love of her life, no, he wasn't. In my view, the great love of her life, the man she absolutely loved, was her father. And the relationship with Peter Townsend really grew more intense after the king's death, because here she'd always had this very strong, loving relationship with her sister. Now, by the time the king died in 1952, Princess Elizabeth had married. She'd become the mother of two children, so that when she ascended the throne, she still had a husband, she still had two children, but she had all the responsibilities of sovereignty, everything that came with being queen. So that meant that she was somewhat removed from her sister. Now, Princess Margaret's mother, Queen Elizabeth, the queen mother, was engulfed, as she put it, in great clouds of black. So she wasn't there for her daughter either. She was totally consumed with her grief. So who did Margaret have? Nobody, really, except Peter Townsend. And that closeness grew from that time, and it developed into love. In April 1953, Peter Townsend asked Princess Margaret to marry him, and she gladly accepted. She told her sister almost immediately, unaware of the challenges this would create. He probably proposed to her, the history books say 1953, he probably proposed to her towards the end of 1952. And he did so in the crimson drawing room at Windsor Castle. They were never engaged. How it transpired was that Princess Margaret had gone to her sister, by now a queen, to say that she and Townsend were in love and wanted to marry. And the queen's response was to say, in the circumstances, it's not unreasonable for me to ask you to wait for a year. And this is exactly what happened. At the end of the year, Princess Margaret went back to the queen, and she said, okay, we've waited this year. Now, I'm convinced it was on ministerial advice that the queen said, I have to ask you to wait another year. Now, that additional year meant that Princess Margaret was then approaching her 25th birthday. And at 25, a member of the royal family, in this particular case, Princess Margaret, could have petitioned both houses of parliament, would not have needed the sovereign's consent, which was otherwise crucial. Now, the queen could not give her consent to Princess Margaret marrying Peter Townsend. Essentially, don't forget, Peter Townsend was a divorcee. Now, the queen was temporal governor of the Church of England, and a church that did not recognise divorce. So, the queen also had to give consent to the marriages of all members of the royal family, and this she could not do. Elizabeth wanted Margaret to be happy, but as Margaret was under the age of 25 at the time, the queen had to consent to her sister's marriage. Her role as queen and the head of the Church of England made this difficult. The marriage would not be approved. It is absolutely not true to say, as has been said, that the queen prevented them from marrying. She didn't at all. The queen stood back and she said to Princess Margaret, this is a decision that you are going to have to make. And the queen did not want to influence and did not influence her sister in any shape or form. Her attitude was, I can't do anything. You have to decide what you want to do. The palace kept their relationship hidden, as he was a divorced man, meaning he was not an approved match for a princess. Despite all attempts to hide their blossoming romance, there were often rumours about the pair being spotted together frequently. Nobody warned the lovers that the public were taking note of their closeness, that just one small display of affection would send the papers into turmoil. It was noticed after the coronation in 1953, attached to Westminster Abbey was this purpose-built annex through which the processions formed and people came and went. And immediately after the coronation ceremony, in her excitement, Princess Margaret went up to Group Captain Peter Townsend and put her hand on his tunic. Now, she might have been flicking away a piece of cotton, a piece of wool, a piece of fur from an old dowager's mink coat or something, but this was noticed by one British journalist in particular called Audrey Whiting. And Audrey thought, now that's something, there's something going on there, because that was such an intimate gesture. It was very similar to way back in the 30s when Wallis Simpson was photographed putting her hand on the arm of the king. And that act of intimacy, you know, you didn't do that sort of thing, but that act of intimacy then and in 1953 told people, told these eagle-eyed journalists, ah, something is going on here. And indeed it was. Peter was well known to be a divorced man, something the Church of England did not approve of. If Margaret had any intentions of devoting herself to him, she would be facing a world of controversy. Memories of the abdication crisis haunted the public and the spectacle became the tabloid's favourite feature. There was, I mean, huge press interest