biography of queen elizabeth's sister margaret

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Princess Margaret

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• The New York Times - Mad, Bad and Difficult to Know: The Life of a Rebel Aristocrat
• English Monarchs - Princess Margaret
• The Royal Family - Princess Margaret
• The Canadian Encyclopedia - Biography of Princess Margaret
• Princess Margaret - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Princess Margaret (born August 21, 1930, Glamis Castle, Scotland—died February 9, 2002, London, England) was a British royal, the second daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother) and the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II . She struggled throughout her life to balance an independent spirit and artistic temperament with her duties as a member of Britain ’s royal family.

Margaret was the first member of the royal family in some 300 years to be born in Scotland , at her mother’s family seat of Glamis Castle. Her education was supervised by her mother, and she and her sister were entrusted to a governess. Margaret showed an early interest in music and took piano lessons from the age of four. She was six years old when her uncle, King Edward VIII , abdicated , and her father became king. After that, Princess Elizabeth, as heir to the throne, received a separate education, while Margaret continued under her mother’s supervision. In addition, she was required to take part in public engagements.

Margaret, who became known for her glamour and beauty, displayed an early love for nightlife and the arts. When she was in her early 20s, she fell in love with Group Capt. Peter Townsend, a war hero who had served as an equerry to her father. Their romance became public knowledge when Margaret was seen brushing lint off Townsend’s jacket at her sister’s coronation in 1953. Although Townsend and Margaret wished to marry, the fact that he was divorced made the marriage unsuitable, and Margaret gained worldwide sympathy in 1955 when she publicly renounced their plans to wed.

Margaret was already a fixture on London ’s social and arts scene when she began secretly seeing photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1958. The announcement of their engagement in February 1960 caught many by surprise. They were married on May 6, 1960, in the first royal wedding to be televised. (Armstrong-Jones was created earl of Snowdon in 1961.) The marriage was at first successful, and they had two children: David, Viscount Linley, born in 1961, and Lady Sarah, born in 1964. By the 1970s, however, the couple had grown apart. Both of the Snowdons engaged in public love affairs, and the princess scandalized conservative monarchists, cultivating friendships and romances among actors, writers, ballet dancers, and artists. She spent much of her time on the Caribbean island of Mustique, in the Grenadines . When her long-standing affair with Roddy Llewellyn, a landscape gardener 17 years her junior, was exposed in 1976, she lost public sympathy, and her volatile marriage finally ended in 1978, the first divorce in the British royal family in 400 years.

Eventually her extensive charitable work, combined with a new, more modern sympathy for the restricted options she faced, gained her a measure of public respect. Princess Margaret, who smoked and drank heavily throughout her adult life, was often in ill health. She had surgery for possible lung cancer in 1985 (the tissue proved to be benign) and later suffered a series of strokes.

The True Story of Princess Margaret's Death

Queen Elizabeth's sister passed away in 2002 after a series of strokes.

To announce Margaret's passing, Buckingham Palace issued the following statement : "The Queen, with great sadness, has asked for the following announcement to be made immediately. Her beloved sister, Princess Margaret, died peacefully in her sleep this morning at 6.30am, in The King Edward VII Hospital. Her children, Lord Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto , were at her side."

The Palace added, "Princess Margaret suffered a further stroke yesterday afternoon. She developed cardiac problems during the night and was taken from Kensington Palace to The King Edward VII Hospital at 2.30am. Lord Linley and Lady Sarah were with her, and The Queen was kept fully informed throughout the night."

The Queen Mother's official residence, Clarence House, said in a statement, "The Queen Mother has been told of the sad news of the death of Princess Margaret and she is deeply saddened." Just 49 days later, the Queen Mother would pass away, at age 101. The two deaths were devastating for Queen Elizabeth, and losing her sister and her mother in such quick succession had a deep impact on her.

As the show depicts, Princess Margaret suffered a series of strokes before her death, beginning in 1998. In 1999, while vacationing on her beloved Mustique , she burned her feet badly in a bath, greatly impacted her mobility. In December 2000, she was thought to have another stroke while at Sandringham for Christmas. According to CNN , before her death she suffered at least two strokes, and she was confined to a wheelchair in the final years of her life.

Her last public appearance was at Princess Alice's 100th birthday party in December 2001:

Princess Margaret's funeral was held at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, and it was attended by all the members of the royal family, including her sister and her children.

In a break from tradition, Princess Margaret was cremated . "Princess Margaret was cremated, one of the first members of the royal family, because she wanted to be buried between her parents and there was only room, really, for ashes," Lady Glenconner, a lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret, explained in the documentary Elizabeth: Our Queen . Her final resting place is Windsor Castle's King George VI Memorial Chapel , along with her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and as of last year, her sister, Queen Elizabeth .

Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma , a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram .

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Inside the Life of the Most Famous Royal Party Girl

Princess Margaret, the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II, passed away 17 years ago this month, but thanks in large part to The Crown , the late royal party girl is as popular as ever. The first two seasons of the Netflix series showcased Margaret’s younger years, which were full of heartbreak, loneliness, and wild nights out in the chic London arts scene of the 1950s, leading to a renewed cultural interest in the royal.

To satisfy our communal thirst for anything and everything Princess Margaret, PBS will air its new two-part series, aptly titled Margaret: The Rebel Princess , on February 10 and 17. The documentary traces the royal’s life (going beyond the stories we already know from The Crown ) and features interviews from a number of people who knew her — including Christopher Warwick, who wrote Princess Margaret: A Life of Contrasts , an authorized biography of the princess .

Ahead of the show’s debut, Warwick chatted with the Cut about working with Princess Margaret, the sides of her that the public never got to see, and why her hanging out with the likes of Mick Jagger was simply second nature.

You were the princess’s authorized biographer, meaning she specifically selected you to tell her story. What was that experience like? I first met the princess when I was working with a friend of hers on his first book, which we wrote at her house at Kensington Palace. Although I’d been well-aware of her all my life, I actually knew her for the last 22 years of her life, and it was a remarkable experience, really, from a biographer’s point of view. She was a fascinating person. It really was terrific to be able to talk to her directly and personally about aspects of her life and who she was. I’m not entirely sure that a biographer working with the person they are writing about gets to the true nitty-gritty, but you do it as best you can. And that’s how I was with Princess Margaret.

Did you have any preconceived notions of Princess Margaret before you met? And if so, were you surprised at all by her? The very first time that I had lunch with her, she said (and I remember her words precisely): “I expect before you met me, you thought I was the sort of person the tabloids said I was.” Then she paused, and she said, “And now you know I’m not.” It was so true that the woman I was talking to, the person I was getting to know, really wasn’t the person that I had read about in the tabloid press. I suppose it’s not unfair to say the public perception of her is divided. It’s true that, yes, she could be difficult. Yes, she could pull rank. Yes, she could bring a conversation to a shuddering halt by a correction or by a remark. But if we think of those as faults, then for all those faults, she was also, conversely, such fun. She was hugely intelligent, incredibly thoughtful and kind, and that’s the side of her by and large that was either not known or certainly wasn’t reported on.

Thanks to The Crown , she’s become popular with a new generation of people, and this documentary takes us through more of her life. What do you think will most surprise people? Margaret was perceived in many ways as a pioneer, as she straddled two worlds: the royal world with all its traditions and protocols and the modern world. If you went into her house at Kensington Palace, it looked like just a beautiful 18th-century classical interior. But within that interior, you got a very modern woman. On the grand piano, for example, she had something that was called Billy Bass, it was a rubber fish on a plastic wood look-alike base. If you pressed the button, the fish actually flapped about and sang “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” She was great fun. She had a lovely sense of humor. She could be very naughty.

But if she felt out of her comfort zone, if she felt threatened, if she felt she was made to look silly, then she would pull rank because of who she was. She famously had beautiful blue eyes, but if you overstepped the mark, those eyes turned to ice. I saw it only once. Otherwise, there are lots of stories about her unpleasantness. Some are true, and some are absolutely not. But what you never get reported was what a lovely person she was otherwise. She was a paradoxical character, if you like. Even the queen always said that her sister was an enigma.

Princess Margaret got a lot of criticism for being a party girl, but this documentary really shines a light on just how remarkable it was for her to even be so independent. The fact that she went out at night and even smoked in public seemed revolutionary. Smoking at that time was not at all unusual; what was surprising was when she was photographed in a nightclub when she was 19, lighting a cigarette in a long, black cigarette holder. There are things that we do that you don’t expect royalty to do, and doing this was pretty cool and trendy and shocking at the same time, but she was perceived as being a very glamorous trendsetter. In many ways she was.

Can you speak to her relationship with Queen Elizabeth? Perhaps people don’t really appreciate how strong the bond of love was between Elizabeth and Margaret. The queen, even when they were girls, always kept an eye on her sister because Margaret could be wayward. She could be cheeky. She could be naughty. In terms of personalities, Elizabeth and Margaret were as different as chalk and cheese. But despite that, there was never any break in the bond between them. There was great love between them. And from the queen’s point of view, there was a lot of sympathy for what went on in Margaret’s life. They spoke every day on the telephone, even if it was just a few minutes, and they were always very close.

The princess also made headlines for her relationships — notably, her doomed relationships with her father’s former aide, Peter Townsend, and her failed marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones. Later, she made headlines after her affair with gardener Roddy Llewellyn went public. How did the royals weather that scandal? When the princess met Roddy Llewellyn, they unexpectedly hit it off, and he provided her with something she hadn’t had: affection and, from her point of view, love. But the public relationship did damage Princess Margaret’s reputation considerably. The queen was known to have said to her prime minister at the time, “What are we going to do about my sister’s guttersnipe life?” This remark was apparently made public by the queen’s private secretary, Lord Martin Charteris. I asked him if she’d actually said that and he told me, “Oh, words to that effect.”

