Elizabeth & Margaret: The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters by Andrew Morton (2021)
Elizabeth & Margaret: The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters by Andrew Morton (2021)
3 Love in a Warm Climate
After a thunderous blast of trumpets, the bride and her father entered the abbey. “I was so proud and thrilled at having you so close to me on our long walk in Westminster Abbey,” the king wrote to his daughter afterward. 45 At the exact moment that the king and princess walked down the aisle, “a thin, watery sun shone through the stained-glass windows,” giving the tableaux an ethereal atmosphere. Wearing hardly any makeup, Elizabeth looked pale and delicate, her veil accentuating her grace and resembling “a white cloud about her.”46 The rays streaming through the tall windows and light from the candelabra reflected off her dress, the bejeweled embroidery sparkling and twinkling in the half light.
Immediately behind the radiant bride and three steps ahead of the other bridesmaids was Margaret-alone. She stopped three times along the procession to straighten her older sister’s extensive train.47 It was a striking scene among many unforgettable moments, and the sight of the two sisters always together now embarking on their own journeys touched the hearts of many, especially their family and friends.
Inevitably the king was moved to tears when Elizabeth passed her parents as she and her husband prepared to leave the Abbey. Elizabeth curtsied first to her father, then her mother; it was a gesture the king had discouraged in his daughters, but at this moment it was Elizabeth’s final show of gratitude. They then all returned to the palace for the wedding breakfast. After Philip delivered a short speech, the new bride expressed her sole wish that “Philip and I should be as happy as my father and mother have been.”48 Even the naysayers would have been surprised by the eloquent and touching letter Philip subsequently wrote to his mother-in-law, the queen. He was keen to reassure her that he would diligently care for her daughter: “Lilibet is the only ‘thing’ in the world which is absolutely real to me and my only ambition is to weld the two of us into a new combined existence that will not only be able to withstand the shocks directed at us but will also have a positive existence for the good.”49
At the wedding breakfast, Margaret made sure to herd everyone together for photos, shouting, “Come along, everybody!” She appeared supremely happy that day, and Crawfie later reflected: “I hope that people were not too taken up with the bride to notice her younger sister. She moved with extraordinary dignity and grace. More than once the King and Queen exchanged a smile and a reassuring glance.” 50 They could only hope that their younger daughter would find a partner as sensitive and dutiful as Philip was proving himself to be (85-7).
4 The Long Goodbye
As ever, Peter Townsend was on hand to add entertainment and companionship during the short days and long winter evenings in Norfolk. He and Margaret talked and laughed as they rode “through the pinewoods and across the stubble at Sandringham.”31 The brief caress, the longing look, and the whispered comment-this was now their secret life, and it was a very thrilling but dangerous game. A friend of Margaret’s described her mindset as she hovered on the brink of an affair with a married man: “One always felt the tremendous nervous energy, that the daring nature and cleverness was a kind of shield. That quizzical look in her eyes really reflected an inner confusion, a plea for better answers. I don’t believe she envied her sister. Yet, she did so long for a purpose to her life. Marriage and children did appeal to her-but it seemed she wanted more. What that might be I don’t think even she had the foggiest.”32
As she struggled to find her way through the fog, her white leather Bible was her guide and consolation. The princess was not some frivolous fashion plate; she also held strong religious convictions, reading her Bible frequently. One night at dinner, she asked, “What is love? How can you define and recognize when it is real and when it is not?” This, onlookers concluded, was not some philosophical question but a dilemma the princess was facing in her personal life. If they had seen how she behaved while on a walk around the Scottish estate with her father that August of 1951, they would have been left in no doubt about who was the focus of her affections.
Following a picnic lunch, Townsend went for a snooze in the meadow, and when he awoke from his reverie, he discovered that Margaret was covering him with a coat. He recalled, “I opened one eye-to see Princess Margaret’s lovely face, very close, looking into mine.” Behind Margaret was the king, watching-not with anger or jealousy, but “kind, half-amused.” Townsend murmured, “You know your father is watching us?” At which she laughed, took the king’s arm, and walked away, “leaving [Peter] to [his] dreams.”33
That summer others began to notice the undeniable chemistry between Townsend and the king’s daughter. Indeed, it seems that the scarcely believable whispers about the couple began the previous year. Young socialite Lady Jane Vane-Tempest-Stewart returned from a week at Balmoral in August 1950 and told her mother that she was convinced that the princess and the recently promoted court official were in love. Her mother’s response was that of stunned incredulity. “Don’t be so romantic and ridiculous,” she told her. “He’s the king’s servant. She can’t be in love with the king’s servant, that would be utterly wrong.”34 (106-7)
6 “My Dear Prime Minister”
Midway through the tour an Australian camera crew was scheduled to film her looking at wildlife during a weekend break at the O’Shannassy Reservoir in Victoria, where the queen and Prince Philip had an executive chalet. When their chalet door opened, the cameraman started filming, expecting the queen and her husband to stroll into vision. Not this time. Out dashed Prince Philip, hotly pursued by his angry wife, who threw a tennis racquet and tennis shoes at the retreating figure. Eventually the queen dragged her husband back into the chalet, slamming the door behind her. It was sensational footage, revealing the fiery side of the royal marriage. Within minutes the queen’s press secretary, Commander Richard Colville, appeared and demanded the senior cameraman, Loch Townsend, hand over the film. He duly obliged, and minutes later an apologetic monarch appeared. She told the crew, “I am sorry for that little interlude but, as you know, it happens in every marriage.”11 Not only did the incident open a window into the royal marriage, but it also revealed the deferential dynamic between the press and the palace. There was never any question that the film would ever be broadcast, and it was promptly destroyed (153-4).
