BritFlorida loves to track down historical stories, especially scandals and mysteries from the UK.
Wikipedia Commons
Princess Margaret. Beautiful, unconventional and rather naughty
She was the Queen's younger sister and yet I imagine that there are many younger people today who don't even know that she ever existed.
To a great extent, she has largely been forgotten. And yet during the second half of the twentieth century she had film star looks and was the most scandalous royal, putting the antics of later princesses into the shade.
Margaret was a fun-loving person. She enjoyed her status as a member of the royal family but even from an early age, she rebelled against the conventions of royal life. As an adult, she was a party girl - a hard drinking chain smoker who loved to dance and lived the jet-set life.
She was the first royal of modern times to divorce and was scandalously involved with younger men, hippies and even gangsters. But was she ever happy?
It would be such a shame if this lively woman was forgotten.
When the world was 'scandalized' by the antics of younger royal princesses and their divorces, it was Margaret who had paved the way in less tolerant times. She had to renounce her first love and many people believe that it was impossible for her to find happiness because of it.
Read on - and let me know your opinion.
The York family
Although she was born princess, Margaret Rose and her older sister Elizabeth never expected to be so prominent on the world's stage. They were the daughters of the Duke and Duchess of York.
The duke was the second son of the king and therefore, although he and his daughters were in line to the throne, the heir was the elder son, Edward.
The Yorks were a low-key family but this changed dramatically after the king died. Edward ascended to the throne but as we know, abdicated and suddenly, the Duke of York was the king. This meant that older sister Elizabeth was now heir to the throne, with Margaret Rose second in line.
The second sister
When she was born, it's said that the nation was anxious that the baby should be a boy.
Because the throne passed through the male line in those days, had the baby been a boy, he would have ultimately become king.
Although the girls were four years apart in age, they grew up to be close and remained in London, growing up, during the Second World War.
In later years, when the Queen was discussing Prince William's public night club antics, she remarked "When my sister and I were young, our friends would have parties in their homes and we had a lot of fun. We didn't go to West End night clubs".
First love - a married man
Just as Elizabeth fell in love with Philip when she was a young teenager, Margaret too had an infatuation - for a member of her father's staff, the equerry Peter Townsend.
He was an ex-RAF officer - a dashing man who had an exemplary record during the Second World War and had been decorated for bravery on several occasions.
As she grew older, it appeared that the adoration was mutual and Townsend proposed marriage.By now, he was divorced from his wife but, just as with Edward and Mrs Simpson, a divorced person wasn't seen as being a suitable partner.
She had to choose between him or her royal title. He lost.
Jackie Jackson (author) from Fort Lauderdale on October 17, 2014:
@Dressage Husband - thanks for the vote!
Stephen J Parkin from Pine Grove, Nova Scotia, Canada on October 17, 2014:
She was certainly the antithesis of all that her sister QE II tries to stand for. One wonders if Elizabeth may have been more of a rebel had her father not abdicated? I found this Hub interesting and voted accordingly.
evawrites1 on March 11, 2014:
Interesting story, I didn't know anything about Princess Margaret. I'm sure she was a woman of character with her own opinions.
Jackie Jackson (author) from Fort Lauderdale on March 01, 2014:
@Carol Houle: Yes, I loved that film!
Carol Houle from Montreal on March 01, 2014:
I look forward to seeing The Queens Sister. Did you see The King's Speech? Margarette and Elizabeth are portrayed as little girls. I love period pieces. A very enjoyable lens.
@meggingmad: Thank you! No, I didn't know that about her being an excellent pianist. I've heard an old recording of her on the radio (I think it was on 'Desert Island Discs') where she was asked about her piano playing. I must look it up on Youtube.
meggingmad on March 01, 2014:
She was also dubbed "The house guest from Hell". She would "invite" herself to someone`s house, and send them an advance order of what she liked to eat and drink. Furthemore, if she liked a piece of furniture or an ornament, she would make it quite clear she did, and the poor host would be expected to make a gift of it. Her granny, Queen Mary was up to that trick too.However, you have to admire her "chutzpah".Finally....Did you know that she was a concert quality pianist? A musician friend of mine was invited to the palace as part of a musical evening. Margaret herself "did a turn". Her skill astonished my friend, who was himself a concert pianist.Yup...Margaret was quite a lady!BTW...Loved your lens.
jlshernandez on February 27, 2014:
Princess Margaret was her own person, unwilling to be restrained by royal expectations. Thank you for the very interesting tidbits about the second sister.