Was there ever any royal concern about Margaret’s socializing and close friendships with celebrities? Margaret was a very modern person. In the 1950s when Margaret started to come into her own, there were only two women that the international press were interested in, and that was Princess Margaret and Elizabeth Taylor. In the ’60s, when Margaret married Tony Armstrong-Jones, they were both very much part of the arty set of art, literature, films, and theater. She said, “People say, this was what Tony introduced me to, but I was always interested in that.” She was always a part of that. She was famously close friends with dancers, and among her putative lovers were the actors Richard Harris and Warren Beatty. This is a lady who was modern royalty in a way that Britain hadn’t really seen before. To know Mick Jagger was no big deal. To know Peter Sellers was no big deal.

Do you think she ever really got over the disappointment of not being able to marry Peter Townsend, whom she was famously initially not permitted to wed by her sister? Peter Townsend was not the great love of her life. Princess Margaret would not talk to any of even her closest friends about him. Even as her authorized biographer, oh golly, it was difficult talking to her about Townsend. She wasn’t giving anything away. “It’s all over and done with,” she’d say. “I’ve forgotten it.” But I got just one glimmer of the truth when she said to me on one occasion, “How do you know when you’ve been apart from somebody for two years if you still want to marry them?” So no, he wasn’t the love of her life; the love of her life was one man, and he was the man who died before she was 22, and that man was her father, the king, whom she adored.

Now, Princess Margaret is largely thought of as a sort of tragic figure — a fun girl in her youth who ended up alone. Is there any truth to that? In her later years, after Roddy married in 1981, she was a lady who needed love. It would have been absolutely wonderful if she had found somebody after Roddy, perhaps more of her own generation, who just could have played the part of partner. In the ’80s, there was a news story that she was about to become engaged to a friend of hers called Norman Lonsdale — because she had been seen wearing a ring on the wedding finger. She said to me, “Oh dear, oh poor Lonsdale.” She told me, “When a 51-year-old woman puts a 25-year-old ring on her finger, it does not mean she is going to be married.”

Then she told me, and this was very poignant at that time, “At my age, I shouldn’t be alone.” I think that sums up much of her later years: She was alone. It’s sad, but the idea that she was a sad woman simply is not true. There were times when she was very, very lonely. But my goodness, she was a lady who loved life and enjoyed friends. We’ve all gone through sad and unhappy times in our life and she was no different. But was she a sad or a tragic character? No, she wasn’t. Not at all.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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Princess Margaret

Article by Carolyn Harris

Published Online December 13, 2022

Last Edited December 13, 2022

Princess Margaret Rose (HRH The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon) (born 21 August 1930 in Angus, United Kingdom; died 9 February 2002 in London, United Kingdom). Princess Margaret was the sister of the late Queen Elizabeth II and aunt of King Charles III . She served as colonel-in-chief of three Canadian military regiments and opened Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto (now Princess Margaret Cancer Centre).

Early Life and Education

Margaret was born at Glamis Castle during the reign of her grandfather King George V , the younger of the two daughters of the future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (née Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon). Her mother was a member of the Scottish aristocracy and Margaret was the first princess to be born in Scotland since Queen Victoria ’s granddaughter Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, the future Queen of Spain, in 1887. In 1936, Margaret’s father became king following the death of his father and the abdication of his elder brother, King Edward VIII , and the family moved into Buckingham Palace.

Margaret and her elder sister, the future Queen Elizabeth II , were educated at home by a Scottish governess, Marion Crawford. Margaret received piano lessons and became an enthusiastic piano player, singer, and actress in amateur theatricals. She was known for her sense of humour and vivacious personality. Elizabeth and Margaret spent the Second World War at Windsor Castle, where they delivered a radio broadcast to the children of the British Empire and Commonwealth in 1940. Margaret accompanied her parents and sister on an official tour of South Africa in 1947.

The Accession of Queen Elizabeth II

On 6 February 1952, King George VI died in his sleep and Margaret’s elder sister succeeded to the throne as Queen Elizabeth II. Margaret and her mother, now Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, moved out of Buckingham Palace to Clarence House in London. Margaret was devastated by the death of her father and turned to her father’s equerry, Group Captain Peter Townsend, for comfort.

Peter Townsend

At Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation on 2 June 1953, a journalist observed Margaret removing a piece a fluff from Townsend’s jacket, prompting speculation about their relationship. Townsend was divorced and therefore not considered a suitable spouse for the Queen’s sister. Margaret was encouraged to delay her decision until she turned 25, and Townsend was stationed abroad. In 1955, Margaret decided not to marry Townsend and made an official statement, declaring that “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."

Cultural Interests, Philanthropy, and the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

Margaret was patron or president of more than 80 organizations in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. Her philanthropic work focused on health care, children’s welfare and the arts. In 1957, she became the first president of the Royal Ballet in the United Kingdom. That same year, she received an honorary doctorate in music from the University of London. Margaret’s Canadian patronages included Princess Margaret Hospital (now the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre) in Toronto and the nearby Princess Margaret Lodge, where cancer patients from outside the city could stay during their treatment.

Royal Tours of Canada

Princess Margaret represented the Queen on royal tours throughout the Commonwealth and visited Canada on 10 occasions (in addition to a brief refuelling stop in Dorval on her way to Jamaica on her first solo Commonwealth tour in 1955). ( See also 10 Memorable Royal Tours of Canada .)

During her 31-day tour of Canada in 1958, she celebrated British Columbia ’s centennial, attended a performance of A Winter’s Tale at the Stratford Festival , visited Niagara Falls and attended a military review at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown , which included a simulated “atomic battle.” In 1967, she attended a fundraising ball for Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto with her husband Antony Armstrong-Jones, then visited Expo 67 in Montreal . She visited Winnipeg twice in the 1970s with her husband, first to open the Winnipeg Art Gallery in 1971 and then to celebrate the city’s centennial in 1974.

In 1980, she visited Saskatchewan and Alberta to mark the 75th anniversary of each province’s entry into Confederation . She toured Ontario in 1981 and visited British Columbia for Expo 86 in 1986. In 1988, she marked the 75th anniversary of the Women’s Institutes of Nova Scotia in Canning . In the 1990s, she undertook two private working visits to Toronto, in support of Princess Margaret Hospital in 1993, and of the reopening of Princess Margaret Junior School in Etobicoke in 1996.

Margaret was colonel-in-chief of three Canadian military regiments: The Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada ( see also 31 Canadian Brigade Group ), The Princess Louise Fusiliers ( see also 36 Canadian Brigade Group ) and The Royal Newfoundland Regiment .

John Turner

During her 1958 tour of Canada, Margaret met future prime minister John Turner at a ball on the naval base at Vancouver ’s Deadman’s Island. The Toronto Telegram reported at the time, “Princess Margaret sat in the moonlight last night in an intimate tête-à-tête with a young bachelor lawyer … at a secluded table on the lawn of the HMCS Discovery naval base… Hardly anyone noticed the young couple as they chatted, laughed, sipped drinks and smoked cigarettes.” They danced together at a subsequent ball at Rideau Hall later in the tour. In a 1966 letter to a friend, Margaret stated, “I nearly married him.” Turner, however, was a Roman Catholic and members of the royal family could not marry Roman Catholics and retain their place in the line of succession at the time.

Margaret was mentioned at key moments in Turner’s later political career. During the 1984 federal election campaign, future prime minister Brian Mulroney quipped,“When I was driving a truck, John Turner was dancing with Princess Margaret.” In 1988, a spokesman for Turner as Leader of the Opposition denied that he had missed a key House of Commons vote on free trade because he was at a private dinner with “his old dancing partner.”

Marriage and Children

On 6 May 1960, Margaret married society photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey in London. Her brother-in-law, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , walked her down the aisle, and her niece, Princess Anne , was one of her eight bridesmaids. Margaret’s wedding was the first royal wedding to be broadcast live on television, viewed by an estimated 300 million people around the world.

Canadian prime minister John Diefenbaker and his wife, Olive, attended the wedding. Canada’s wedding gift to the royal couple was a set of furniture, paintings and draperies for a room of their apartment in Kensington Palace.

In 1961, Queen Elizabeth II conferred the title of Earl of Snowdon on her brother-in-law. Margaret and Antony had two children, David (born 3 November 1961), who became a furniture designer and succeeded his father as Earl of Snowdon in 2017, and Sarah (born 1 May 1964), who became an artist and married Daniel Chatto in 1994.

Divorce and Reputation

The eventual breakdown of Margaret’s marriage was scrutinized by the British tabloid press, foreshadowing the coverage of the later marital problems of Charles and Diana , Prince and Princess of Wales. In February 1976, paparazzi photos of Margaret vacationing on the Caribbean island of Mustique with Roddy Llewellyn, a landscape gardener 17 years her junior, were published in a tabloid newspaper. Margaret and Antony separated the next month and divorced in 1978. The scandal prompted parliamentary debates regarding whether Margaret should retain her civil list allowance and continue to represent the Queen. Margaret ultimately retained her income and royal duties.

Later Life and Death

Margaret never remarried and suffered from poor health later in life. She died in her sleep at the age of 71, following a series of strokes, at King Edward VII hospital in London, with her children at her side.

Royal Family

Further reading.