Far from being cast out, penniless, and shamed, she was informed that she would keep her title, her Civil List payment (which, upon marriage, would increase from £6,000 to £15,000 a year, the equivalent of $500,000 in 2020), her royal duties, and her appellation “Her Royal Highness.” Moreover, at some point in the future, Townsend may have been given a title as well as his own official allowance. The only sacrifice she would have to make was to ask the queen to remove her and her children from the line of succession. As her chances of becoming queen were remote-she was third in line after Charles and Anne-it was no hardship. The other stipulation was that she would have to marry in a civil ceremony, which would be the case whether she was royal or commoner. As Paul Reynolds, a former BBC royal correspondent, observed, “Far from opposing her sister’s marriage, the queen’s attitude was summed up by Eden in a letter to Commonwealth prime ministers: “Her Majesty would not wish to stand in the way of her sister’s happiness.”22 (161-2)
What is striking about this dramatic romantic episode is how it parallels the theatrical contours of the abdication in 1936. There was, though, one important variation: This time around it was a woman, not a man, who was in control of the unfolding narrative. In the days leading up to the abdication, Wallis Simpson, like Peter Townsend, was left in the dark about the decisions and discussions taking place at Buckingham Palace and Downing Street. During the abdication drama, Wallis was in the south of France, staying with friends. Her only communication with the king was a daily phone call on a primitive international telephone link. Even though she shouted down the phone line: “Do not abdicate,” warning that it would be “disastrous for you and destroy me,” Edward VIII was deaf to her entreaties.37
Though Townsend and Margaret spoke on the telephone and met in person during their romantic crisis, it seems the princess, like Edward VIII, withheld from Townsend important-nay, vital-information that would have affected his judgment about their possible future together, namely the soft landing crafted by the prime minister. Just as Wallis took no part in the discussions that would shape the rest of her life, so Townsend was kept out of the loop in regard to the meetings among the queen, the princess, and the prime minister. He said as much in his memoir, stating that he was “not in possession of any of the facts.”38
If his memoir is an honest and fair recitation of their affair, it seems that Margaret, like Edward VIII almost two decades earlier, was withholding information from her lover. The princess was aware, following her meeting with prime minister Eden, that the penalties she and Townsend faced were modest and that she had the support and devotion of her sister, who was prepared to accept any decision she made. More than that, the queen was willing to countenance possible damage to the monarchy-a course of action that would have horrified her former private secretary Tommy Lascelles-if Margaret did decide to go ahead and marry Townsend.
Just as Edward excluded Wallis from information that would change her life, this time around it was the woman, Princess Margaret, who held the cards. The princess, with her sister’s support, was the one who made the consequential decisions. Throughout the dramatic denouement, Townsend was on the outside looking in.
At the same time, neither party forced the pace. After two years apart, in August 1955, when Margaret turned twenty-five, they could easily have been reunited. Margaret was on holiday, while Townsend, too, had plenty of time on his hands. By his own admission, as an amateur jockey, he flew to racecourses all over Europe. Instead, he could have arranged to meet his beloved so that they could together address the looming question- Were they still in love?-a question to which Margaret alluded in her letter to the prime minister.
While the resolution of this issue lay at the emotional heart of their dilemma, in his memoir Townsend lamented the endless waiting: “And so the days passed, as I waited for the denouement of the Princess’s and my problem.”39
Nor is there mention of an engagement ring either before, during, or after his exile. This is all of a piece with his passive acceptance of events, waiting for something to transpire rather than taking his fate into his own hands. By contrast Margaret, with her sister’s support, sought to control the narrative of her life-even though she was not completely honest with her lover about the secular consequences of her actions.
There is a further twist to this romantic drama. It seems that during their years apart, Margaret may have been two-timing the group captain with a man who bore a remarkable resemblance to her lover. With his chiseled features, compact mannequin body, and dreamy eyes, fifties crooner Eddie Fisher could have been Townsend’s younger brother. He met the princess on numerous occasions during the early 1950s. At one midnight gala Margaret invited him to her table and asked him to sing or whisper his number one hit “Outside of Heaven” into her ear.40 They met again at a charity ball at the Dorchester hotel in 1953, and the following August Fisher offered to delay his flight back to America if she wanted him to sing “Happy Birthday” to her-in person. Though she declined on that occasion, they were more intimate on others. His daughter and Star Wars actor Carrie Fisher revealed that the princess and her father, then married to Singin’ in the Rain star Debbie Reynolds, were lovers. “They had a beautiful romance,” she admitted.
She first talked about her father’s affair at the royal premiere of The Empire Strikes Back in central London in 1980. As Princess Margaret walked along the receiving line, she whispered to her costars, Sir Alec Guinness, Harrison Ford, and Mark Hamill, “My father had sex with Princess Margaret. In a beautiful way they made love.”41 As soon as she blurted out this family secret, she said, “I’m going to get into a lot of trouble for this.” According to Fisher, their tryst took place when he was twenty-four and she was twenty-two, which would date their meeting either in 1952, the year of her father’s death, or in 1953, the year of the coronation, when the affair between Margaret and Townsend first became public. During that year the princess was photographed deep in conversation with Fisher during a ball at the Dorchester hotel.
Fisher, who had twenty-four top ten hits in the first six years of the decade, was as famous for his lovers as his LPs. Besides his five marriages, he had affairs with, among others, Joan Crawford, Édith Piaf, Kim Novak, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and Mia Farrow. If what Carrie Fisher was told is accurate, it would add a further question mark with regard to Margaret’s long-term commitment to Townsend (170-4).
7 The Prince and the Showgirl
It seems that there were times when Margaret was inflamed by a primal jealousy. During a visit to Windsor Castle, prime minister Harold Macmillan was startled when Princess Margaret, clad in a dressing gown, entered the queen’s sitting room and yelled, “No-one would talk to you if you weren’t the Queen,” before gathering up her gown and stalking out. A shocked PM felt that he had been witness to a domestic drama he had no right or wish to see.29
At the same time Elizabeth forgave her sister much. She had always felt responsible for her sister, and time had not changed that sentiment. Certainly no one else in the kingdom could have gotten away with such insulting behavior toward the sovereign.
The queen, meanwhile, took the rudeness with her usual stoicism, as indulging Margaret was something of a family tradition. Her mother was equally equable. No matter how provocative her daughter’s behavior, she sailed on like a Spanish galleon, magnificently indifferent. Margaret’s needling had little effect. “Why do you dress in those ridiculous clothes?” she would demand of her mother, who was still in the prime of her life. After she visited the queen mother’s beloved Scottish retreat, Castle of Mey, the place that had inspired her spiritual recovery after the death of George VI, Margaret was dismissive. “I can’t think why you have such a horrible place,” she sneered. The queen mother replied, “Well, darling you needn’t come again.” And she didn’t.
At Royal Lodge, where the family had such happy memories, the princess would switch the TV channel without warning when she did not enjoy what her mother was watching. When the queen mother’s friend, Prudence Penn, objected to this behavior, the queen mother soothed her: “You mustn’t worry. I’m quite used to it.”30 Though at times the family dynamic was one that might pique the interest of the playwright Tennessee Williams, the queen mother never rose to the bait to rebuke her daughter. “You will see that this tiresome incident will have no effect on [the queen mother] at all,” a lady-in-waiting said to a guest. “She will enjoy her day as much as though it has never happened. Nothing will disturb her happiness.”31 The queen and queen mother had lived with Margaret’s dramatic, somewhat histrionic, behavior ever since she was a little girl. She was a performer, and for all her faults, they knew that at heart she was a loving and loyal sister and daughter. They forgave her much, almost anything.
