The Life of Princess Margaret, the Unhappy British Princess
Remember the beautiful princess in "Roman Holiday"? When she quietly slipped into the streets of the city of Rome late at night, she mischievously performed a prelude to a romantic holiday for us, and when Britain's Buckingham Palace announced on February 9, 2002, that Princess Margaret, the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth, had died early in the morning due to an illness, the prototype of the movie's protagonist , brought down the curtain on her uneven life in peace.
Princess Margaret, (The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon), August 21, 1930 - February 9, 2002), was the youngest daughter born to George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, and the sister of the current Queen Elizabeth II.
Princess Margaret has traveled extensively, including a visit to Hong Kong in 1966. Princess Margaret died peacefully in her sleep at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 9, 2002, at Edward VII Hospital. In 1953, Townsend went through a divorce from his original wife and asked Margaret to marry him. The man was 16 years older than the woman and had 2 children. The woman said yes and expressed to her eldest sister that she had a desire to marry Townsend. In 1936, however, the Church of England had already issued a veto against a member of the royal family marrying someone with a record of divorce.
Not long after Queen Mary's death, Margaret's eldest sister, who had become Queen, was about to be crowned; the Queen would then have to tour the member countries and territories of the Association of Great Britain for six months. The Queen therefore first said to Margaret, 'Under the circumstances, it is not unreasonable for me to ask you to wait another year.' The Queen's close attendant suggested: sending Townsend abroad; however, the Queen felt that this would trigger her sister's emotional outburst. At her discretion, she transferred Townsend into Buckingham Palace. Later, an informed British cabinet refused to make an exception in favor of Margaret's marriage to Townsend. Part of the press commented: 'Such a marriage is "unthinkable" and "contrary to royal and Christian tradition".' The Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, told the Queen that the Prime Ministers of the Association of Great Britain were unanimous in their opposition to the marriage, and that Parliament had no way of sanctioning a marriage that was not sanctioned by the Church of England; unless Margaret renounced her inheritance. Soon after, Churchill arranged for Townsend to be sent to Brussels, Belgium. Newspapers close to the people conducted opinion polls, which showed that, regardless of the views of the Church or the government, a portion of the citizenry supported or respected Margaret's own choices, and after two years, Margaret backed down.
On May 6, 1960, Margaret married a photographer, Anthony Armstrong Jones, at Westminster Abbey. The day before Margaret accepted Armstrong-Jones' proposal, Peter Townsend is said to have told her that he intended to marry a woman of Belgian nationality. Many in the media were surprised by the royal family's sudden announcement of Margaret's wedding date. However, the wedding was the first royal wedding in the world to be televised, and was watched by three million viewers on the day. 1961 saw Margaret's husband knighted as the Earl of Snowdon, and she changed her title from Her Royal Highness to the Countess of Snowdon. The marriage enabled Margaret to begin her duties for the British Crown. Princess Margaret was born in 1930 at Grams Castle in Scotland, the youngest daughter of the family and the apple of her father's eye, the Duke of York. Intelligent and beautiful, she was so adorable as a toddler that her father once told someone with immense pride, "Even the birds in the trees would have been drawn down to this little one and sung around her."
Margaret's life changed radically, however, when her uncle, the famously "beauty-obsessed" Edward VIII, abdicated the throne in 1936. That was the year her father became king, later George VI.
If Margaret, then six years old, knew nothing at all about what was going to happen to her life, her loving father foresaw it all. He knew that only his eldest daughter, Elizabeth, would succeed to the throne, and that Margaret would have to live under her sister's aura forever. In order to comfort his daughter, who was born to be the "second best", his loving father gave more love to Margaret than to the future Queen Elizabeth, so that when Margaret grew up, public opinion attributed her rebellious personality to George VI's indulgence. On Margaret's 18th birthday, George VI proudly said, "She has the looks of an angel, the figure of a dainty girl, and the temperament of a star." While Elizabeth was always dutiful in the eyes of the public, Margaret was always just a pretty but spoiled child, and even remained a nuisance to the English royal family for many years. Young Margaret had been the Diana of her time. Beautiful, regal, and, even sexier than the latter, she was a star in the aristocratic social circles of her day, surrounded by aristocratic young men who adored her. However, Margaret did not achieve a suitable marriage in this circle, as her sister Elizabeth did; for her, these people were just her playmates, while her own favorite was Colonel Peter Townsend, then one of her father's guardsmen and a World War II war hero who shot down 11 enemy planes. That year, she was 17, while Col. Townsend was 32 and, moreover, a married man.