Tim Heald, Princess Margaret: A Life Unravelled (2022).

Craig Brown, Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret (2007).

Christopher Warwick, Princess Margaret: A Life of Contrasts, Updated Edition (2022).

Associated Collections

Recommended, queen elizabeth ii, queen mother (hm queen elizabeth the queen mother), king charles iii, camilla, queen consort, prince william (hrh the prince of wales), catherine (hrh the princess of wales), diana, princess of wales: 1961-1997, prince harry (the duke of sussex), meghan (the duchess of sussex), king george vi, king george v, king edward viii, prince philip (hrh the duke of edinburgh), queen victoria.

Queen Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret were very different women who shared a 'primal bond'

Topic: Royalty

Queen Elizabeth (left) was four years older than her sister, Princess Margaret.  ( Facebook: The Royal Family  )

Lilibet was 10 and Margaret was six when a twist of fate turned these minor aristocrats into the heir and the spare.

By rank, the sisters should have led a luxurious life on the royal periphery, comparable to that of princesses Beatrice and Eugenie in the present day. 

But on December 11, 1936, their childless uncle abdicated the throne and hurtled them towards their new destiny.

Lilibet was to become Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's longest-reigning monarch and one of the most significant women in history.

Margaret, a girl with a sparkling wit and a craving for the spotlight, would spend the rest of her life in her beloved sister's shadow.

Their differences could have driven them apart. Like so many royal siblings throughout history, the crown could have come between them. 

King George VI said of his daughters: "Elizabeth is my pride, and Margaret is my joy".  ( Wikimedia Commons )

But these women shared a "primal bond", according to biographer Andrew Morton. 

"Margaret was her sister's alter ego," he wrote in Elizabeth and Margaret: The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters. 

"Throughout their lives Elizabeth and Margaret butted heads — the sensible, older sister matched with the mischievous, wilful little sister."

But their devotion would be tested by a doomed romance, a looming constitutional crisis and a string of scandals. 

Two very different women 

The House of Windsor has a history of producing a dutiful, conservative heir followed by a charming, slightly dangerous, sibling. 

"Charles the patient versus Andrew the foolish. William the cautious matched against reckless Harry," Andrew Morton said. 

Princess Margaret said she and her sister were often reduced to archetypes fit for a fairytale. 

Princess Margaret said her sister was considered as a saintly queen while she was cast as the "malicious" one.  ( Wikimedia Commons  )

"When there are two sisters, and one is the Queen, who must be the source of all honour and all that is good, the other must be the focus of the most creative malice, the evil sister," she said. 

Despite an uncanny physical resemblance, they were extraordinarily different people.

Elizabeth's morning followed a strict routine fit for a monarch: Awoken by bagpipes, she would take tea alone before settling down to read her correspondence and the government documents requiring her approval.

By contrast, her sister rose at 9:00am, chain-smoked in bed and took a bath run by her ladies-in-waiting.

After having her hair and make-up done, she made her way downstairs for a "vodka pick-me-up" at noon.

She would then join her mother for a "four-course lunch served in an informal manner from silver dishes with half a bottle of wine per person, plus fruit and half a dozen different varieties of native and continental cheeses."

Elizabeth and Margaret were very close, keeping a direct phone line between their palaces so they could talk whenever they wanted.  ( Wikimedia Commons: Ian Pretorius collection )

The Queen spent decades mastering the art of small talk with thousands of people at garden parties and state dinners. 

But her little sister was better known for wild house parties during which she sang, played piano, danced, gossiped, and downed expensive Scotch. 

"Disobedience is my joy," she once told French filmmaker Jean Cocteau. 

She smoked so much, according to her biographer Craig Brown, that she would glue a matchbook to her whisky tumbler "so that she could strike matches while drinking". 

She mixed with a crowd of British celebrities and bohemians, who enjoyed having a princess in their midst.

But they were also forced to endure her sharp tongue.

'The house guest from hell' 

After reeling people in with her charm, Margaret was notorious for suddenly hurling insults without warning. 

"Well you don't look like a movie star," she said to Grace Kelly when they met in the 1950s. 

She informed Elizabeth Taylor her engagement ring was "vulgar" and told the model Twiggy her nickname was "unfortunate". 

Princess Margaret was famous for her glamorous style, her love of Scotch and cigarettes — and her sick burns. ( Supplied: National Media Museum under Creative Commons )

She also exploited royal protocol, earning herself the title of "the house guest from hell" from those who entertained her.

She often showed up late to dinner parties, knowing the meal could not start until she had arrived. 

"Dinner was at 8:30pm, and at 8:30pm Princess Margaret's hairdresser arrived, so we waited for hours while he concocted a ghastly coiffure," English novelist Nancy Mitford recalled of a party in Paris in 1959. 

Her short temper and obsession with rank was an attempt "to control what she could", according to Helena Bonham Carter, who knew the princess and played her in the Netflix series, The Crown. 

"If you have very little control in your life, you often end up controlling what little that you can," the actress  said.

But perhaps the biggest difference between Margaret and her sister was their taste in men. 

Margaret's tragic love life nearly tore apart her relationship with the Queen, and threatened the future of the monarchy. 

A forbidden romance 

After the love affair between King Edward and divorcee Wallis Simpson triggered a constitutional crisis, the royal family were keen to avoid any more romantic scandals. 

And so when Princess Margaret announced at 22 that she had fallen in love with Peter Townsend, a divorced royal equerry 16 years her senior, they were swift to cover up the relationship.

"She was a girl of unusual, intense beauty confined as it was in her short slender figure and centred about large eyes, generous, sensitive lips and a complexion as smooth as a peach," Group Captain Townsend wrote in his memoir. 

"But what ultimately made Princess Margaret so attractive and lovable was that behind the dazzling facade, the apparent self-assurance, you could find, if you looked for it, a rare softness and sincerity." 

Hardly any photos of the couple exist, and palace courtiers continued to spruik Margaret as a single, glamorous and eligible young princess. 

But on the day of her sister's coronation, a tiny gesture gave the secret couple away. 

Waiting at Westminster Abbey for her carriage back to Buckingham Palace, Margaret was spotted by the media brushing a piece of fluff from Peter Townsend's uniform.

Princess Margaret, pictured here with four-year-old Charles, accidentally revealed her secret relationship during her sister's coronation.  ( AFP )

The intimacy of the moment was confirmation enough for the British press and they printed a story about their romance two weeks after the coronation. 

While the new Queen had asked the couple to give her a year to settle in before she would grant them permission to marry, the tabloid story sent her courtiers into a panic. 

They ordered Group Captain Townsend to move to Brussels to serve as air attaché at the British embassy. 

Princess Margaret was on tour in Rhodesia at the time.

When she returned, the love of her life was gone. 

Margaret must choose: status or love

For the next three years, the question of marriage consumed Margaret and Peter, as well as Buckingham Palace. 

The Queen, though nervous about the disapproval of her parliament and the Church of England, supported her beloved Margaret. 

"Her Majesty would not wish to stand in the way of her sister's happiness," then-prime minister Anthony Eden wrote in a letter to the Commonwealth. 

Together the Queen and Mr Eden formulated a plan. Princess Margaret could marry her love while keeping her royal title and allowance.

She could even continue with royal duties if the public approved, which was likely, given that by 1955 people regularly shouted to her: "Go on, Marg, do what you want!"

Princess Margaret announced she would give up Peter Townsend in 1955.  ( Derek Berwin/Fox Photos/Getty Images )

But there was a catch. She would have to renounce her rights of succession and those of her children, and marry in a civil ceremony. 

Three days after the Queen and her prime minister finalised the plan, Margaret broke up with Peter Townsend forever. 

"Mindful of the Church's teaching that Christian marriage is indissoluble, and conscious of my duty to the Commonwealth, I have decided to put these considerations before any others," she said in a statement.

"I am deeply grateful for the concern of all those who have constantly prayed for my happiness." 

Whether she was bullied by courtiers, loyal to the crown, or falling out of love, Margaret made her choice: To remain by her sister's side. 

Princess Margaret meets her match 

When they parted, Margaret and Peter Townsend made a pact to never marry anyone else. 

Four years later, Group Captain Townsend proposed to a Belgian woman 25 years his junior. 

Betrayed and heartbroken, the princess knew it was time to move on with her life. 

Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon on their wedding day, May 1960. ( AP )

A year after the Townsend wedding, she walked into Westminster Abbey surrounded by 2,000 guests, and married Antony Armstrong-Jones. 

The magazine photographer was the first commoner to wed a king's daughter in 400 years, and the Queen gave her new brother-in-law the title of Earl of Snowdon. 

"The [royal family] liked him very much — Tony had great charm, very good manners and he knew exactly how to behave," Anne de Courcy wrote in her biography of the earl. 

"He felt devotion to the royal family, to the Queen, who he admired immensely."

Her marriage ushered in an era of stability for Princess Margaret, who gave birth to two children and stayed close to her mother and sister. 

The Queen had a direct phone line installed from Buckingham Palace to Margaret's apartment in Kensington Palace so they could chat whenever they wanted. 

The princess and Lord Snowdon were at the centre of London high society in the 1960s, mixing with celebrities and intellectuals. 

Princess Margaret and her husband were at the centre of 1960s London high society.  ( AP: file )

But the relationship slowly started to unravel as both husband and wife engaged in affairs. 

By the early 1970s, the couple were so at odds that Lord Snowdon would hide abusive messages in Margaret's belongings.

"He took to leaving nasty notes on her desk, including one headed '24 Reasons Why I Hate You,' which particularly upset her," biographer Craig Brown said. 