Though Margaret was seen as more progressive and “with it” than her older sister, the irony was that the queen, as a working mother with two children, juggling a household and a demanding executive job, fit the mold of the new breed of modern women. While the queen was up and about at eight in the morning, Margaret, who often returned to Clarence House with the milk bottles, did not even think about getting out of bed until eleven, when her devoted maid and dresser Ruby MacDonald brought her a tray of tea and orange juice or fruit. If she had no public engagements, her day would revolve around a lunch, her afternoon a fitting at Victor Stiebel or Dior, or in the summer a quiet hour of sunbathing in the secluded garden. While she was deciding what to wear for an evening event-Margaret was an immaculate dresser-her sister could be hosting a gathering of diplomats or charity workers or holding a weekly audience for the prime minister.
After an evening at the theater or ballet or dining and dancing, she might invite friends back for supper, serenading the throng with songs as she played at her grand piano. In her novel Palm Beach, author Pat Booth gave a description of the late-night performance: “The voice was deep and throaty, the legacy of too many cigarettes, the hint perhaps of the odd late night. She wrapped her full, ripe lips indulgently round the syllables, milking them of their humour, as she rolled her eyes towards the ceiling.” Guests who were in the know would make their excuses and leave promptly; otherwise they were in for a long night as the princess entertained her guests on the piano (197-9).
Nonetheless, royal staff soon learned that for both sisters there was an invisible line that prevented people from getting too up close and personal. Cross it, and you were liable to encounter “the Windsor glare,” a look that said, “Don’t overstep the mark.” Overfamiliarity was discouraged with a chilly look or glance.
Princess Margaret resorted to a frosty countenance whenever she wanted to insist on her position, to remind people, in the words of her cousin Lord Lichfield, “Don’t forget who I am.”34 Former Labour lawmaker Woodrow Wyatt observed: “Suddenly you may feel her psychologically draw herself up with the unspoken ‘I am the sister of the Queen,’ which is instantly crushing.”35
Her renowned tendency to quickly switch from amiable to aloof with the arching of an eyebrow perhaps reflected the contradictory behavior of the princess: one moment kind, generous, and spontaneous; the next dismissive, self-absorbed, and exacting. The wife of a courtier observed that Margaret’s mercurial behavior, her ability to shift from nice to nasty in seconds, was at times bewildering. She recalled, “She was the only one who would come up to you at a party and really talk to you but the next day she’d cut you.”36
While Margaret was more volatile and extroverted than her sister, the queen, though blessed with a steady temperament, was from her youth very royal when she wished. “She was capable of giving you a very old-fashioned kind of look-nothing snobbish or pompous about it-that said she was a princess, and was going to be queen” said a long-serving aide.37 Prince Charles’s former valet Stephen Barry was more direct: “Nobody takes liberties with the queen. And if someone does she has a look that would freeze the sun.”38 (200-1)
8 “Sex, Sex, Sex”
The wedding, which took place at Westminster Abbey on May 6, 1960, was the first to be televised, attracting a worldwide audience of 300 million. Some 500,000 lined the streets to see with their own eyes the legendary princess in the glass coach make her way to the abbey.
In another break with royal tradition, Margaret chose to wear an unadorned dress, a suggestion and design sketched by Tony and fashioned by couturier Norman Hartnell, who created a plain, V-necked, tight-waisted dress with an enormous skirt-three layers of organza over tulle. The only glitter came from the princess’s magnificent diamond Poltimore tiara. Her wedding ring came from the same Welsh gold as the queen’s own ring.
During the ceremony, Noël Coward watched the queen closely and noticed her “scowl a good deal”-another sighting of the “Windsor glare.” While some might have interpreted that stern expression as a sign of ill temper, those who knew her understood that she scowled when straining to control strong emotions. According to Labour politician Richard Crossman, “When she is deeply moved and tries to control it she looks like an angry thunder-cloud.”23 Perhaps she was touched by the prospect that her mischievous, contrary little sister had finally found happiness-or so it seemed (217-8).
9 Cool Britannia
She was a pioneer in trying to remove the barriers of snobbery and protocol-but not all. Woe betide the conversational partner who said “your sister” or “your father.” They received the “Windsor glare.” Though she struggled to turn on the electric kettle, when she was a guest at a weekend party she liked to chip in, whether it be laying the fire-a particular pleasure-stripping wallpaper, or washing up. She hankered after a life more ordinary-but not too ordinary. Royalty mattered most. It was a social tightrope she walked all her life. As Tony’s business manager Peter Lyster-Todd observed: “I often stayed with them for weekends and you never quite knew what you were going to get; friendly Margaret or talking to ‘Ma’am.’”9 It became a common refrain. While drag artist Danny La Rue found Margaret “witty and highly intelligent,” he maintained, “you always knew you were in the presence of a princess.”
There was always a barrier, a self-conscious line few crossed, Windsor glare or not.
As one observer noted, “No one seemed to behave naturally when she was there. She tried her best but it always came across as condescension. She had that royal way of moving on, of not wanting to be left too long with anyone. She never really seemed to belong to that arty world.”10
The classic example was at the home of irreverent critic Kenneth Tynan, who asked Tony if after dinner he could screen a graphic homosexual film about two prisoners in love, directed by the French novelist and playwright Jean Genet. Would the princess mind? Tony thought it would do her good. However, once the room went dark and the guests, including playwright Harold Pinter, watched the screen, the atmosphere began to freeze as the graphic gay love affair was played out in front of the queen’s sister. Fortunately, comedian Peter Cook lightened the mood, delivering an improvised commentary. Within minutes everyone, including the princess, was rocking with laughter. In spite of this unusual and intimate after-dinner entertainment, Tynan, the great iconoclast, bowed to her, kissed her hand, and said, “Thank you ma’am.” Royalty had to be treated with due courtesy-even after watching blue movies.
It was a film of quite a different kind that the royal couple helped make for the queen’s thirty-ninth birthday in April 1965. The Snowdons joined Peter Sellers and several other friends in making a fifteen-minute home movie as a gift for Her Majesty. At one point in the amateur film Sellers, who played the Great Berko, proclaimed that in a world record time of eleven seconds flat he would perform his celebrated impression of the Princess Margaret. He then disappeared behind a screen, flung various articles of clothing into the air, and a few seconds later, the actual princess emerged, curtsying and grinning before retreating behind the screen.11 The queen loved the movie and showed it frequently (238-9).