The affair finally came to light in 1953 -- reporters captured intimate photos of Margaret dusting Townsend's clothes at the Queen's coronation. The shock of the affair was palpable, and public opinion and the royal family began to put pressure on the lovers. It was then that Churchill and others advised the Queen to keep the lovers apart for two years until Margaret turned 25. And Townsend was sent off to Brussels that year.
However, two years later, the divorced colonel did not wait for the day he had hoped for, and his princess was under intense pressure to issue a statement in 1955, assuring public opinion that she would not go against the teachings of Christianity and forget her duty to her country to be with a divorced man. Nevertheless, Margaret did not win back much public opinion. After being a rebel to the crown, she became in the public mind a rebel to her feelings. However, only the princess herself knew in her heart that she did not want to do this. In 1958, the third year after officially leaving Colonel Townsend, Princess Margaret began her second love affair with a man only five months older than her, a professional photographer - Anthony Armstrong-Jones (later to be created Earl of Snowdon). This upper-class bohemian had a distinctive debonair artist's air about him. He made friends with actors, musicians, dancers and interior decorators, many of whom were gay. It was this unique temperament and artistic taste that captivated Margaret, and she found a ****tone in him.
Armstrong Jones rented a cottage by the river in the lower class residential area of Rhodesia, the room is simple, but he and Margaret are most devoted to the secret love nest. Armstrong Jones' charm not only won the Princess's heart, but more importantly, he made the Queen Mother admire her future son-in-law, thus laying the foundation for a successful marriage with the Princess. They were married in 1960. Shortly after her marriage, Margaret gave birth to a son, David, and a daughter, Sarah, while her relationship with Armstrong Jones became increasingly strained. As a prominent member of the aristocratic social scene, Margaret was a keen attendee at cocktail parties, a busy socialite and the self-proclaimed 'Itgirl' of the day. The image of her with a cigar in one hand and a glass of wine in the other is very familiar to everyone, but also very unimpressed, but Margaret did not because of other people's discontent to restrain what, but more and more all day long into the smoke and drink, even smoke 60 cigarettes a day when the addiction is at its peak. Alcoholism, smoking, and always in the home to hold endless drinking parties, and sometimes even walking on the beach naked or wearing a bikini swimsuit and other people make out, all of which finally let her husband could not stand it anymore, they announced the separation in 1976, Margaret thus became the 20th century the British royal family announced the first separation of the people, and finally divorced two years later.
In fact, as early as 1973, when she was still married to Armstrong Jones, Margaret began an unrequited love affair with Roddy Lovering, a young designer who was 17 years younger than her, and their scandal made headlines in 1976, leading directly to the breakup of the marriage between the Princess and Armstrong Jones. -Jones' marriage. The affair lasted until 1981, when she was 51 years old. After that, Margaret once again fell into a world of solitude and spent the rest of her life quietly surrounded by friends and family. If what Margaret did after her marriage hardly made her a good wife, she was a good mother who was extremely loved by her child David and her daughter Sarah. Perhaps harboring lifelong regrets that her desire to fit into the world outside the royal family never materialized, Margaret did everything she could to create a normal living environment for her children, hoping that they would all be able to live ordinary lives.
Compared with other royals, David and Sarah were the closest to the commoners. One of them, David, became an accomplished furniture designer, while Sarah is an accomplished artist. The children attribute their accomplishments to their art-loving mother's early years, even though the mother, who had a great appreciation for art, had little formal art education herself.
"She was a connoisseur of the theater," Margaret's longtime friend Norman Lonsdale once said, "and I accompanied her to many a play and visited with her backstage after a performance, and almost every time she was able to make an insightful comment on the production itself, on the performance of the actors, and one that made a great deal of sense. made an original comment that was instantly recognizable." In fact, Margaret's artistic talents did not stop there. She was a lifelong ballet enthusiast, was president of the English National Ballet, and had directed a ballet, "The Frogs," with a group of aristocratic friends many years earlier, and her performance was said to have won her friends unanimous praise. Princess Margaret also loved music and reading, and passed on this habit to her children. In her children's hearts, Margaret will always be the best mom ever, and they still reminisce about all the fun they had with their mother during their childhood. Princess Margaret was the most free-spirited member of the British royal family, perhaps because she was only 11th in the line of succession to the throne. Her beauty and youthful love stories were more attractive to the public than her status and title, and in 2002 this honored, beautiful, and highly individual woman finished her life.
