That’s not to say liberties are never taken, of course.
WhileThe Crownhas delivered amostlyaccurate portrayal of Margaret’s life, her real-life story is well worth knowing.
This is the tragictruetale of Princess Margaret.
“That was boring, so the press tried to make out I was wicked as hell.”
She could be cheeky.
“In terms of personalities, Elizabeth and Margaret were as different as chalk and cheese.”
The daughter of one of the late king’s courtiers added, “The King spoiled her dreadfully.
But her father was one of the only ones smitten by her.
“I remember my father despairing of her.”
Crawford even requested Margaret be excluded from parties so Elizabeth could attend without her.
And, just as King George VI loved his girls, they, too, loved him.
Margaret was especially close to the king.
On Feb. 6, 1952, King George died suddenly at the age of 56.
According tohis biography, his death was later determined to be due to a coronary thrombosis.
Some time before, the king had been diagnosed with lungcancerand had one of his lungs removed.
King George is thought to have passed away in his sleep in the early morning hours.
Townsend was married, but later divorced his wife and proposed to the princess.
Margaret said yes, but they continued to keep their romance quiet.
But, with their plan to marry, the couple couldn’t keep it a secret forever.
In the end, Margaret and Townsend broke up.
Wallace apparently admitted to Margaret that he’d had a brief affair while vacationing in the Bahamas.
Two years later, Margaret met photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones at a dinner party.
Later, Armstrong-Jones was hired to photograph Margaret and their romance began.
It was as if they were hiding in plain sight.
When the couple announced their engagement in 1960, royal courtiers were both shocked and displeased.
They thought Margaret should’ve married someone of her own class not a “commoner.”
But, unfortunately, the princess didn’t get her happily ever after.
The couple was perhapstoosimilar in some ways.
And then work started to get in the way.
In 1962, Margaret’s husband took a job as the artistic advisor forThe Sunday Times.
Soon after their second child, Sarah, was born in 1964, though, their relationship began faltering.
But Lord Snowden wasn’t the only onecheating.
“She had some too,” de Courcy confirmed, “but never as long as his.
They weren’t revenge affairs, she just wanted to feel desired.”
Some years later, in 1978, the couple revealed that they would be divorcing.
“The marriage has broken down and the couple have lived apart for two years.
These are obviously the grounds for divorce,” the princess' spokesman toldThe New York Times.
And that’s just the kinds of things they said about herbeforeshe filed for divorce.
“She was always completely in the shadow of her elder sister, because her elder sister was Queen.
And Princess Anne said she used to feel like an also-ran.”
That is, a loser.
Although there was a water thermostat, it was apparently not working properly.
As her marriage was collapsing in the ’70s, Margaret wasreportedto have suffered a nervous breakdown.
Margaret was also a heavy drinker, which led to her developing hepatitis in the mid ’80s.
In addition to drinking heavily, Margaret was a chain smoker.
According toThe Guardian, Margaret begansmokingcigarettes as a teenager.
After her father passed away, Margaret began to smoke even more having as many as60cigarettes a day.
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.”
Warwick claimed that she was not “at all” this “sad [or] tragic character.”
Despite enduring all of her many tragedies, she did not give them the power to define her.