10 “I Hate You”
In the New Year she was admitted to King Edward VII’s Hospital while her husband was working in Japan. While supposedly there for a “checkup,” rumors abounded that the princess had made a cry for help, overdosing on pills and alcohol. The previous weekend, Margaret had telephoned a friend while he was hosting a party. She threatened that if he did not come check on her immediately, she would throw herself from her bedroom window. The friend frantically phoned the queen at Sandringham, who replied calmly, “Carry on with your house party. Her bedroom is on the ground floor.”12 The queen’s response matched that of the queen mother and other members of the royal family. They lived in a world where illness was dealt with by going for a long walk, and mental illness was ignored altogether. Like the queen’s approach to central heating-“if you are cold put on a sweater”-her response to sickness, especially her sister’s, was brisk and no-nonsense.
A generation later, Princess Diana would experience similar uncomprehending indifference when she suffered from the eating disorder bulimia nervosa.
Yet even though the princess tended toward melodrama-as the queen knew all too well-it was impossible to deny the reality of her current depression. Soon after her hospital visit, she began another brief liaison, this time with Robin Douglas-Home, an aristocratic nightclub pianist and well-known womanizer who numbered Princess Margaretha of Sweden and possibly First Lady Jackie Kennedy among his many conquests. Coincidentally, Robin’s uncle was Sir Alec Douglas-Home, who had been appointed amid great criticism-much of it directed at the queen-to succeed Harold Macmillan as Conservative prime minister in 1963. With Snowdon off in Japan, Margaret and Robin began meeting at Kensington Palace or at Robin’s small home on Cromwell Road. According to one report, they were discovered by a servant in flagrante delicto on the sofa at Kensington Palace. She stared at the servant until he left the room and then carried on as though nothing had happened.
An experienced and attentive seducer, Robin made the princess feel desirable again. On Valentine’s Day 1967, she wrote him a gushing letter: “Darling, thank you for a perfect weekend… Thank you for making me live again. Thank you for being gentle when it was unexpected, which gave me back my self-confidence. Thank you for everything nice, which everything was. With best love.” She signed the letter simply “M.”-something that she only did with Tony and that only Tony called her.13
Again she wrote: “I think all the time of you. This is a bleak time for love. Not many people are lucky enough to have known a love like this. I feel so happy it has happened to me.”
How the letters surfaced in an American magazine was a subject Margaret agonized over soon enough, and the feverish press speculation about the affair forced Snowdon, then in New York, to make a public statement denying a marital crisis. Tony told jostling reporters, “Nothing has happened to our marriage. When I am away I write home and telephone like other husbands in love with their wives.”14 This lie especially wounded Margaret, as one of their main disagreements was over Tony’s failure to call while he was away. Still, Tony continued to maintain the façade, issuing another statement on February 26, 1967: “Talk of a rift is totally unfounded. It’s news to me and I would be the first to know. I am amazed.” His imperturbable discretion was duly noted inside Buckingham Palace, where the mantra was “deny, deny, deny.” Meanwhile, Margaret and Tony agreed to make a public gesture of reconciliation. In early March Margaret flew to New York to meet her husband at Kennedy Airport, and they then departed for the Bahamas, the couple staying at Jocelyn Stevens’s holiday home at Lyford Cay. At this point separation, not to mention divorce, remained unthinkable-for the sake both of their children and the image of the monarchy.
Upon her return from the Bahamas, Margaret broke off her month-long affair with Robin, telling him, “It has to be done this way for appearance’s sake.” Even though he was an accomplished Lothario, he was shattered by his dismissal. From then on he went downhill, and he committed suicide eighteen months later. Margaret did not attend his funeral. Their priority was to protect themselves-and the reputation of the queen.15 (253-5)
She needed no encouragement to attend the investiture of her nephew Prince Charles at Caemarfon castle in July 1969. The princess was eager to see how her husband, who had been asked by the queen to organize the event, had articulated his vision of meshing ancient and modern elements for a ceremony, last performed in 1911, where the Prince of Wales dedicated his loyalty to the queen.
In the preamble to the big day, the queen and the rest of the family had taken part in the making of a documentary, Royal Family, which followed the Windsors for a year. While reluctant film star Princess Anne thought the project was a “rotten idea,” more than 350 million people from around the world begged to disagree, tuning in to watch the royals at home and off duty. Among other delights, Prince Philip was filmed barbecuing, and the queen was shown taking young Prince Edward shopping for ice cream in Ballater. Significantly, the queen was seen cradling young Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones in her arms on the royal yacht Britannia as the royal party sailed around the Scottish coast.
As was their routine, Sarah’s parents were in the Mediterranean on board a friend’s yacht. “I think sometimes the Snowdon children used to think of the Queen as mum,” observed a friend.19 Certainly she took a special interest in Sarah, who was born just a couple of months after Prince Edward, perhaps wanting to shield her niece from the difficulties facing her parents. During their childhood, Sarah and her brother David spent most of their summer holidays with the queen or queen mother at Balmoral and Birkhall. Sarah learned to ride under the tuition of the queen, eventually entering horse riding competitions, carefully watched by her aunt. In many ways, Elizabeth assumed the role of surrogate mother, doting on them as children and later encouraging them in their respective careers.
The projection of the queen as a normal mother rather than a remote symbol was the abiding success of the documentary, revolutionizing public attitudes toward the monarchy. It augured well for the investiture, though threats of violence from Welsh nationalists ensured that everyone was on tenterhooks, particularly Prince Charles. Thankfully the ceremony, movingly traditional but also cleverly modern, went without a hitch, and Snowdon received universal praise for his creation, especially as it had been achieved on a minuscule budget. The queen, who had had her doubts about Tony’s vision, was perhaps the most enthusiastic. In a long letter of thanks and congratulations, she admitted that at first she was skeptical that his dramatic interpretation would work. She was delighted to be proved wrong, describing the ceremony as “spectacular and breathtaking.”20 Her respect for his undoubted brilliance grew accordingly. In the investiture honors list, where she gave those involved in the historic ceremonial her personal awards, she made Snowdon a knight of the Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, one of the most coveted awards she could grant (257-9).
11 “My Darling Angel”
Not that life on Mustique was a sunshine version of a vicar’s tea party. Another photograph that made its way onto the front page of the News of the World showed Roddy, Colin Tennant, and island manager Nicholas Courtney photographed by the princess in various poses on the beach, all of them stark naked (290).
12 Bud and Her Rose
Out of the stillness came the sound of a Scottish lament, “The Desperate Battle of the Birds,” chosen by her daughter. It served as a metaphor for her tumultuous life, so full of promise and glamour yet dwindling into loneliness and despondency. She was at once imperious and haughty as well as loyal and thoughtful. As all would attest, she was never dull (319).