Princess Margaret was born on August 21, 1930, Margaret was born in the city of Grimes, Scotland. Margaret grew up with a strict Victorian education alongside her sister Elizabeth, who was four years older than her, and she also learned to ride horses, swim and garden. At the age of seven she trained with the Cub Scouts and soon after joined the Girl Guides. She remained closely associated with both of these children's educational institutions throughout her life, and on her deathbed she served as president of the British Girl Guides Association.
Margaret was one of the earliest members of the royal family to appear in public, attending her father's coronation at the age of six, her first public appearance. At that time, the British media doted on the little princess, saying that her dark hair and dark eyes gave her a mysterious oriental temperament. 18 years old after Margaret fully participated in the British royal family's various public activities. During her lifetime, she was president or honorary president of more than 80 organizations involved in child welfare, medical care, music and the arts.
Princess Margaret demonstrated artistic talent from an early age, studying ballet, piano and voice. She served as conductor and president of several arts organizations and was passionate about promoting and introducing fine arts to the children of ordinary families. Margaret is also a fan of novels, which she has been reading non-stop since she was 12 years old. Margaret says her favorite novel is War and Peace. Margaret was extremely intelligent, and her early tutor once remarked that she could always memorize children's songs and short poems in the shortest possible time. From youth to old age she played crossword puzzles in The Times every morning. Margaret was also a fashion fanatic and from the age of 15, when she was less than 1-60 meters, she was already wearing Dior women's clothing. Although not tall, Margaret is described as having a "hourglass-shaped" figure. Her favorite dresses were short, waist-skimming skirts and high heels, perhaps because they flattered her. Her favorite color was pink, and after her father succeeded her and the family moved into Buckingham Palace, she requested that her bedroom be painted pink. Princess Margaret's love life was the brightest flash of her life. In the early 1950s, in her early 20s, she fell in love with an an airplane mechanic who was 16 years older than her. In fact, there were tons of great men around her, but this guy named Peter Townsend finally captured her heart. Peter Townsend had fine features and an elegant yet manly demeanor. He was described as a "Gregor Peck" type of Englishman, and his traditional and conservative temperament could not hide his free-spirited style. Margaret and Townsend were y attracted to each other, and their love was almost perfect. However, in the eyes of the British royal family, Townsend was not perfect because he was divorced. The royal family declared that if Princess Margaret married a divorced man, she would lose all her titles and possessions, and in November 1955, Margaret announced that she would not marry Townsend, ending the legendary romance in tragedy. Later, Margaret met photographer Anthony Armstrong Jones, who was only five months her senior. Armstrong was not as handsome as Townsend, but had a distinctive artist's quality. Margaret confessed in her autobiography that she was initially attracted to the photographer's artistic temperament. They were married on May 6, 1960 in Westminster. The most sensational event of the wedding was when Margaret's close friend, Glenconner, gave them a manor house on Mastic Island for their birthday. The island would later become a summer retreat for the British royal family and Margaret's permanent residence. Margaret's marriage to Armstrong lasted only 18 years and they divorced in 1978. They **** had two children.
Celibate life After the divorce, Margaret became the most maverick member of the British royal family, not only because she was the only divorced member of the core royal family at the time, but also because after the divorce, she led a colorful celibate life. At nearly 50, Margaret was close to British movie stars and cultural scholars. She was in and out of upper-class bars almost every day and always returned home late. She was not keen on attending royal functions and fulfilling her duties as a member of the royal family, preferring instead a free and pleasure-seeking personal life. Because of this, she was named by the British public as one of the most unpopular members of the royal family. Later on, Margaret also took up the bad habit of smoking, with some media accusing her of smoking 60 cigarettes a day. Whether or not that number is correct, there is no denying that nicotine ate away at most of her lungs, and in 1978, Margaret underwent a pneumonectomy, and her health has been on a downward spiral ever since.
The documentary, The Rascal and the Princess, focuses on Princess Margaret's vacation on the Caribbean island of Mastic after her divorce from the Earl of Snowdon, where she meets John Benton, a "gangster" with a bad reputation for brawling. "John Bindon, who had a reputation as a brawler. Although Bindon was an actor, he was better known for a 1979 knife-fighting bloodbath in which the victim was stabbed nine times, but he was acquitted after a court ruled that Bindon acted in self-defense. Benton died of cancer 15 years ago at the age of 50. The relationship between the two men allegedly began in 1976, and since then the British tabloids have continued to "link" the princess to Benton.