Jackie Jackson (author) from Fort Lauderdale on February 24, 2014:
@LSJ-88: Absolutely! Scandals abound way before Diana and Fergie :)
@Blonde Blythe: Thanks so much!
@Donna Cook: Thank you! She was fascinating.
LSJ-88 on February 24, 2014:
Very interesting! I know so little of the Royal family, except what has occurred in the last two decades or so. I think it is fascinating that she was surrounded by scandal, because so many people have this assumption that scandalous behavior is a "new thing."
Blonde Blythe from U.S.A. on February 24, 2014:
Fascinating lens! I really enjoyed it! :)
Donna Cook on February 23, 2014:
Terrific lens! I'm a confirmed Anglophile and really enjoyed another look at the "second sister."
anonymous on February 23, 2014:
A very interesting and information lens. Was very interesting to read.
AnonymousC831 from Kentucky on February 22, 2014:
Very interesting lens, I enjoyed it. Congrats on LOTD.
RoadMonkey on February 22, 2014:
It was also said that she had a child before her marriage to Armstrong-Jones and that he was adopted in secret. I don't know whether or not that is true. Interesting lens. Found out some things I did not know about Princess Margaret.
yoursfoolie on February 22, 2014:
A sympathetic and insightful piece... Clearly our author is, as we say, sympatico! But then, that's a writer for you, and this story of Anne's life has an added value in that in some ways it mirrors those of all of us on this site:Gary Snyder relates a conversation he had with a mentor just at the point in his life at which he was committing fully to his calling in the litetary arts.His mentor (concerned, doubtless, for his well-being ~ haha!) did his best to talk him out of it As Gary walked off unconvinced, the mentor lobbed a parting shot."You know, poets have to play ~ a lot!" he called warningly...Princess Anne had an additional dimension of challenge: the spectre of the life led by dispossed nobility. I am directly descended from a dutchess, a world-published lyric poet, and have tested repeatedly at various points in my life into the 98th percentile of human intelligence. I've been homeless for the last seventeen months. Native refinement causes me to feel every humiliation and discomfort trebly, nor is it the pathway to favored treatment among more robust and less sensitive denizens of the street. I am currently nrecognizable as the creature who became homeless a year and a half ago.(I'll take this unexpected opportunity to inquire whether anyone out there has yard space they'd let me pay rent to pitch a tent on ~ will travel. Please contact direct at a ayaylee.aal@gmail.com. Sorry for the desparation that drove me to use a comment column for such a purpose.)Well, anyway: here's one reader in whom your lense clearly provoked a whole lot of emotion and association... Way to write!
@MarcellaCarlton: Thank you - she certainly had a fascinating life and I hope she's never forgotten.
@esmonaco: Thank you very much.
MarcellaCarlton on February 21, 2014:
Fabulous article about the second sister, Princess Margaret.
Eugene Samuel Monaco from Lakewood New York on February 21, 2014:
Always learning something new from you, very interesting well deserved purple star!!
@Sir Daniel UK: I just promoted your splendid Watership Down review :)
Danny Gibson from Northampton on February 21, 2014:
And here you go again, promoting all things Blighty. Is there anything I can do to stop you?!Interesting lens.
@Merrci: Oh, that would be wonderful! The British Royal Family is fascinating - there are so many great stories going back years.
@anonymous: I was amazed too!
Merry Citarella from Oregon's Southern Coast on February 19, 2014:
So interesting. Congrats on the speedy purple star too! I'll have to check out your other lenses too.
That was the quickest purple star in history, not even ranked yet. Nice work! Thanks for sharing.
@Brite-Ideas: I'm hoping to spread the word :)
Barbara Tremblay Cipak from Toronto, Canada on February 18, 2014:
very intriguing - I really didn't know much about her (until reading this!) - quite interesting
@Nancy Hardin: Thank you Nancy.I liked her too. Also I suspect that her life would have been very different with Peter. Evidently the British people were all for it but it was the establishment that got in the way. ('Hellion' is a great word!)
Nancy Carol Brown Hardin from Las Vegas, NV on February 18, 2014:
I liked Princess Margaret, probably because I've always been pretty much a hellion myself. To me, her marriage to Peter Townsend should have been accepted, and I believe her life would have been quite different. But then, who knows... ? Another great review of a historical figure!