in this. You know, there were polls taken. Should Princess Margaret be allowed to marry? Shouldn't she be allowed to marry? You know, overwhelming result that, yes, she should be allowed to marry if that's what she wanted. Queen Elizabeth's private secretary, Sir Alan Lascelles, advised her to send Peter Townsend on a post abroad, but the Queen refused. However, he still did not accompany Margaret as planned on a tour of southern Rhodesia. Alan Lascelles intended to keep the pair separated in hope that it would end their romance. Prime Minister Winston Churchill arranged for Peter to work overseas in Brussels as air attache at the British embassy there. Then it was decided, and Churchill was behind this, that Townsend should be got rid of. He should be sent abroad. And this is exactly what happened. He was given the choice of three postings abroad as an air attache at our embassies, and he chose the one in Brussels. The reason being that he'd got two sons in school here and the option of being in Johannesburg, which was an option, was much too far. So he chose the Brussels option. Peter Townsend was sent to Brussels on the 15th of July before Margaret's return from Rhodesia. After learning of his departure, Princess Margaret was distraught. Princess Margaret and her mother had gone off on an official tour of Rhodesia, and the princess had been promised that Townsend would not leave the country until after she returned. And as it turned out, he was banished two days before she got back. And that upset her, as you can imagine, greatly, because this was a betrayal of a promise that she'd been given. After two years apart, the pair were reunited in 1955. And although Margaret was now 25, they were still refused the right to marry. Excitement bubbles like champagne in London, as group captain Peter Townsend returns from diplomatic duties in Belgium to call on Princess Margaret. Another, possibly a climactic phase, opens in the much-publicized royal romance that's had the Western world agog. The queen and her family are watched with keenest attention for a hint of what the ultimate decision may be. Yes or no? And what will the princess herself decide? All the world loves a lover, and there's nothing like a happy ending to a royal love story for national rapture. Britain watches with breathless anticipation an exciting week that reunites the sweethearts, brings the captain to dinner at the palace, and closets the royal family with the Archbishop of Canterbury, main opponent of the marriage. Captain Townsend seems unruffled by the tension, but the consensus is something definite had better happen soon, or an overwrought nation may just give way. The government, then led by Prime Minister Anthony Eden, decided that if she were to marry Peter, she would be stripped of all royal privileges as well as her income. This left her in an impossible position. Margaret made the shocking decision to reject Peter Townsend's proposal and publicly announced she would not be getting married. She released a statement explaining her dedication to the crown and her duties was more important in her life than a marriage that would remove her as an active member of the royal family. Margaret was said to be heartbroken that she could not marry her true love. However, she knew she had to move on and distract herself from what could have been. A decision not to marry Group Captain Peter Townsend is reached by Britain's Princess Margaret, here arriving with her mother for a formal family appearance at London's Royal Opera House. In putting duty and religion ahead of her heart, Margaret had the example of her sister, the Queen, who dutifully entertained the President of Portugal while the family crisis neared a climax. Queen Mother Elizabeth approved her daughter's decision. Strongly opposing the marriage was the Archbishop of Canterbury. But Margaret decided alone, strengthened, she said, by the unfailing support and devotion of Group Captain Townsend, the war hero whose divorce prevented the marriage returns to duty in Belgium. Mindful of her church's teaching, conscious of her duty to Britain, Princess Margaret has made her momentous decision. I have been aware that subject to my renouncing my rights of succession, it might have been possible for me to contract a civil marriage. But mindful of the church's teaching that Christian marriage is indissoluble and conscious of my duty to the Commonwealth, I have resolved to put these considerations before any others. In 1955, when they'd been apart for two years, the government had a change of heart and it was doing a U-turn. Now, we don't know how much Princess Margaret knew of this, but she did write in August of 1955, and you have to remember that in August of 1955 was her 25th birthday, the age where she could have petitioned Parliament for permission to marry. But the government U-turn was that if they wanted to, they could marry. The princess would have