"On [another occasion] a note [was] tucked into her bedside book, saying simply, 'I hate you.'"

In 1976, with her marriage all but over, Princess Margaret's romantic life triggered another scandal.

But this time she would not sacrifice love for the crown. 

Margaret's tragic final years 

Roddy Llewellyn was a 25-year-old gardener partying in Scotland when he caught the eye of a 43-year-old princess in the midst of a secret marriage breakdown. 

They kept their affair under wraps for several years, but a paparazzo with a long lens camera eventually spotted them on a beach in Mustique. 

"I didn't think about the consequences of such a high-profile affair," Mr Llewellyn later said of their relationship.

"I was just following my heart."

The British tabloids were aghast at the relationship between a married older princess and the man they referred to as her "boy toy".

Members of parliament called Margaret a "floozy" and a "parasite".  But despite pressure from her sister and the government, Margaret refused to give Roddy up.

And in 1978, she became the first royal since King Henry VIII to divorce, officially ending her marriage to Lord Snowdon. 

The rebel princess reduced the number of public appearances she made and spent more time in Mustique with her lover. 

However, her second era of relative stability did not last long. 

In 1981,  after eight years together, Roddy Llewellyn and Margaret broke up. 

She would spend the rest of her life alone, holidaying with friends on tropical islands and making an occasional appearance with her sister. 

Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret remained close for the duration of her life.  ( Reuters )

While the Windsor women are known for robust health and longevity, a lifetime of cocktails and cigarettes began to take their toil on Margaret when she reached her 50s. 

After years of ill health, she died in her sleep from a stroke in 2002. 

At the funeral, Elizabeth, known for her stoicism through war and tragedy, wiped tears from her face with a handkerchief. 

It was one of the few times the Queen ever cried in public.

Lady Anne Glenconner, who introduced Princess Margaret to Roddy Llewellyn, was at the funeral, and tried to avoid an encounter with the Queen.

 "It was difficult for the Queen and I felt rather guilty always, having introduced Roddy to Princess Margaret," she said. 

But the Queen spotted her after the service and asked to speak to her. 

"She said, ‘I’d just like to say, Anne, it was rather difficult at moments, but I thank you so much [for] introducing her to Roddy because he made her really happy,'" Lady Anne said.

Margaret may have been called Elizabeth's alter ego and her "evil" twin. 

But really, she was a woman with no purpose but to be a spare part in a gilded machine. 

She spent her life seeking love and connection with men she could not have, or worse, men who let her down. 

In the end, the most enduring and significant relationship Margaret had was the one she shared with her sister. 

Queen Elizabeth (left) and her baby sister Margaret shared an enduing "primal bond".  ( Wikimedia Commons  )

This article contains content that is no longer available.

How Britain’s ‘Wild Child’ Princess Margaret Brought The Crown Into The Modern Era

From partying to marrying a commoner, princess margaret’s brazen antics forced the british crown to rethink some of its rules — and paved the way for modern royals to live more freely..

Princess Margaret — the outspoken, fun-loving younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II — was one of the first British royals who dared to go against what was expected of her. Some have gone so far as to dub her a trailblazer who modernized the royal family itself.

Indeed, Princess Margaret (who’s garnered renewed interest thanks to Netflix’s The Crown ) broke the mold in almost every way. Until Princess Margaret died, she shirked royal protocol and forced the royal family’s hand in going against tradition to favor her own needs. She set the precedent for how Buckingham Palace handles relationships and scandals to this day.

Wikimedia Commons Up until Princess Margaret died in 2002, the royal shook up the British Crown with her romances, party habits, and vivacious attitude.

But underneath her carefree exterior was pent-up anger, pain, and frustration with her position as a royal living in the shadow of her sister, who was crowned queen at just 25, which has seemingly haunted the Princess throughout her life.

But while Princess Margaret struggled with the pressures of being a royal, her rebellious spirit brought the royal family into the modern era — for better or worse.

Princess Margaret Was Born Into Royal Turmoil

Princess Margaret was a disappointment the moment that she was born on August 21, 1930 — for reasons she simply could not control.

The British public and the royal family were hoping for a male heir to the throne because, at the time of Margaret’s birth, there were none.

Both the public and the royal family would have preferred a prince to a princess but had to settle for Margaret, now the second princess following her older sister, Elizabeth. Nonetheless, Elizabeth became the heir presumptive and Margaret the second in line.

Studio Lisa/Getty Images Princess Elizabeth and a young Princess Margaret in 1942.

The feeling of disappointment in the family heightened after her paternal uncle King Edward VIII abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson — a twice-divorced American socialite.

At the time, it was forbidden for a member of the royal family to marry a divorcée while the ex-spouse was still alive. The fact that Simpson had not one, but two living ex-husbands, was especially scandalous.

The king’s intention to marry Simpson almost caused a major constitutional crisis in England, and Edward was forced to give up his title and all that came along with it in order to follow through with his marriage.

Following the abdication, Prince George VI — Elizabeth and Margaret’s father — unexpectedly ascended to the throne, and in turn, his two daughters became princesses, with Elizabeth becoming the heir apparent to the throne.

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Life In The Shadow Of Her Sister’s Crown

At the ages of six and 10 respectively, Princess Margaret and Princess Elizabeth’s lives were effectively changed forever. Most of the public eye was focused on Elizabeth as she became the heir to the British throne overnight.

Elizabeth was to be groomed to become queen and her little sister Margaret was encouraged to play the role of a humbled young princess.

Prior to King Edward’s abdication, neither Elizabeth nor Margaret received a proper education. The two sisters occasionally had lessons on basic subjects — mathematics, reading, writing, and the like — but never anything beyond that.

This all changed for Elizabeth after she became the heir apparent, and she began to educate herself in all subjects necessary to prepare for her future role as Queen of England.

Lisa Sheridan/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret at the Royal Lodge, Windsor, UK. July 8, 1946.

Princess Margaret was not as fortunate as her older sister because her title didn’t deem her deserving of the same level of education. This exclusion greatly bothered Margaret — and that feeling of exclusion would seem to follow her for the rest of her life. She would later admit to a novelist that she had nightmares of disappointing her sister, or being “disapproved of.”

As the two sisters grew older, the disparity between Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret in terms of their roles in society only grew greater. The tension between the princesses came to a head after King George VI suddenly died in 1952, and Elizabeth became Queen on Feb. 6, 1952 at 25 years old.

The shadow that Princess Margaret’s older sister had cast over her for the majority of her life had now officially become a full-blown blackout — one that she seemingly would not recover from.

Rebellion, Romance, And Princess Margaret’s First Love

Long before Prince William and Prince Harry both chose to marry non-royals, or “commoners” as they were called at the time, it was Princess Margaret who made history by becoming the first daughter of a king to marry a commoner in 400 years.

Princess Margaret seemed to take advantage of her role as the less-publicized sister in her romantic life. While Elizabeth was expected to marry young and choose a partner fit for her by royal standards, Margaret was a bit more adventurous with her choice of beau.

Her first relationship was with Group Captain Peter Townshend. The two first met when Margaret was a teenager after her father interviewed him for a position as his equerry.

As she grew older, Princess Margaret became more and more infatuated with Townshend and a romance blossomed. Initially, the royal family turned a blind eye to their affair. Townshend was deemed an unfit partner for the princess. He was 16 years her senior, divorced, and the father of two children.

ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images Princess Margaret and Group Captain Peter Townshend’s relationship was disapproved of by the Crown and they forced to break up.

But Margaret was madly in love and didn’t care what her family or the Church of England had to say about the matter. Peter Townshend seemed to agree, he once wrote that their love “took no heed of wealth and rank and all the otherworldly, conventional barriers which separated us.”

Margaret was determined to marry Peter Townshend. But the Royal Marriages Act of 1772 required that the queen must approve of Princess Margaret’s marriage in order for it to proceed — and only until she reached age 25.

Margaret made it clear to her sister that she and Townshend intended to marry, but the queen requested that they hold off due to her upcoming coronation and subsequent six-month tour of the Commonwealth. She reportedly asked Princess Margaret to wait a year before she would make a decision on the matter.

Unfortunately for Buckingham Palace, a small gesture from Princess Margaret signaled to the rest of the world, which was in the dark about their affair, that she and Townshend were involved. The British media was sent into a frenzy.

At her sister’s coronation in 1953, Margaret flicked a piece of dust off of Townshend’s shoulder, which seemed to imply an intimacy between the two. The tabloids publicized their relationship and the story took the British public by storm.

Princess Margaret Vs. The Queen

Surprisingly enough, the British public largely approved of Princess Margaret’s relationship with Townshend , which created a rift between the public and the royal family as well as the British government. Margaret’s sister, the queen, was stuck in the middle of the sticky situation.

As head of the Church of England, Queen Elizabeth would be required to disallow the marriage on the grounds that marriage is absolutely indissoluble. But the Queen wanted to help her sister and make her happy, so she tried to work around religious and royal tradition to make their union possible.

Townshend was consequently transferred overseas to Brussels where he would wait two years until Margaret turned 25 — an age when she’d be able to marry without the Queen’s direct approval.

Wikimedia Commons Princess Margaret and Queen Elizabeth II during a visit to South Africa.

When Princess Margaret turned 25 in 1955, she and Townshend reunited and were free to marry. But there was a catch — in order to appease Parliament and those that value tradition, Princess Margaret would have to give up her royal title and allowance and leave the country for a minimum of five years in exchange for the marriage.