3 Love in a Warm Climate
After a thunderous blast of trumpets, the bride and her father entered the abbey. “I was so proud and thrilled at having you so close to me on our long walk in Westminster Abbey,” the king wrote to his daughter afterward. 45 At the exact moment that the king and princess walked down the aisle, “a thin, watery sun shone through the stained-glass windows,” giving the tableaux an ethereal atmosphere. Wearing hardly any makeup, Elizabeth looked pale and delicate, her veil accentuating her grace and resembling “a white cloud about her.”46 The rays streaming through the tall windows and light from the candelabra reflected off her dress, the bejeweled embroidery sparkling and twinkling in the half light.
Immediately behind the radiant bride and three steps ahead of the other bridesmaids was Margaret-alone. She stopped three times along the procession to straighten her older sister’s extensive train.47 It was a striking scene among many unforgettable moments, and the sight of the two sisters always together now embarking on their own journeys touched the hearts of many, especially their family and friends.
Inevitably the king was moved to tears when Elizabeth passed her parents as she and her husband prepared to leave the Abbey. Elizabeth curtsied first to her father, then her mother; it was a gesture the king had discouraged in his daughters, but at this moment it was Elizabeth’s final show of gratitude. They then all returned to the palace for the wedding breakfast. After Philip delivered a short speech, the new bride expressed her sole wish that “Philip and I should be as happy as my father and mother have been.”48 Even the naysayers would have been surprised by the eloquent and touching letter Philip subsequently wrote to his mother-in-law, the queen. He was keen to reassure her that he would diligently care for her daughter: “Lilibet is the only ‘thing’ in the world which is absolutely real to me and my only ambition is to weld the two of us into a new combined existence that will not only be able to withstand the shocks directed at us but will also have a positive existence for the good.”49
At the wedding breakfast, Margaret made sure to herd everyone together for photos, shouting, “Come along, everybody!” She appeared supremely happy that day, and Crawfie later reflected: “I hope that people were not too taken up with the bride to notice her younger sister. She moved with extraordinary dignity and grace. More than once the King and Queen exchanged a smile and a reassuring glance.” 50 They could only hope that their younger daughter would find a partner as sensitive and dutiful as Philip was proving himself to be (85-7).
4 The Long Goodbye
As ever, Peter Townsend was on hand to add entertainment and companionship during the short days and long winter evenings in Norfolk. He and Margaret talked and laughed as they rode “through the pinewoods and across the stubble at Sandringham.”31 The brief caress, the longing look, and the whispered comment-this was now their secret life, and it was a very thrilling but dangerous game. A friend of Margaret’s described her mindset as she hovered on the brink of an affair with a married man: “One always felt the tremendous nervous energy, that the daring nature and cleverness was a kind of shield. That quizzical look in her eyes really reflected an inner confusion, a plea for better answers. I don’t believe she envied her sister. Yet, she did so long for a purpose to her life. Marriage and children did appeal to her-but it seemed she wanted more. What that might be I don’t think even she had the foggiest.”32
As she struggled to find her way through the fog, her white leather Bible was her guide and consolation. The princess was not some frivolous fashion plate; she also held strong religious convictions, reading her Bible frequently. One night at dinner, she asked, “What is love? How can you define and recognize when it is real and when it is not?” This, onlookers concluded, was not some philosophical question but a dilemma the princess was facing in her personal life. If they had seen how she behaved while on a walk around the Scottish estate with her father that August of 1951, they would have been left in no doubt about who was the focus of her affections.
Following a picnic lunch, Townsend went for a snooze in the meadow, and when he awoke from his reverie, he discovered that Margaret was covering him with a coat. He recalled, “I opened one eye-to see Princess Margaret’s lovely face, very close, looking into mine.” Behind Margaret was the king, watching-not with anger or jealousy, but “kind, half-amused.” Townsend murmured, “You know your father is watching us?” At which she laughed, took the king’s arm, and walked away, “leaving [Peter] to [his] dreams.”33
That summer others began to notice the undeniable chemistry between Townsend and the king’s daughter. Indeed, it seems that the scarcely believable whispers about the couple began the previous year. Young socialite Lady Jane Vane-Tempest-Stewart returned from a week at Balmoral in August 1950 and told her mother that she was convinced that the princess and the recently promoted court official were in love. Her mother’s response was that of stunned incredulity. “Don’t be so romantic and ridiculous,” she told her. “He’s the king’s servant. She can’t be in love with the king’s servant, that would be utterly wrong.”34 (106-7)
6 “My Dear Prime Minister”
Midway through the tour an Australian camera crew was scheduled to film her looking at wildlife during a weekend break at the O’Shannassy Reservoir in Victoria, where the queen and Prince Philip had an executive chalet. When their chalet door opened, the cameraman started filming, expecting the queen and her husband to stroll into vision. Not this time. Out dashed Prince Philip, hotly pursued by his angry wife, who threw a tennis racquet and tennis shoes at the retreating figure. Eventually the queen dragged her husband back into the chalet, slamming the door behind her. It was sensational footage, revealing the fiery side of the royal marriage. Within minutes the queen’s press secretary, Commander Richard Colville, appeared and demanded the senior cameraman, Loch Townsend, hand over the film. He duly obliged, and minutes later an apologetic monarch appeared. She told the crew, “I am sorry for that little interlude but, as you know, it happens in every marriage.”11 Not only did the incident open a window into the royal marriage, but it also revealed the deferential dynamic between the press and the palace. There was never any question that the film would ever be broadcast, and it was promptly destroyed (153-4).
