Today Queen Elizabeth was joined by her children and grandchildren, including Prince Harry and Princess Beatrice, at a thanksgiving service for her beloved mother, the Queen Mother, who died 10 years ago today, and her younger sister, Princess Margaret.
Before there was Kate Middleton or Princess Diana, Margaret mixed royalty with celebrity. The press followed every detail of her personal life, including her marriage to Lord Snowdon, the first royal wedding to be televised. The couple were given a retreat on a private island in the Caribbean as a wedding present. Their glamorous jet-set life grabbed headlines and those in her circle were dubbed "the Margaret set." Soon, Prince William and Kate Middleton will move into Kensington Palace's 20-room apartment 1A, after it undergoes about $1.6 million in renovations. The apartment has a garden, a nursery, and lots of space, and it was the home of Princess Margaret until her death in 2002. The big move is putting the late princess back in the headlines.
The original It princess's legacy wouldn't be complete without some scandals. Near the time of her sister Elizabeth's coronation, Margaret fell in love with a divorced man, Peter Townsend, who was 16 years older than her. She was forced to choose between a royal life and love, and ultimately decided not to marry. Instead, in 1960, she married photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, who became Lord Snowdon. Soon after, there were rumors of affairs, drugs, and drinking, as well as questions about his sexuality. When pictures of Margaret with a young lover surfaced, her husband moved for a divorce. It later came out that Lord Snowdon may have fathered a child months before their marriage. Take a look back at Margaret's glamorous and controversial life now.
3 Comments