In 2004, the National Archives released documents that showed how the Queen and the prime minister at the time, Anthony Eden, worked together to try to give Margaret what she wanted. They drafted a plan in which Princess Margaret would be able to keep her title and civil list allowance, but would have to give up her place and her future children’s place in the royal line of succession.

In the end, Margaret chose not to marry Peter Townshend. In a statement, the princess announced her decision to the public:

“I would like it to be known that I have decided not to marry Group Capt. Peter Townsend. 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.”

Although the Prime Minister was seemingly on her side, there were still some members of Parliament who were extremely against the marriage.

Wikimedia Commons Princess Margaret and Princess Elizabeth are featured on a South African stamp from 1947.

Townshend mused in his 1978 autobiography,  Time and Chance, that he was not enough to Margaret in the face of her prestige as a royal. “She could have married me only if she had been prepared to give up everything — her position, her prestige, her privy purse,” Townshend wrote. “I simply hadn’t the weight, I knew it, to counterbalance all she would have lost.”

And with that, Princess Margaret became a victim of the outdated laws of the British monarchy in the eyes of her public.

Princess Margaret And Anthony Armstrong-Jones

After the marriage was rejected, Townshend returned to Brussels in order to start a new life. Although the decision was ultimately hers to make, the pain of losing the love clearly affected Margaret in the most profound of ways.

Faced with the social pressure to find a husband, Princess Margaret decided to get engaged to Billy Wallace — a family friend she had known for years. He was also generally considered a good fit for a princess.

However, Wallace was confident that the engagement was set in stone and went on a holiday to the Bahamas where he had a brief affair. He told Princess Margaret about what happened, and to his surprise, she immediately broke off the engagement.

Express Newspapers/Getty Images Princess Margaret greets the Beatles in 1964.

Margaret made the rounds in her various social circles following her heartbreaks. Her reputation as a wild child only intensified. She often partied into the early hours of the morning, drank frequently, smoked heavily, and all this very much in the eye of the public.

Margaret also was known for her extravagant routines. Into her mid-20s, the princess began her days with breakfast in bed accompanied by a “vodka pick-me-up” and a luxurious bath. These were later followed by four-course lunches.

That rebellious spirit brought her into the arms of Antony “Tony” Armstrong-Jones , a bohemian celebrity photographer who would become her first and only husband. It’s not known exactly when they met, but the Netflix TV show The Crown  shows that Margaret met him at a dinner party.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images Princess Margaret on her way to Westminster Abbey to marry Antony Armstrong-Jones, May 6, 1960.

The artist and motorcycle enthusiast intrigued Margaret. It is said that he treated her just as he would anyone else, despite the fact that Margaret was a royal, and filled her thirst for rebellion. The two kept their relationship secret until they announced their engagement.

This came but a year after the news that Peter Townshend was engaged to be married to a 19-year-old Belgian girl broke. The engagement came around Christmas. Margaret was reportedly determined to show the public that she was no longer in love with Townshend and that she’d moved on with her life.

Their engagement was formally announced to the public in February 1960 following the birth of the Queen’s second son and third child, Prince Andrew. On May 6, 1960, Princess Margaret and Armstrong-Jones became husband and wife at Westminster Abbey, in the first televised royal wedding in history.

/AFP/Getty Images Princess Margaret and her husband, the photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, at Buckingham Palace in London on their wedding day.

The wedding was as extravagant as a royal wedding gets and cost the British public more than $113,000.

The Marriage Deteriorates

The couple honeymooned expensively on a six-week Caribbean cruise aboard the royal yacht Britannia . Armstrong-Jones became the Earl of Snowdon in 1961 and the couple moved into apartments in Kensington Palace. Not long after their marriage, their first son David was born, and their daughter Sarah came three years later in 1964.

Apart from producing their children, the princess and the earl were perhaps the most popular couple in all of London. They attended high society events and enjoyed their popularity together.

But the two also had a tumultuous marriage as equally headstrong individuals. Armstrong-Jones continued to engage in sexual relationships with other women, namely the actresses Jacqui Chan and Gina Ward, and Margaret had indiscretions of her own.

PA Images via Getty Images Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon had two children together, David and Sarah.

Rumors of their extramarital affairs spread like wildfire. Margaret was reportedly romantically linked to her daughter’s godfather Anthony Barton and notable celebrities such as Mick Jagger and Peter Sellers.

But it was her relationship with Roddy Llewellyn that hit the nail in the coffin that was Princess Margaret’s marriage. Llewellyn was 17 years younger than Margaret. They were introduced in 1973 and the following year, the Princess invited Llewellyn to her vacation home on the private tropical island of Mustique.

In 1976, a photo of Margaret and Llewellyn was published on the front page of  News of the World and the public made the Princess out to be an unsavory sort of cougar.

It was after this picture was published that the Princess and the earl publicly acknowledged that their marriage had been falling apart and announced their separation. On July 11, 1978, Princess Margaret’s divorce was finalized — and it was the first time a British royal had divorced since King Henry VIII in the 16th century.

Princess Margaret’s Death At 71

Princess Margaret never remarried, and her later years were no easier than those in her raucous youth. Until Princess Margaret died, she suffered from a variety health complications.

Margaret was a lifelong smoker, beginning at the age of 15, and which caught up with her in 1985 when the she underwent surgery that required part of her left lung be removed.

Tim Graham/Getty Images Princess Margaret died of cardiac arrest years after receiving lung surgery. Here she is smoking at a gala for the Aids Crisis Trust.

Though she quit smoking in 1991, she continued to drink heavily, and in 1998, suffered from a mild stroke. Princess Margaret died on Feb. 9, 2002, after a stroke caused her to go into cardiac arrest.

The legacy that Princess Margaret left behind after her passing is truly iconic. She was a royal rebel — indeed, the royal rebel, and a trailblazer for what the British monarchy looks like today. If it weren’t for her efforts, the world would have never seen the likes of Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle married into British royalty.

Prince Harry and Prince William, as well as any future royal family member, can thank Princess Margaret for making the modern, more tolerant lives that they now lead within the royal family possible.

After this look at the wild life and death of Princess Margaret, brush up on your knowledge of the British royal family’s lineage . Then, read about Charles the Mad , one of the worst kings in history.

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The Untold Truth Of Queen Elizabeth's Sister, Princess Margaret

Many have been fascinated with the life of Princess Margaret not just because of the many historic firsts she brought to the British royal family, but also due to her wild streak that led to numerous scandalous headlines. But for all the criticism she received for her somewhat rebellious nature, the princess was also very popular for her kind heart and dedication to an assortment of charitable causes.

While it is true that Margaret never had as much responsibility as her older sister, Queen Elizabeth II, she served in her role very well, and upholding the reputation of the royal family was always of utmost importance. For that, she was not just an honored princess, but also a great sister to Elizabeth , helping to relieve some of the burdens of the crown. Princess Margaret's admirable traits like these, along with some controversial decisions, make her one of the most intriguing royals of modern times.

She was the first royal born in Scotland for 300 years

In the 17th century, King James I of England and VI of Scotland became the first monarch to rule over both countries, forming the basis of Great Britain (via Britannica ). However, for the following three centuries, every single other member of the royal family was born in England, not Scotland. So, the life of the future princess Margaret was instantaneously historic as she was the first royal whose birth took place in Scotland for all those many years.

Margaret came to the world on August 21, 1930, at Glamis Castle, which was chosen as the location because it was the ancestral home of her mother, the Duchess of York (later better known as the Queen Mother). In her book, "The Wicked Wit of Princess Margaret," Karen Dolby pointed out that her Scottish origin is not the only milestone, as she was also the final member of the family whose birth had to be witnessed by the Home Secretary under law, a rather archaic practice used to prove royal status.

The future princess' birth might have been marked with one more rare characteristic as well if procedures had been followed without intervention. But according to  The Independent , the registration of Margaret's birth was put on hold for days in order to prevent her from receiving the unlucky number of 13 in the parish records.

The two sisters did not receive a formal public education

The Duke and Duchess of York never enrolled either of their daughters, Elizabeth or Margaret, in public school, even after they had become princesses in 1936 when their father became King George VI. Instead, the parents hired a teacher who recently graduated from the Moray House Training College in Edinburgh named Marion Crawford — also affectionately called "Crawfie" by the future Queen Elizabeth. Crawfie was responsible for the girls' private education, but they also received valuable input from Queen Mary as well.

It is believed that at the time, the duke and duchess had no interest in their children becoming intellectuals, which is why they were educated in this way, says Christopher Warwick in his book, " Princess Margaret: A Life of Contrasts ." On the other hand, there might have been some regret from the duchess on taking this approach since she got to have the experience as a child attending a Chelsea day school.

Margaret and her family took shelter in the dungeons during World War II

In 1939, King George VI and his family, including his daughter Margaret, were advised to seek refuge in Canada in order to avoid the bombings of World War II, however, they refused to abandon the country and sought the safety of Windsor Castle instead. According to the BBC , the dungeons below provided further protection when needed, not just for the royals, but also for the crown jewels, which were wrapped up in newspapers for safekeeping.

The young Princess Margaret acknowledged that the general mood was optimistic even in those tense times but was not very impressed with some of the measures taken to protect her family. Some of her comments on the bizarre environment are included in "The Wicked Wit of Princess Margaret," like when she recalled, "We were not allowed to go far from the house in case there were air raids; and there had been a pathetic attempt to defend the castle with trenches and some rather feeble barbed wire. It could not have kept anyone out, but it did keep us in."