Far from being cast out, penniless, and shamed, she was informed that she would keep her title, her Civil List payment (which, upon marriage, would increase from £6,000 to £15,000 a year, the equivalent of $500,000 in 2020), her royal duties, and her appellation “Her Royal Highness.” Moreover, at some point in the future, Townsend may have been given a title as well as his own official allowance. The only sacrifice she would have to make was to ask the queen to remove her and her children from the line of succession. As her chances of becoming queen were remote-she was third in line after Charles and Anne-it was no hardship. The other stipulation was that she would have to marry in a civil ceremony, which would be the case whether she was royal or commoner. As Paul Reynolds, a former BBC royal correspondent, observed, “Far from opposing her sister’s marriage, the queen’s attitude was summed up by Eden in a letter to Commonwealth prime ministers: “Her Majesty would not wish to stand in the way of her sister’s happiness.”22 (161-2)
What is striking about this dramatic romantic episode is how it parallels the theatrical contours of the abdication in 1936. There was, though, one important variation: This time around it was a woman, not a man, who was in control of the unfolding narrative. In the days leading up to the abdication, Wallis Simpson, like Peter Townsend, was left in the dark about the decisions and discussions taking place at Buckingham Palace and Downing Street. During the abdication drama, Wallis was in the south of France, staying with friends. Her only communication with the king was a daily phone call on a primitive international telephone link. Even though she shouted down the phone line: “Do not abdicate,” warning that it would be “disastrous for you and destroy me,” Edward VIII was deaf to her entreaties.37
Though Townsend and Margaret spoke on the telephone and met in person during their romantic crisis, it seems the princess, like Edward VIII, withheld from Townsend important-nay, vital-information that would have affected his judgment about their possible future together, namely the soft landing crafted by the prime minister. Just as Wallis took no part in the discussions that would shape the rest of her life, so Townsend was kept out of the loop in regard to the meetings among the queen, the princess, and the prime minister. He said as much in his memoir, stating that he was “not in possession of any of the facts.”38
If his memoir is an honest and fair recitation of their affair, it seems that Margaret, like Edward VIII almost two decades earlier, was withholding information from her lover. The princess was aware, following her meeting with prime minister Eden, that the penalties she and Townsend faced were modest and that she had the support and devotion of her sister, who was prepared to accept any decision she made. More than that, the queen was willing to countenance possible damage to the monarchy-a course of action that would have horrified her former private secretary Tommy Lascelles-if Margaret did decide to go ahead and marry Townsend.
Just as Edward excluded Wallis from information that would change her life, this time around it was the woman, Princess Margaret, who held the cards. The princess, with her sister’s support, was the one who made the consequential decisions. Throughout the dramatic denouement, Townsend was on the outside looking in.
At the same time, neither party forced the pace. After two years apart, in August 1955, when Margaret turned twenty-five, they could easily have been reunited. Margaret was on holiday, while Townsend, too, had plenty of time on his hands. By his own admission, as an amateur jockey, he flew to racecourses all over Europe. Instead, he could have arranged to meet his beloved so that they could together address the looming question- Were they still in love?-a question to which Margaret alluded in her letter to the prime minister.
While the resolution of this issue lay at the emotional heart of their dilemma, in his memoir Townsend lamented the endless waiting: “And so the days passed, as I waited for the denouement of the Princess’s and my problem.”39
Nor is there mention of an engagement ring either before, during, or after his exile. This is all of a piece with his passive acceptance of events, waiting for something to transpire rather than taking his fate into his own hands. By contrast Margaret, with her sister’s support, sought to control the narrative of her life-even though she was not completely honest with her lover about the secular consequences of her actions.
There is a further twist to this romantic drama. It seems that during their years apart, Margaret may have been two-timing the group captain with a man who bore a remarkable resemblance to her lover. With his chiseled features, compact mannequin body, and dreamy eyes, fifties crooner Eddie Fisher could have been Townsend’s younger brother. He met the princess on numerous occasions during the early 1950s. At one midnight gala Margaret invited him to her table and asked him to sing or whisper his number one hit “Outside of Heaven” into her ear.40 They met again at a charity ball at the Dorchester hotel in 1953, and the following August Fisher offered to delay his flight back to America if she wanted him to sing “Happy Birthday” to her-in person. Though she declined on that occasion, they were more intimate on others. His daughter and Star Wars actor Carrie Fisher revealed that the princess and her father, then married to Singin’ in the Rain star Debbie Reynolds, were lovers. “They had a beautiful romance,” she admitted.
She first talked about her father’s affair at the royal premiere of The Empire Strikes Back in central London in 1980. As Princess Margaret walked along the receiving line, she whispered to her costars, Sir Alec Guinness, Harrison Ford, and Mark Hamill, “My father had sex with Princess Margaret. In a beautiful way they made love.”41 As soon as she blurted out this family secret, she said, “I’m going to get into a lot of trouble for this.” According to Fisher, their tryst took place when he was twenty-four and she was twenty-two, which would date their meeting either in 1952, the year of her father’s death, or in 1953, the year of the coronation, when the affair between Margaret and Townsend first became public. During that year the princess was photographed deep in conversation with Fisher during a ball at the Dorchester hotel.
Fisher, who had twenty-four top ten hits in the first six years of the decade, was as famous for his lovers as his LPs. Besides his five marriages, he had affairs with, among others, Joan Crawford, Édith Piaf, Kim Novak, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and Mia Farrow. If what Carrie Fisher was told is accurate, it would add a further question mark with regard to Margaret’s long-term commitment to Townsend (170-4).
7 The Prince and the Showgirl
It seems that there were times when Margaret was inflamed by a primal jealousy. During a visit to Windsor Castle, prime minister Harold Macmillan was startled when Princess Margaret, clad in a dressing gown, entered the queen’s sitting room and yelled, “No-one would talk to you if you weren’t the Queen,” before gathering up her gown and stalking out. A shocked PM felt that he had been witness to a domestic drama he had no right or wish to see.29
At the same time Elizabeth forgave her sister much. She had always felt responsible for her sister, and time had not changed that sentiment. Certainly no one else in the kingdom could have gotten away with such insulting behavior toward the sovereign.
The queen, meanwhile, took the rudeness with her usual stoicism, as indulging Margaret was something of a family tradition. Her mother was equally equable. No matter how provocative her daughter’s behavior, she sailed on like a Spanish galleon, magnificently indifferent. Margaret’s needling had little effect. “Why do you dress in those ridiculous clothes?” she would demand of her mother, who was still in the prime of her life. After she visited the queen mother’s beloved Scottish retreat, Castle of Mey, the place that had inspired her spiritual recovery after the death of George VI, Margaret was dismissive. “I can’t think why you have such a horrible place,” she sneered. The queen mother replied, “Well, darling you needn’t come again.” And she didn’t.
At Royal Lodge, where the family had such happy memories, the princess would switch the TV channel without warning when she did not enjoy what her mother was watching. When the queen mother’s friend, Prudence Penn, objected to this behavior, the queen mother soothed her: “You mustn’t worry. I’m quite used to it.”30 Though at times the family dynamic was one that might pique the interest of the playwright Tennessee Williams, the queen mother never rose to the bait to rebuke her daughter. “You will see that this tiresome incident will have no effect on [the queen mother] at all,” a lady-in-waiting said to a guest. “She will enjoy her day as much as though it has never happened. Nothing will disturb her happiness.”31 The queen and queen mother had lived with Margaret’s dramatic, somewhat histrionic, behavior ever since she was a little girl. She was a performer, and for all her faults, they knew that at heart she was a loving and loyal sister and daughter. They forgave her much, almost anything.
