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| Princess Margaret, once the glamour icon who, as a baby, had inspired mums across the country to adopt yellow for their offspring, died in February this year aged 71. She had been ill for some time and could not recover from the third stroke that her indulgent lifestyle had engendered. | |
Publicly, her royal duty led her to preside over 80 organisations, from the NSPCC to the Royal Ballet Company. At the same time, she mingled with artists and actors, starring as herself in an episode of The Archers in 1984. At 23, Margaret announced her intention to marry Group Captain Peter Townsend, who had apparently thought her "unremarkable" as a teenager. But the Queen Mother, backed by the Cabinet, disapproved of the union because Townsend was divorced. Margaret would have to give up her succession to the throne, her royal title and her royal income if she married the Captain. So she resigned herself dutifully to her role as Countess of Snowdon, while continuing the extra-marital romance for 12 more years. In 1960, she married arty society photographer Anthony Armstrong-Jones and had two children, now Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto, but was later to have a slew of affairs. In the late 1960s, Margaret retreated to her residence on the Caribbean Island Mustique, where Mick Jagger and other younger men visited her. After an affair with Roddy Llewellyn, 17 years her junior, tabloid exposure of the relationship forced her husband into divorce in 1978. Margaret had become a 60-a-day smoker with ailing health. Her death brought to light the dichotomy that exists between the duties of a royal princess and the flamboyant lifestyle induced by excess without responsibility. | ||
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