She was the assistant director of a play called The Frog

While the young princesses Margaret and Elizabeth lived in Windsor Castle, one of the ways that the sisters passed the time was to organize the small productions of two plays, "Cinderella" and one based on the Nativity. Margaret enjoyed these childhood experiences, so when she was given the opportunity to help direct performances of Edgar Wallace's play "The Frog" in June 1954, she accepted. It was an amateur production that culminated in only three evening shows, but those involved had a lot of fun on stage regardless of the number of mistakes that were made.

The attitude of the aspiring thespians probably had much to do with their status. In his book, " Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret ," Craig Brown described the charity event as made up predominantly of upper-class individuals, both among the cast and the audience. One notable member of this esteemed crowd was the playwright Noël Coward who was heavily critical of the performance and said, "Those highborn characters we watched mumbling and stumbling about the stage are the ones who come to our productions and criticize us! They at least displayed no signs of nervousness; they were unequivocally delighted with themselves from the first scene to the last, which, I may add, was a very long time indeed."

Peter Townsend and the princess remained friends

Princess Margaret would be part of more than one scandal throughout her life, and one of the most well-known of these began at the coronation of her sister, Queen Elizabeth, in 1953. From the way she interacted with war hero Peter Townsend at the event, it was clear there was a strong mutual attraction between the two, says The New York Times . Yet even though Townsend was a highly respected pilot in the Royal Air Force before working for the royal family, the fact that he was divorced meant that Margaret was prohibited from marrying him. When she turned 25 a few years later, the princess was free to wed Townsend without getting the queen's permission, however, Margaret would have lost her royal position and was unwilling to do so.

Townsend and Margaret may not have ended up together, but their friendship remained strong for the rest of their lives until his death in 1995 (per the BBC ). Unfortunately, the two did not get to see each other often but made sure to keep in touch occasionally through letters. A few years before Townsend passed away, the two randomly ran into each other at an event, and then attended a lunch together at Kensington Palace a year later. People who saw them commented how close they still were after all those years.

Margaret might have married Canadian Prime Minister John Turner

Along with her scandalous relationship with Peter Townsend, Princess Margaret had an impressive list of individuals she is rumored to have had affairs with throughout her life, including Mick Jagger, Peter O'Toole, and Warren Beatty, says Karen Dolby in her book "The Wicked Wit of Princess Margaret." Yet, one of these speculated affairs was confirmed years later in letters written by the princess about Canadian Prime Minister John Turner.

Turner met Margaret in 1958 before he was prime minister when she was visiting Canada for the summer. The two hit it off right away, and the couple's chemistry did not go unnoticed by the local media, according to CBC News . However, their relationship was cut short, allegedly after word came from the palace to end whatever was going on. 

At the time, it was unclear how serious the affair was. Years later, in 1966, the princess wrote a letter to her close friend, Sharman Douglas, and said, "John Turner is here & we meet on Thursday. It will seem so funny as we haven't met since I nearly married him & he's bringing his wife!"

The first royal wedding that was televised

Just as Princess Margaret's birth was historic, so too was her wedding to Antony Armstrong-Jones  (later the Earl of Snowden) in 1960 because it was the first marriage in the royal family that was featured on television. The broadcast reached a massive audience of 300 million viewers around the world. According to " Princess Margaret: A Life of Contrasts ," the bride-to-be was especially excited about the live coverage because, as she said, "Those of my friends who couldn't come could still see it. I loved that idea."

There were not nearly as many people who could view the wedding in person as on screen, but a respectable number of 2,000 guests also attended the event at Westminster Abbey. Among the esteemed attendees were Winston Churchill, the future poet laureate Sir John Betjeman, actress Margaret Leighton, and Noël Coward, along with many of her best friends.

The princess received land on Mustique Island as a wedding gift

For their honeymoon, newlyweds Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones used the Royal Yacht Britannia to travel to the Caribbean Sea. While on their cruise, Margaret visited her friends, Colin and Anne Tennant, on the small island they owned called Mustique, located 100 miles west of Barbados. At the time, the only other inhabitants there was a tiny village of fishermen and cotton growers, yet that would soon change.

Since the couple was camping on their mostly undeveloped island, they were grateful for the offer to use the luxuries that the Royal Yacht had to offer when Margaret arrived in May 1960. According to Christopher Warwick, during this visit was when Colin asked the princess if she would prefer a wedding present in a box, or a plot of land on Mustique. Margaret saw much potential for the island, so she chose a key location on a secluded peninsula overlooking Gelliceaux Bay. Once her dream vacation home was completed, Margaret lived on Mustique as much as possible and threw many parties with major celebrities and wealthy British aristocrats in attendance (via  USA Today ).

The first royal marriage ended since Henry VIII

Princess Margaret continued to set records for the royal family during her life, even when it came to the end of her marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones in May 1978, per Harper's Bazaar . The divorce of the couple was the first time that a marriage had ended (legally, at least) within the royal family since the reign of Henry VIII nearly 500 years before. However, in "Princess Margaret: A Life of Contrasts," Christopher Warwick pointed out a key difference between the two, which makes the end of the union between Margaret and her husband truly unique.

When the marriage between Katherine of Aragon and King Henry was over in 1533, it was not really through a divorce, but rather by the annulment of their union. The same process was then used to end his marriages with Anne Boleyn and Anne of Cleves as well. The distinction means that Margaret's marriage was the first one ever to have ended in the divorce court for a member of the royal family. Therefore, officially, the princess was only temporarily married, while Henry's weddings were treated as if they had never occurred at all.

The most controversial rumor is the affair she may have had with a London gangster

Of all the affairs Princess Margaret allegedly had throughout her life, there may not be a more scandalous one than with the petty gangster John Bindon. According to Karen Dolby in "The Wicked Wit of Princess Margaret," there are photos of the two at her vacation home on Mustique, but the majority of those closest to Margaret deny anything ever happened between the two. Though it is possible the princess did witness him performing his favorite lewd party trick of balancing beer glasses on his private parts.

On the other hand, there are rumors that far more risqué pictures exist, which prove that Bindon was not just a guest at Margaret's parties. Some speculate that evidence was secured in the vault of Lloyds Bank to protect the princess, and then may have been taken in the notorious bank heist of 1971 because of possible attempts from the government to censor the media, according to The Telegraph . The Express has taken this rumor to the extreme, though it is highly unlikely that the robbery had anything to do with Princess Margaret or the royal family.

There was an assassination attempt by the IRA

In October 1979, the tension between Ireland and the U.K. was extremely high after the assassination of Earl Mountbatten by the Irish Republican Army. Princess Margaret was then dangerously pulled into the conflict when a journalist claimed that she had referred to the Irish as "pigs" at an event in Chicago. According to Christopher Warwick  in "Princess Margret: A Life of Contrasts," Mayor Jane Byrne was quick to deny the princess said it, and her spokesman, Lord Nigel Napier stated, "There is no truth in the allegation whatsoever" (via the Belfast Telegraph ).

Despite the denials, U.S. law enforcement was alerted that a plot targeting the princess was considered by the IRA while she was in Los Angeles and her security detail quickly multiplied in response. No suspect was found after a rapid investigation, though fortunately, an attempt on her life was never made, and Margaret traveled back to the U.K. just a few days later.

Princess Margaret was the patron of 80 organizations

Most likely due to Princess Margaret's wild lifestyle at times, with famous rock stars attending her parties, the princess received some harsh criticism for not performing enough royal duties. On the other hand, she did support her sister and family through her commitment to an impressive number of 80 charities and arts organizations, according to the official Royal Household website. The princess also became president of 11 of these organizations, including the St. John Ambulance Brigade (via the BBC ).

The range of organizations that Margaret supported was quite broad, but two of the main areas she focused on were the health and welfare of children, along with the treatment of those with severe illnesses. Outside of her charity work, the princess showed much support for the ballet performances she loved and became the president of the Sadler's Wells Foundation, as well as the first president of the Royal Ballet.

The princess established the first unit for ovarian cancer research in the U.K.

Supporting healthcare was clearly a very important type of charity work carried out by Princess Margaret as she was not only the president of the St. John Ambulance Brigade but also the Colonel-in-Chief of the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (via The Royal Household ). 

One of her most significant contributions was towards a matter much more personal, as she helped establish the first-of-its-kind ovarian cancer research unit at Belfast City Hospital in 1995, according to the BBC . As a chronic smoker, the princess had suffered through a horrific case of lung cancer, which resulted in the removal of a portion of the organ, so she was well aware of the damage the disease could do.

But Princess Margaret was far from the only one to see immense value in the cancer center. Within medical circles, Belfast gained recognition when a team located there was able to find a gene linked to ovarian cancer. The discovery secured funding from the Cancer Research Campaign and gained support from Queen's University.

She was one of the few royals who chose to be cremated

When Princess Margaret passed away in 2002, she made a decision that made her stand out in one more major way for the last time by choosing to be cremated instead of buried. Her funerary preference may have shocked her family since she is one of only a couple of senior British royals to go that route (per the New York Times ), but it made perfect sense given how much she loved her father, and cremation made it possible for her ashes to be interred next to him, as explained by Christopher Warwick in "Princess Margaret: A Life of Contrasts."

But the burial beside King George VI in the Memorial Chapel was not the only reason why Margaret wanted to be cremated. The princess was often a forward-thinker throughout her life, and her view on cemeteries was no different, believing that the archaic tradition used up too much land in a world gradually running out of space.