Though Margaret was seen as more progressive and “with it” than her older sister, the irony was that the queen, as a working mother with two children, juggling a household and a demanding executive job, fit the mold of the new breed of modern women. While the queen was up and about at eight in the morning, Margaret, who often returned to Clarence House with the milk bottles, did not even think about getting out of bed until eleven, when her devoted maid and dresser Ruby MacDonald brought her a tray of tea and orange juice or fruit. If she had no public engagements, her day would revolve around a lunch, her afternoon a fitting at Victor Stiebel or Dior, or in the summer a quiet hour of sunbathing in the secluded garden. While she was deciding what to wear for an evening event-Margaret was an immaculate dresser-her sister could be hosting a gathering of diplomats or charity workers or holding a weekly audience for the prime minister.
After an evening at the theater or ballet or dining and dancing, she might invite friends back for supper, serenading the throng with songs as she played at her grand piano. In her novel Palm Beach, author Pat Booth gave a description of the late-night performance: “The voice was deep and throaty, the legacy of too many cigarettes, the hint perhaps of the odd late night. She wrapped her full, ripe lips indulgently round the syllables, milking them of their humour, as she rolled her eyes towards the ceiling.” Guests who were in the know would make their excuses and leave promptly; otherwise they were in for a long night as the princess entertained her guests on the piano (197-9).
Nonetheless, royal staff soon learned that for both sisters there was an invisible line that prevented people from getting too up close and personal. Cross it, and you were liable to encounter “the Windsor glare,” a look that said, “Don’t overstep the mark.” Overfamiliarity was discouraged with a chilly look or glance.
Princess Margaret resorted to a frosty countenance whenever she wanted to insist on her position, to remind people, in the words of her cousin Lord Lichfield, “Don’t forget who I am.”34 Former Labour lawmaker Woodrow Wyatt observed: “Suddenly you may feel her psychologically draw herself up with the unspoken ‘I am the sister of the Queen,’ which is instantly crushing.”35
Her renowned tendency to quickly switch from amiable to aloof with the arching of an eyebrow perhaps reflected the contradictory behavior of the princess: one moment kind, generous, and spontaneous; the next dismissive, self-absorbed, and exacting. The wife of a courtier observed that Margaret’s mercurial behavior, her ability to shift from nice to nasty in seconds, was at times bewildering. She recalled, “She was the only one who would come up to you at a party and really talk to you but the next day she’d cut you.”36
While Margaret was more volatile and extroverted than her sister, the queen, though blessed with a steady temperament, was from her youth very royal when she wished. “She was capable of giving you a very old-fashioned kind of look-nothing snobbish or pompous about it-that said she was a princess, and was going to be queen” said a long-serving aide.37 Prince Charles’s former valet Stephen Barry was more direct: “Nobody takes liberties with the queen. And if someone does she has a look that would freeze the sun.”38 (200-1)
8 “Sex, Sex, Sex”
The wedding, which took place at Westminster Abbey on May 6, 1960, was the first to be televised, attracting a worldwide audience of 300 million. Some 500,000 lined the streets to see with their own eyes the legendary princess in the glass coach make her way to the abbey.
In another break with royal tradition, Margaret chose to wear an unadorned dress, a suggestion and design sketched by Tony and fashioned by couturier Norman Hartnell, who created a plain, V-necked, tight-waisted dress with an enormous skirt-three layers of organza over tulle. The only glitter came from the princess’s magnificent diamond Poltimore tiara. Her wedding ring came from the same Welsh gold as the queen’s own ring.
During the ceremony, Noël Coward watched the queen closely and noticed her “scowl a good deal”-another sighting of the “Windsor glare.” While some might have interpreted that stern expression as a sign of ill temper, those who knew her understood that she scowled when straining to control strong emotions. According to Labour politician Richard Crossman, “When she is deeply moved and tries to control it she looks like an angry thunder-cloud.”23 Perhaps she was touched by the prospect that her mischievous, contrary little sister had finally found happiness-or so it seemed (217-8).
9 Cool Britannia
She was a pioneer in trying to remove the barriers of snobbery and protocol-but not all. Woe betide the conversational partner who said “your sister” or “your father.” They received the “Windsor glare.” Though she struggled to turn on the electric kettle, when she was a guest at a weekend party she liked to chip in, whether it be laying the fire-a particular pleasure-stripping wallpaper, or washing up. She hankered after a life more ordinary-but not too ordinary. Royalty mattered most. It was a social tightrope she walked all her life. As Tony’s business manager Peter Lyster-Todd observed: “I often stayed with them for weekends and you never quite knew what you were going to get; friendly Margaret or talking to ‘Ma’am.’”9 It became a common refrain. While drag artist Danny La Rue found Margaret “witty and highly intelligent,” he maintained, “you always knew you were in the presence of a princess.”
There was always a barrier, a self-conscious line few crossed, Windsor glare or not.
As one observer noted, “No one seemed to behave naturally when she was there. She tried her best but it always came across as condescension. She had that royal way of moving on, of not wanting to be left too long with anyone. She never really seemed to belong to that arty world.”10
The classic example was at the home of irreverent critic Kenneth Tynan, who asked Tony if after dinner he could screen a graphic homosexual film about two prisoners in love, directed by the French novelist and playwright Jean Genet. Would the princess mind? Tony thought it would do her good. However, once the room went dark and the guests, including playwright Harold Pinter, watched the screen, the atmosphere began to freeze as the graphic gay love affair was played out in front of the queen’s sister. Fortunately, comedian Peter Cook lightened the mood, delivering an improvised commentary. Within minutes everyone, including the princess, was rocking with laughter. In spite of this unusual and intimate after-dinner entertainment, Tynan, the great iconoclast, bowed to her, kissed her hand, and said, “Thank you ma’am.” Royalty had to be treated with due courtesy-even after watching blue movies.
It was a film of quite a different kind that the royal couple helped make for the queen’s thirty-ninth birthday in April 1965. The Snowdons joined Peter Sellers and several other friends in making a fifteen-minute home movie as a gift for Her Majesty. At one point in the amateur film Sellers, who played the Great Berko, proclaimed that in a world record time of eleven seconds flat he would perform his celebrated impression of the Princess Margaret. He then disappeared behind a screen, flung various articles of clothing into the air, and a few seconds later, the actual princess emerged, curtsying and grinning before retreating behind the screen.11 The queen loved the movie and showed it frequently (238-9).