But the documentary's claims were dismissed and criticized by a royal biographer, Kenneth Roth. He said, "I can tell you that the princess did not have relationships with vulgar people, I'm not saying she didn't have lovers, but her partners were very educated people." Margaret, who had a close call with pneumonia back in 1973 and serious mental problems the following year, seems to have been no better off than her 101-year-old dowager mother.
In 1976, when Margaret announced she was separating from her ex-husband, she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and suffered from severe depression, which haunted her for the rest of her life.
In 1958, doctors suspected that Princess Margaret was suffering from lung cancer due to the effects of alcohol and tobacco, and the Princess was forced to undergo an operation to remove part of her left lung in 1958.
The Princess also had to undergo an operation to remove part of her left lung. Fortunately, after the operation, Princess Margaret was able to recover. Luckily, the post-surgery biopsy confirmed that it was not lung cancer, and she once again escaped from death.
Perennial poor health and mental health forced Margaret to decline a large number of public engagements in her later years and to turn down many visits from family members. "From time to time she was left alone to reminisce about the old days and her father. In her mind, there was no one more perfect than George VI," said the princess's ladies-in-waiting. Margaret loved her father dearly, and his death not only deprived her of a loved one, but, more importantly, made the young woman realize with a sobering, helpless sense of her own destiny, which was to remain forever on the fringes of royal power.
Princess Margaret's health was dealt a severe blow in 1998 when she suffered a sudden stroke while on vacation in Muscatine. She has since been partially paralyzed and appears to have great difficulty moving around. The following year, she was scalded by boiling water in the bathroom while on vacation as she was in a trance, and that day she mistook a hot water switch for a cold water switch and suffered second-degree burns to her feet, which took six months of treatment before she was able to recover. She suffered several strokes thereafter, to the point where she eventually lost most of her sight, and when she appeared in public, not only did she have to sit in a wheelchair and wear large sunglasses, but she could only wear a pair of slippers because of the burns on her feet. Stiletto heels were Margaret's trademark, and from the age of 18 she wore a pair of eye-catching stilettos to all events. Margaret has changed so much in recent years that many are afraid to associate such a frail old woman with the beautiful and proud princess of yesteryear.
Margaret's stroke worsened on the afternoon of Feb. 8, 2002, and she was rushed to Edward VII Hospital during the night, but ultimately succumbed to a stroke-induced heart attack at 6:30 a.m. the next morning, surrounded by her children. "She was indeed flavorful and had the charm of a mature woman. However, what really made Princess Margaret so charming and lovable was a rare tenderness and loyalty hidden behind that facade of pride and arrogance - if you really knew her."
This is what Margaret's first love, Colonel Townsend, said about her years later.
A troublesome princess who gave the British royal family headaches for years, Margaret's death not only didn't give the royals a sense of relief, but instead sparked a deep sense of nostalgia for her. Crown Prince Charles in a televised speech on February 9, emotionally said: "aunt in her later years of illness, none of us would like to let her alone to suffer the pain of the disease, do not want to let such a person with a free soul to be subjected to such cruelty and constraints. She loved life and bravely finished her life. While Auntie's beauty was certainly well known, I don't think many people realize that she was even more of a multi-talented person. She will always be missed." British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is on a visit to Africa, delivered a eulogy for Princess Margaret's death, in which he said, "She made many contributions to this country and the nation will mourn her loss."
While she was alive, Princess Margaret, despite her reputation for intelligence and humor, was unequivocal about one thing. Friends say that if anyone called George VI "your father" instead of "His Majesty" in front of the princess, she usually brushed it off immediately. Similarly, if anyone referred to Elizabeth as "your sister", she would immediately correct herself by saying, "You mean Her Majesty the Queen?" Princess Margaret's love for her family members was evident.
If Princess Margaret's unhappiness in life was rooted in the royal family, in the friction between this ancient, rule-ridden house and a free spirit, the princess herself never complained about the royal family. On the contrary, she proudly told others, "I am so unique in this world, I have a king father and a queen sister." And yet, that is precisely all that the royal family has to offer her.
"I will always remember when my aunt sat at the piano and performed for us, she sang so beautifully, it was like heaven." This is how Crown Prince Charles remembers Princess Margaret, and it was early that morning that his aunt went to another world, accompanied by angels. There, it was supposed to be a paradise of flowers and happiness.