lost nothing except her place in the line of succession. What did she know of this arrangement? I don't know that she knew a great deal and I tell you why. It was in August of 1955 that Princess Margaret wrote to the then Prime Minister, Anthony Eden, and it was a very telling letter. She said that nobody but the Queen knew that she was writing. And she said, as my 25th birthday approaches, there will be renewed speculation about whether I will marry Peter Townsend or not. And she went on to say that he would be returning to England in October and she hoped to see him. And the very telling sentence was that it was only by seeing him that she could decide whether she wanted to marry him or not. Now, that expresses doubt. So whether or not she knew about the government U-turn is immaterial. There was doubt there. And my own sense, and it's borne out, I think, by that particular letter was that she decided that although there was still a residual affection, they were no longer, and I think it applied to him too, they were no longer sufficiently in love to marry. So they saved face, really, by, under the princess's name, issuing the statement. It did rumble on for a couple more years because, as she said to me, we had this arrangement whereby if he was going to be in London, because he wanted to go off traveling the world, but if he was in London, he should pop in for a drink. Well, the minute that they tried that, the press was still camped out outside the gates of Clarence's house where she lived with her mother. And she said to me, it just wouldn't work. It just didn't work, you know, because it was the start of renewed speculation. There was even one headline, they're together again. Whoa, this is, you know, and the reason being, of course, that nobody knew the truth behind the matter, that they were no longer sufficiently in love. That is why they didn't marry, you know, and they got on with their lives. People have sometimes said that Princess Margaret, when she met and married Anthony Armstrong Jones, that she did so on the rebound. I mean, her reaction when I said, you know, this is, you know, she's on the rebound, she said five years later, you know, again, not knowing the story of how and why the Townsend affair ended. Imagine that she was going to marry on the rebound. What they also forget is that between Peter Townsend and Tony Armstrong Jones was a man called Billy Wallace. And Billy Wallace was an old friend of Princess Margaret and he had actually proposed to her before. Anyhow, he did propose to her and thinking that it was better to marry somebody, as she put it, one at least liked, rather than ending up on the shelf. She said, provided there was no objection on the part of the Queen, then they would get engaged. Well, with that in mind, off he went to, where was it, Jamaica or somewhere like that in the West Indies, to have this kind of jolly holiday and having an affair in the meantime while he was away. And he came home, went round to Margaret's and told her about this little affair that he'd had. And she said, he couldn't believe it when I showed him the door. So that was the end of that. But, you know, people very often don't realise that there was Billy Wallace between Townsend and her meeting and marrying Tony Armstrong Jones. Eventually, Margaret began secretly seeing photographer Anthony Armstrong Jones. Although the press were obsessed with following her and identifying her likely suitors, she would visit him in secret at his studios and he would accompany her to events. But Anthony was often in the background. Anthony Armstrong Jones was considered a commoner, not considered a real prospect for Margaret, which is why their romance went undetected for so long. The announcement of their engagement in February 1960 caught many by surprise. Because nobody knew that she and Tony Armstrong Jones were seeing one another, when their engagement was announced, it really was a massive surprise. You know, the media was reeling, partly through enthusiasm and excitement, but he's a photographer. He's one of us. Lady Elizabeth Cavendish had said to Princess Margaret, you know, Tony's a bohemian. Do you know what that means? Yes, the princess said. Well, she said, you do know it means he won't always be home for dinner. You won't always know where he is. Despite appearing to be happily married, both of the Snowdens engaged in public love affairs. Those close to the couple suggested Anthony was the first to be unfaithful, because as a photographer, he took long business trips abroad. But Margaret was also keeping secrets. Possibly the most significant was her long-standing affair with Ruddy Llewellyn, a landscape gardener 17 years her junior. I think people need to know that there was this, that people do need to recognise that Tony really was a serial adulterer. There were some rumours, but of course it broke, the story broke. In 1976, when they were both on Musteen.