10 “I Hate You”
In the New Year she was admitted to King Edward VII’s Hospital while her husband was working in Japan. While supposedly there for a “checkup,” rumors abounded that the princess had made a cry for help, overdosing on pills and alcohol. The previous weekend, Margaret had telephoned a friend while he was hosting a party. She threatened that if he did not come check on her immediately, she would throw herself from her bedroom window. The friend frantically phoned the queen at Sandringham, who replied calmly, “Carry on with your house party. Her bedroom is on the ground floor.”12 The queen’s response matched that of the queen mother and other members of the royal family. They lived in a world where illness was dealt with by going for a long walk, and mental illness was ignored altogether. Like the queen’s approach to central heating-“if you are cold put on a sweater”-her response to sickness, especially her sister’s, was brisk and no-nonsense.
A generation later, Princess Diana would experience similar uncomprehending indifference when she suffered from the eating disorder bulimia nervosa.
Yet even though the princess tended toward melodrama-as the queen knew all too well-it was impossible to deny the reality of her current depression. Soon after her hospital visit, she began another brief liaison, this time with Robin Douglas-Home, an aristocratic nightclub pianist and well-known womanizer who numbered Princess Margaretha of Sweden and possibly First Lady Jackie Kennedy among his many conquests. Coincidentally, Robin’s uncle was Sir Alec Douglas-Home, who had been appointed amid great criticism-much of it directed at the queen-to succeed Harold Macmillan as Conservative prime minister in 1963. With Snowdon off in Japan, Margaret and Robin began meeting at Kensington Palace or at Robin’s small home on Cromwell Road. According to one report, they were discovered by a servant in flagrante delicto on the sofa at Kensington Palace. She stared at the servant until he left the room and then carried on as though nothing had happened.
An experienced and attentive seducer, Robin made the princess feel desirable again. On Valentine’s Day 1967, she wrote him a gushing letter: “Darling, thank you for a perfect weekend… Thank you for making me live again. Thank you for being gentle when it was unexpected, which gave me back my self-confidence. Thank you for everything nice, which everything was. With best love.” She signed the letter simply “M.”-something that she only did with Tony and that only Tony called her.13
Again she wrote: “I think all the time of you. This is a bleak time for love. Not many people are lucky enough to have known a love like this. I feel so happy it has happened to me.”
How the letters surfaced in an American magazine was a subject Margaret agonized over soon enough, and the feverish press speculation about the affair forced Snowdon, then in New York, to make a public statement denying a marital crisis. Tony told jostling reporters, “Nothing has happened to our marriage. When I am away I write home and telephone like other husbands in love with their wives.”14 This lie especially wounded Margaret, as one of their main disagreements was over Tony’s failure to call while he was away. Still, Tony continued to maintain the façade, issuing another statement on February 26, 1967: “Talk of a rift is totally unfounded. It’s news to me and I would be the first to know. I am amazed.” His imperturbable discretion was duly noted inside Buckingham Palace, where the mantra was “deny, deny, deny.” Meanwhile, Margaret and Tony agreed to make a public gesture of reconciliation. In early March Margaret flew to New York to meet her husband at Kennedy Airport, and they then departed for the Bahamas, the couple staying at Jocelyn Stevens’s holiday home at Lyford Cay. At this point separation, not to mention divorce, remained unthinkable-for the sake both of their children and the image of the monarchy.
Upon her return from the Bahamas, Margaret broke off her month-long affair with Robin, telling him, “It has to be done this way for appearance’s sake.” Even though he was an accomplished Lothario, he was shattered by his dismissal. From then on he went downhill, and he committed suicide eighteen months later. Margaret did not attend his funeral. Their priority was to protect themselves-and the reputation of the queen.15 (253-5)
She needed no encouragement to attend the investiture of her nephew Prince Charles at Caemarfon castle in July 1969. The princess was eager to see how her husband, who had been asked by the queen to organize the event, had articulated his vision of meshing ancient and modern elements for a ceremony, last performed in 1911, where the Prince of Wales dedicated his loyalty to the queen.
In the preamble to the big day, the queen and the rest of the family had taken part in the making of a documentary, Royal Family, which followed the Windsors for a year. While reluctant film star Princess Anne thought the project was a “rotten idea,” more than 350 million people from around the world begged to disagree, tuning in to watch the royals at home and off duty. Among other delights, Prince Philip was filmed barbecuing, and the queen was shown taking young Prince Edward shopping for ice cream in Ballater. Significantly, the queen was seen cradling young Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones in her arms on the royal yacht Britannia as the royal party sailed around the Scottish coast.
As was their routine, Sarah’s parents were in the Mediterranean on board a friend’s yacht. “I think sometimes the Snowdon children used to think of the Queen as mum,” observed a friend.19 Certainly she took a special interest in Sarah, who was born just a couple of months after Prince Edward, perhaps wanting to shield her niece from the difficulties facing her parents. During their childhood, Sarah and her brother David spent most of their summer holidays with the queen or queen mother at Balmoral and Birkhall. Sarah learned to ride under the tuition of the queen, eventually entering horse riding competitions, carefully watched by her aunt. In many ways, Elizabeth assumed the role of surrogate mother, doting on them as children and later encouraging them in their respective careers.
The projection of the queen as a normal mother rather than a remote symbol was the abiding success of the documentary, revolutionizing public attitudes toward the monarchy. It augured well for the investiture, though threats of violence from Welsh nationalists ensured that everyone was on tenterhooks, particularly Prince Charles. Thankfully the ceremony, movingly traditional but also cleverly modern, went without a hitch, and Snowdon received universal praise for his creation, especially as it had been achieved on a minuscule budget. The queen, who had had her doubts about Tony’s vision, was perhaps the most enthusiastic. In a long letter of thanks and congratulations, she admitted that at first she was skeptical that his dramatic interpretation would work. She was delighted to be proved wrong, describing the ceremony as “spectacular and breathtaking.”20 Her respect for his undoubted brilliance grew accordingly. In the investiture honors list, where she gave those involved in the historic ceremonial her personal awards, she made Snowdon a knight of the Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, one of the most coveted awards she could grant (257-9).
11 “My Darling Angel”
Not that life on Mustique was a sunshine version of a vicar’s tea party. Another photograph that made its way onto the front page of the News of the World showed Roddy, Colin Tennant, and island manager Nicholas Courtney photographed by the princess in various poses on the beach, all of them stark naked (290).
12 Bud and Her Rose
Out of the stillness came the sound of a Scottish lament, “The Desperate Battle of the Birds,” chosen by her daughter. It served as a metaphor for her tumultuous life, so full of promise and glamour yet dwindling into loneliness and despondency. She was at once imperious and haughty as well as loyal and thoughtful. As all would attest, she was never dull (319).