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Why Princess Margaret Sacrificed Love for the Crown

By: Erin Blakemore

Updated: June 2, 2023 | Original: December 8, 2017

At Elizabeth II ’s coronation at Westminster Abbey in 1953, all eyes should have been on the new monarch. But someone else  stole the show that afternoon: Princess Margaret. At the televised event, the queen’s sister picked a piece of lint from the lapel of Peter Townsend, a war hero who now served the royal family—and the intimate gesture sparked a royal scandal.

It wouldn’t be her last. From her dramatic almost-marriage to her very public divorce, Margaret’s tempestuous love life dominated the royal spotlight for years. The princess’s star-crossed romantic entanglements were the stuff of rumor, tabloid speculation and scandal—yet they played a critical role in modernizing royal love along the way.

Margaret’s relationship with Townsend began in the early 1950s. Worldly, beautiful and charming, she was intensely attracted to the handsome veteran. But Townsend was not considered an appropriate royal match. Though their affair was conducted in secret, the world soon learned that Group Captain Townsend had divorced his wife and proposed to Margaret—and that she had accepted.

At the time, divorce was considered a major scandal, and it was unthinkable for a royal to marry both a commoner and a divorced man. Since the Church of England looked down on the dissolution of marriage, Margaret—whose sister, the Queen Elizabeth, was the head of the church as part of her duties as head of state—faced a considerable obstacle. If she married Townsend, it might give the appearance that the queen approved of divorce.

There was another problem: the Royal Marriages Act of 1772. The law—which had its roots in George III’s distaste for both of his brothers’ marriages to commoners—gave the monarch ultimate say over who married whom. Under the law , all descendants of George II needed royal permission to marry. If they did not receive it, they could marry after one year of waiting as long as both houses of Parliament approved.

Margaret needed her sister’s permission to marry Townsend. If she couldn’t get it, she could beg Parliament for the right to marry, but that would have caused a scandal even more dramatic than her affair with a divorced man.

Societal mores made the potential match distasteful. Family wounds—Elizabeth only ascended to the throne after her uncle abdicated to marry a divorced commoner—made the request seem outrageous. And these facts seemed to make it impossible for Margaret to marry Townsend. Elizabeth, about to tour the Commonwealth after her own coronation, asked her sister to wait. Meanwhile, Parliament and the public made it clear that they didn’t support the match.

But contrary to The Crown , which portrays Elizabeth as ultimately blocking the marriage for the sake of the monarchy, the real-life Elizabeth did come around to the idea. She even drew up a plan that would allow Margaret to marry Townsend and stay part of the family. As the BBC  explains , the compromise would have amended the Royal Marriages Act and essentially made it unnecessary for the queen to give her permission at all.

There was a catch, though: To marry Townsend under this plan, Margaret would have had to give up her right of ever succeeding to the throne and those of her children, too. It’s not clear if this is why Margaret eventually broke off her relationship with Townsend, but the scandalous near-marriage never occurred.

“From the romantic point of view, the episode is a sad disappointment,” wrote the New York Daily News of the incident. But Margaret’s next relationship—her 1960 marriage to the respected photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones—was just as romantic and, eventually, just as scandalous. The romance, kept secret until the engagement was announced, took the world by surprise. ( According to friends , Margaret only decided to go through with the marriage when she learned that Townsend planned to remarry.)

On paper, Armstrong-Jones (named Lord Snowdon after the marriage) was a much more suitable match than Townsend. Though he was a commoner, he came from a family of respected artists and had never been divorced. But after their lavish wedding, the  relationship turned disastrous. Though the princess and the commoner were seen as helping break down Britain’s strict class barriers, their private life soon became distant and troubled.

On the outside, the couple led a Swinging Sixties life filled with parties, glamorous friends and art. Inside, their relationship was crumbling. Adultery, arguments and overindulgence in alcohol and drugs strained their marriage. They were subject to overwhelming scrutiny from the public and the British press, which followed their every move.

Finally, things came to a head when  photos of Margaret and Roddy Llewellyn, a man 17 years her junior, on vacation were published in a tabloid. Finally, Margaret admitted that her marriage had failed. It was what Snowdon’s biographer, Anne de Courcy,  called “the most serious marital drama in the royal family since the Abdication.”

Margaret couldn’t marry a divorced man, but she could become a divorced woman herself. In 1978 she became the  first senior member of the royal family to divorce in 77 years. But though she was mocked in the press and viciously tracked by reporters, Margaret’s divorce represented a more realistic take on love and marriage for the royal family. Since her marriage ended, other royals—most notably Charles and Diana—went their separate ways, too. As national divorce rates rose, Margaret showed the world that royal life is far from perfect.

Today, the Royal Marriages Act of 1772 is no more, and only the first six people in line to the throne need to ask the reigning monarch for permission to marry. Though it’s not certain to what extent Margaret’s own famous love life affected Parliament’s adoption of the  new Succession to the Crown Act, it is clear that Margaret’s life reflected changing times—and that her turbulent romances helped change British minds about both marriage and divorce.

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How did Princess Margaret die? What to know about her final days and cremation

Throughout past seasons of Netflix’s “The Crown,” Queen Elizabeth II’s sister, Princess Margaret, is depicted mainly as the life of any party. The charming and witty royal, so far portrayed by actors Vanessa Kirby and Helena Bonham Carter, can be seen winning over every audience — often with a gin and tonic in one hand and a smoldering cigarette in the other.

How much Margaret’s habits contributed to her health struggles later in life has long been discussed among those who knew her well.

Last season of “The Crown” left viewers with the impression of an ill-at-ease princess who enjoyed her drink but also began seeking treatment for depression. Season 5 will peer into this later half of Princess Margaret’s life with Lesley Manville portraying her. 

With the latest season debuting, here is everything to know about the princess’s health in the lead-up to her death and the details around her final days.

How old was Margaret, sister of Queen Elizabeth II, when she died?

Princess Margaret died at 71 on Feb. 9, 2002, at King Edward VII’s Hospital in London. 

What contributed to Princess Margaret's poor health in late life?

Princess Margaret’s later years were plagued with various health ailments, some of which, according to New York Times , included migraines, bronchitis, hepatitis and laryngitis.

According to the BBC, in 1985, the royal — who smoked heavily throughout her life — had a small portion in order to test for cancer. of her left lung surgically removed. The princess reportedly gave up smoking in 1993 after having pneumonia. In addition, she experienced a mild stroke in 1998 while dining with friends at her vacation home in Mustique.

Following the news of her death in 2002, the Guardian reported that she would experience two other strokes before the final one the day before her death.

What happened with Queen Margaret and the bathtub?

Season Six of “The Crown” includes a harrowing episode in Princess Margaret’s life which took place in 1999 and was covered in the press at the time.

In the episode, actor Lesley Manville depicts the late princess three years before her death in 2002. During the scene, the princess steps into a hot bath and is unable to get out, scalding her feet.

In reality, the princess did severely burn her feet after she stepped into a bath at her home in Mustique. The Royal Family’s official website notes in her biography that the incident so affected her mobility that she would later need “support when walking and was sometimes restricted to a wheelchair.”

What caused Princess Margaret’s death?

At the time of Princess Margaret’s death, newspapers noted that her death came on the heels of her longtime struggle with heart and lung problems.

Others believed her self-indulgent lifestyle may have contributed. Friends of the royal, however, refuted those claims in a  piece for The Guardian published a week after she died.

At the time, the princess’s friends argued on her behalf, underlining that she grew up in an era when smoking and drinking regularly were part of the norm.

"Of course, the princess grew up in an age where drinking and smoking was much more acceptable," a friend explained. "We all did. However, I don’t believe she was addicted to alcohol. It’s preposterous. She just got very used to it."

Margaret died in 2002 after a series of heart and lung-related illnesses. In 1985, the princess, who was a heavy smoker, had surgery to remove part of her left lung, according to a Washington Post obituary . From 1998 until 2001, she had several strokes that impacted her sight and mobility. In 1999, she severely scalded her feet in a hot bath , which also impacted her ability to walk. She suffered a stroke the day before her death and had developed heart problems, The New York Times reported .

Why was Princess Margaret cremated?

In the aftermath of her death, “royal watchers” told  The New York Times  that Princess Margaret had opted to be cremated so that her remains could fit alongside her father King George VI’s grave in a vault that was made especially to hold him specifically.

In keeping with her rebellious reputation, the princess  broke from what was typically expected of a royal family member and chose to be cremated. Her cremation took place at Slough crematorium.

According to  The Guardian , the princess was the first member of the royal family to be cremated in the century since the procedure became legal.

Did Queen Elizabeth cry at Princess Margaret’s funeral?

While attending her sister Princess Margaret’s funeral at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, Queen Elizabeth II openly showed her grief over her loss.

A 2016  Vanity Fair article written by Reinaldo Herrera, a friend of the sisters, described the queen's unconventional show of emotion.

“The queen lost her most intimate companion,” Herrera wrote. “Never explaining anything to the world—what she feels, or why she does what she does—is part of her greatness. But for a few minutes that day, as she stood by the steps of St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, watching her sister’s coffin being borne away, her eyes betrayed her.”

Alex Portée is a senior trending reporter at TODAY Digital and is based in Los Angeles.

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Author Interviews

'ninety-nine glimpses of princess margaret': the one who wouldn't be queen.

Princess Margaret, the sister of Queen Elizabeth II, shocked some and charmed others. NPR's Melissa Block speaks with author Craig Brown about his new book, Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret.

Copyright © 2018 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Princess Margaret: What Really Happened on Her 1965 Tour of the United States

Princess Margaret wasn’t born to be like the other royals. In fact, she was the first member of the British royal family to be born in Scotland in 300 years.

As the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II , the siblings were born as nieces to King Edward VIII — until their uncle abdicated the throne to marry his lover and their father became King George VI .

Just six years old at the time, Margaret, who died in 2002, was thrust even more into the spotlight. Whether in spite of her royal status — or because of it — as she grew up, she became known for her romances and her wayward behavior at parties , even as her sister took the crown in 1953. Her behavior led her to be dubbed with such nicknames as a “Royal Lightning Rod” as Time called her in 2002 .

Despite the negative attention she often received, as part of Margaret's royal duties and in lieu of her sister, she embarked on a three-week trip to the United States in 1965.

READ MORE: Why Princess Margaret Was the Worst Party Guest

Margaret's trip was at the 'request of Her Majesty's Government'

At the time in the sixties, the relationship between the United States and Britain were tense. After all, the United Kingdom had an £800 million deficit on payments in 1964 — and in order to get a loan from the International Monetary Fund, the U.S. had to approve it .

In addition to the weakening power of the U.K., which was also going through decolonization, the nation didn’t support the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War . Many attribute this to the personal tensions between the nation’s then-leaders: Prime Minister Harold Wilson and President Lyndon B. Johnson . In fact, Johnson is the only U.S. President out of 11 to not meet Elizabeth.

While the reason for Margaret’s tour have been debated, the year after it happened, Britain’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs explained that it started as a private visit.

Initially, the idea for her to make her first trip to the U.S. came as an acceptance of an invitation from a former U.S. ambassador in London, but it developed into “a visit which consisted mainly of official and public engagements undertaken at the specific request of Her Majesty's Government,” according to the Foreign Minister, Walter Padley .

She started her visit on the West Coast

On November 4, 1965, Margaret and her husband, Lord Snowdon , landed in California with a 16-person entourage and 75 pieces of luggage, first setting foot in San Francisco , staying on the 11th and 12th floors of the Huntington Hotel in the Nob Hill area. The group made visits all around the Bay Area, including to the San Francisco City Hall, a fashion show at the Hilton Hotel, the University of California Berkeley campus, a mass at Grace Cathedral and the Monterey peninsula. And of course, they played tourist too at Coit Tower and on a cable car.

“I had heard so much about San Francisco that I was afraid I would be disappointed — but it lived up to my expectations,” she said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle .

Next, they went south to Los Angeles, where — after a tour of Universal Studios — they rubbed elbows with the famous, especially at a party thrown by socialite Sherman Douglas . On the guest list: Judy Garland , Grace Kelly , Mia Farrow , Frank Sinatra , Gregory Peck , Elizabeth Taylor , Richard Burton , Fred Astaire and Natalie Wood . They also made a stop at the set of Torn Curtain , where they met Paul Newman , Julie Andrews and Alfred Hitchcock .

Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon then hopped on a plane to Arizona, where they spent four days, visiting a friend whose father, Lewis W. Douglas, was the former Ambassador to the Court of St. James, as well as enjoying time at a Sonoita ranch.

President Johnson called Margaret an 'angel'

It wasn’t until November 15, 1965, that the royal British couple made it to the nation’s capital. Staying at the British Embassy throughout their Washington D.C. visit, they started off with a private meal there on their first night before touring the sites, including Mount Vernon, the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, National Cathedral and Arlington Cemetery, according to Town & Country .

To commemorate their visit, a formal dinner was held in the State Room of the White House on November 17 with President Johnson. On the menu: an almond-crusted fish called Atlantic Pompano amandine, as well as roast squab, artichoke with vegetable puree and hearts of palm salad with brie. The meal was topped off by a praline glacé dessert and a selection of three wines, Wente Pinot Chardonnay, 1960 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon and 1959 Almaden Blanc de Blancs.

And as they had done in Los Angeles, they continued partying among big names. This time the 140 guests included Kirk Douglas (who sat at President Johnson and Princess Margaret’s table) and Nelson Rockefeller (who sat at Lady Bird Johnson and Lord Snowdon’s table), as well as government leaders like Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and Vice President Hubert Humphrey.

The president and princess raised their glasses to one another, Johnson thanking Margaret and Snowdon for their friendship and, in turn, the strong relationship between the countries.“You have claimed our heart, and we are very proud to give it to you,” Johnson said . “But you have done more. Lord Nelson once said, ‘England expects every man to do his duty.’ And I say tonight, every woman, too. And you have done your duty while in America. You have represented well the people that you serve with dignity and grace and spirit and joy.”

He even quoted Mark Twain : “I have traveled more than anyone else, and I have noticed that even the angels speak English with an accent.”

For her part, Margaret toasted the president and first lady for their 31st anniversary, which happened to be that day and said, “We are having the most wonderful time in the United States. The hospitality and kindness we have received everywhere has touched us greatly, and it will make us take home superlatively happy memories of all we have done and seen.”

After dinner, the guests danced for three hours

The dinner party eventually moved over to the East Room for dancing until 1:40 a.m — a full three hours.

Reports from the party vary, with the New York Times calling it a “small but unusually spectacular dinner dance.” But the Newcastle Evening Chronicle said the president and princess “shared an enthusiastic foxtrot to ‘Everything’s Coming Up Roses’” and that “the tempo warmed up as the younger set including the President’s daughters Lucy and Lynda and their escorts launched into a new dance to the tune ‘Downtown,’” according to Vanity Fai r .

And the official White House record said that President Johnson “had a good time...looked well, and danced with almost every woman there.”

The princess was banned from future visits

But that wasn’t the end of the late nights. On their final night before leaving, a goodbye dinner was held at the Four Seasons that reportedly went until 3 a.m . But they still stopped in New York City for a proper farewell to the country.

“Goodbye. Goodbye — so sad,” Margaret said . “We have seen so many exciting and worthwhile things. It would be impossible to say what we enjoyed or what impressed us most. I would just like to say we have seldom, if ever, experienced such a wonderful three weeks — and we hope we can come back again soon.”

However, that wasn’t the reaction from others. The cost alone of the trip £30,000, along with some behind-the-scenes hijinks, banned her from another trip in the 1970s.

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How Did Princess Margaret Die? The Details Behind Queen Elizabeth's Sister's Death at 71

Princess Margaret died on Feb. 9, 2002 following a series of strokes

Tim Graham/Getty

On Feb. 9, 2002, Queen Elizabeth II said goodbye to her only sibling when Princess Margaret died at age 71. 

Since her birth on Aug. 21, 1930, Margaret had lived a memorable life and was often regarded as the Rebel Royal as her style and attitude often contrasted that of her older sister, the Queen.

She had many glamorous adventures, but in the last years of her life, was diagnosed with several illnesses linked to her heavy smoking and drinking. 

In January 1985, she had to have part of her left lung removed. Though she gave up smoking years later , she continued to face health problems, including a series of strokes before her death in 2002 . 

As The Crown season 6 recounts Margaret’s health issues, here’s everything to know about her death. 

How did Princess Margaret die?

Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty 

Following her lung operation in 1985, Margaret continued to face serious health problems. In January 1993, Margaret was admitted to the hospital for pneumonia, which reportedly influenced her to quit smoking for good. 

Though she was no longer smoking, she began to experience a series of strokes in the years following, starting with a mild stroke in February 1998 while vacationing in Mustique. The following year, she also suffered severe scalds to her feet in a bathroom accident, which required her to use a wheelchair and cane from time to time. 

In January 2001, she was hospitalized after suffering from “severe loss of appetite,” Buckingham Palace said at the time, per the New York Post .

After her various strokes and a period of poor health that left her partially paralyzed and experiencing vision problems, a stroke the day before her death proved to be fatal.

When did Princess Margaret die? 

Margaret eventually died on Feb. 9 2002, three days after the 50th anniversary of her father's death. She was 71 at the time. 

Where did Princess Margaret die?

Margaret died in King Edward VII's Hospital, a private hospital located in central London. 

What did the royal family say about Princess Margaret’s death?

UK Press/Liaison

Following Margaret’s death, Buckingham Palace released an official statement reading: “The Queen, with great sadness, has asked for the following announcement to be made immediately. Her beloved sister, Princess Margaret, died peacefully in her sleep this morning at 6.30 am, in The King Edward VII Hospital.” 

The statement added that her children were by her side at the time of her death and “The Queen was kept fully informed throughout the night” leading up to her death. 

Other than the official statement released by Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth didn’t make a televised address about her sister’s death. Instead, King Charles (then Prince Charles) paid tribute in a television broadcast.

“This is a terribly sad day for all my family but particularly of course for the queen, my mama, and my grandmother, the Queen Mother, and also for Princess Margaret's children, David and Sarah, and also my aunt's wonderful friends who will, like all of us, miss her deeply," he said at the time, per Hello! Magazine .

“My aunt was one of those remarkable people who, apart from being so incredibly vital… also had such incredible talents,” he said, describing her as someone who lived life to the fullest. "And for that we will always remember her.”

When was Princess Margaret’s funeral held?

Fiona Hanson - PA Images/PA Images via Getty 

Following her death, private memorial services were held at St Mary Magdalene Church and Glamis Castle. Her funeral was held on Feb. 15 2002, the 50th anniversary of her father's funeral. The event was also a private service held at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, for family and friends.

Where was Princess Margaret buried? 

Breaking from royal tradition, Margaret was cremated at Slough Crematorium. Her ashes were originally moved to the Royal Vault in St. George's Chapel before being transferred to the King George VI Memorial Chapel two months later following the funeral of her mother in April 2002.

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