11 Mind-Blowing Details About Princess Margaret and Tony Armstrong-Joness Relationship, Your Qs About The Diplomat Season 2, Answered. He survived the illness, but the polio took a toll on one of his legs and he walked with a limp for the remainder of his life. Princess Margaret, then 29, married Anthony Armstrong-Jones on May 6, 1960 at Westminster Abbey in London (an event covered in Season 2 of The Crown ). Tony proposed to Margaret in February of 1960; that May, their royal wedding at Westminster Abbey was the first royal wedding to be televised. Bettmann But when she met Townsend in October, she, or he, decided against the marriage. As ES recalls, one tabloid eventually caught up with the princess and Roddy, who were photographed being intimate enough in their swimwear while on the Caribbean island of Mustique. Princess Margaret was the daughter of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, born 21 August 1930 at Glamis Castle - the first royal birth in Scotland since the 17th Century. The celebrated photographer made headlines throughout his life for his royal connections and scandalous behavior. The government was now under Anthony Eden who had been divorced and remarried himself. Sir Anthony Blunt in The Crown: Whats the Real Story? Met Gala 2023: Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz wear She dressed in white silk and sported a diamond tiara. According to Daily Mail, Blunts familial ties to the Royal Family came through his mother, Hilda, who was a second cousin of the Queen Mothers father, the Princess Margaret Jeremy Fry was originally supposed to serve as best man at Tony's royal wedding, but pulled out at the last minute, supposedly due to an illness though there are reports that it was actually because the press had discovered that he had a 1952 arrest for a minor homosexual offense. Armstrong-Jones was not implicated in that incident, but nonetheless, whispers about a potential liaison between the two persisted. Everything to Know About Black Mirror Season 6, Everything We Know About Heartstopper Season 2. and give up my rights to the Succession" This formulation is not as romantic as an earlier one which read: "I have come to the conclusion that it is necessary for my future happiness that I should marry P.T.". Polly was born in May 1960, just weeks after the royal wedding. (AFP/Getty Images). Can Freeridge Break the Cancellation Curse? You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. Blunt eventually confessed to his role in the spy ring in 1964, and it was only after Thatchers discovery of his identity that the government finally decided to strip him of his knighthood and publicly expose his identity. Anthony Blunt was an art historian and art curator who served as the Surveyor of the Kings Pictures from 1945 to 1972. (It was later revealed that after his divorce from Margaret, and while married to second wife Lucy Lindsay-Hogg, Lord Snowdon had another affair and fathered a son, Jasper Cable-Alexander. In season 2, episode 4, Beryl, Tony photographs the princess during a moment of vulnerability, capturing her reaction to whether she misses Townsend. Eventually, Margaret decided not to marry him. Postscript: On 6 May 1960 Princess Margaret married the photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, who was created Lord Snowdon and Viscount Linley. The Crown returns to Netflix for season 3 on 17 November. Blunt was also caught as a We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. They divorced in 2000 after it was revealed that Tony, who was in his 60s at the time, had fathered a son with a magazine editor. Their split was quite big news, as it was the first in the royal family since 1901, when Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh divorced her first husband, Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. Lord Snowdon and Princess Margaret pose with their two children, Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones. The princess would have said: "I have come to the conclusion that in all the circumstances the best course for me to follow is to marry P.T. Antony Armstrong-Jones var eneste snn av advokaten Ronald Armstrong-Jones og hans hustru Anne Messel. The Crown: The True Story of Soviet Spy Anthony Blunt - Vogue In 1952 he divorced his wife on the grounds of her adultery and subsequently proposed to Margaret. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Peter Dimmick explains the BBC's preparations for filming Princess Margaret's wedding, including camera positions in Westminster Abbey and along the parade route. Here's Princess Margaret at the Opera House in London wearing an elegant gown and white and fur wrap. Even before he became involved with Princess Margaret, Tony had made a name for himself as a portrait photographer. Anthony Blunt, in full Anthony Frederick Blunt, also called (195679) Sir Anthony Blunt, (born Sept. 26, 1907, Bournemouth, Hampshire, Eng.died March 26, Buckingham Palace's statement, per BBC, read: "HRH The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, and the Earl of Snowdon have mutually agreed to live apart. Birth date: March 7, 1930. In an op-ed for the Daily Mail in 2008, Polly wrote, Although we may like to think of our own generation as being wild and wonderful, in comparison to what our parents got up to in the swinging 60s, we are mere innocents caught up in the aftermath of the postwar free-love era. The pregnancy is mentioned during Princess Margaret and Tonys engagement party in season 2 of The Crown. When she isn't writing, she's busy drooling over fashion or making her own music. There are no plans for divorce proceedings.". I 1978 giftet han seg med Lucy Lindsay-Hogg. The discovery was kept under wraps as he was given immunity from prosecution in return for details of the spy ring, but it was later revealed to the public after Margaret Thatcher outed him in 1979. That helps to explain why the government was so receptive to the plan for the princess to marry. Among the 2,000 guests in the church were the King and Queen of Sweden, and the traditional Church of England service was led by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Queen Elizabeth: Love, Honour and Crown: the true story behind In the 1960s, after his marriage to Margaret, Tony became a photo editor of The Sunday Times magazine, where he would work for more than 30 years. Antony Armstrong-Jones and Princess Margaret attend the Badminton Horse Trials in 1960. Princess Margaret and Tony Armstrong-Jones in 1970. She says she will see Townsend in October: "It is only by seeing him in this way that I feel I can properly decide whether I can marry him or not." WebThe wedding of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones took place on Friday, 6 May 1960 at Westminster Abbey in London. Townsend was despatched to be an air attache in Brussels, living on his own in a hotel room. The operation on her lung failed to stop her smoking. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. She also noted that most of the girls who worked with him at his studio thought that, there seemed little doubt that Tony was gay.. His childhood in the Earl of Rosse's house was reportedly not a loving one. The young princess took an interest in the arts and fashion and was the centre of a young set of aristocrats, know as The Margaret Set. A clue may come in a letter in the files, from the princess herself to Eden in August 1955. Birth City: London. He became outspoken in the House of Lords and the press as an advocate for those with physical disabilities and mobility issues. The co-parents arrived in unison at the wedding of their son, Viscount Linley to Serena Stanhope. He died in his home in January 2017, at the age of 86. The Princess had endured a rocky life, not just in her relationship to her only son but also in her personal life. Anthony Armstrong-Jones and Princess Margaret on their wedding day. This time, however, a compromise was worked out. Tony also continued to take official portraits of the royal family despite no longer being a member of it, according to the Daily Mail. In 2017, Warwick told People that it was utter nonsense to deduce that her relationship with Tony was a pure reaction to move on from her ex Group Captain Peter Townsend. Princess Margaret was dogged by ill-health for many years. Although in season 3s finale episode, we see that the princess overdoses on sleeping pills, it was never confirmed by the press as to whether this was a suicide attempt. How Prince Philip Was Connected to the Profumo Affairand They traveled, touring America and hobnobbing with the Hollywood elite in a trip that was considered so scandalous by the Brits that Margaret wasn't allowed to return to the country in an official capacity for years. The lavish production of The Crown, the drama of the Queen's reign running on Netflix, perpetuates the myth that Princess Margaret was browbeaten into giving up Group Captain Peter Townsend, the war hero who proposed to her in 1953. Princess Margaret and photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones were married for 18 years before separating in 1976 and publicly announcing their divorce in 1978. While some of members of the public reportedly initially disproved of Margaret marrying a "commoner," Queen Elizabeth was allegedly a fan of the photographer from the start. In 2019, Princess Margaret and Tony are back in the spotlight thanks to the release of season 3 of Netflixs The Crown, which offers one take on their relationship through the talents of Helena Bonham-Carter and Ben Daniels. The Queen with Anthony Blunt His espionage was eventually revealed publicly by Margaret Thatcher in 1979, which led to him being stripped of his knighthood, But in fact, papers available in the National Archives since 2004 show that the Queen and Eden drew up a plan in 1955 under which Princess Margaret could marry Townsend while keeping her royal title and her civil list allowance of 6,000 a year plus another 9,000 on marriage. Han fikk i 1961 den arvelige tittelen jarl av Snowdon, og fikk dermed mterett i Overhuset. Read about our approach to external linking. For starters, he became the first commoner in 400 years to marry into the royal family. Rumors throughout the years have suggested that Armstrong-Jones may have been bisexual, though he never confirmed those claims. The Queen's permission would therefore be unnecessary. As depicted in The Crown, Tony was once romantically involved with actress and dancer Jacqui Chan. This new character is not all that he seems. The National Archives file contains the three drafts of what is called "Summary of Procedure". Sir Roddy Llewellyn (who is now 72) was rumoured to have had an affair with Princess Margaret for eight years, after meeting in 1973. (Tony became the 1st Earl of Snowdon one year after marrying the princess.) Som ledd i reformen av Overhuset ble tilbudet om f omgjort tittelen p denne mten gitt til alle lorder som ikke hadde arvet tittelen sin. Antony Armstrong-Jones In 1998, she suffered the first of a series of strokes. It took several months for romance to blossom, after Tony was commissioned to photograph Margaret, but even then things were kept very hush-hush. In her book, de Courcy quoted a close friend summing up Tonys sex life: If it moves, hell have it. And according to most of the girls who worked with him at his studio, there seemed little doubt that Tony was gay. Tony, who cooperated with de Courcy for the biography, only had this to offer at the time: I didnt fall in love with boysbut a few men have been in love with me. The princess, on the other hand, held nothing back: I enjoyed his company very much, but I didnt take a lot of notice of him because I thought he was queer, she told Warwick, according to de Courcy in her book. One mystery is why the princess herself, only three days after the final draft of the proposal was produced, announced on 31 October 1955 that she would not be marrying Townsend after all. The Queen tells her sister chillingly that if she marries Townsend she will no longer be a member of the family. They didn't think of Tony who was often in the background.". Gillian Anderson on *Those* The Crown S6 Rumors, Found: The 10 Best PG-13 Moves on Netflix. The princess wed photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1960, but their marriage was also marked by scandal before their divorce in 1978, the first in the royal Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. Highlights from Princess Margaret's wedding to Antony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey, London. In a scrawled letter to Eden in September 1955 he stated his view that the Act probably did not even apply to Princess Margaret because of its contradictory drafting. The Earl of Snowdon has continued with his photography work. .css-1fgik18{color:#323232;display:block;font-family:NewParis,NewParis-fallback,Georgia,Times,serif;font-weight:normal;margin-bottom:0.3125rem;margin-top:0;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;-webkit-font-smoothing:auto;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-1fgik18:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-1fgik18{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-1fgik18{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-1fgik18{font-size:1.3125rem;line-height:1.2;}}Charlotte Casiraghi's Best Looks Ever, 37 Royal Family Photos Taken By Kate Middleton, The Most Iconic Photos of Princess Charlotte, Princess Charlotte Turns 8! Tolkien. Their wedding was also the first televised royal wedding, paving the way for Princess Diana and Prince Charles, .css-tjvzc4{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:inherit;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;border-bottom:thin solid #6F6F6F;}.css-tjvzc4:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}Prince William and Kate Middleton, and soon, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Over the years, he continued to be a favored photographer of the royal family, even after his messy divorce from Margaret, capturing many iconic images of royals. Town & Country reported that, per biographer de Courcy, the royal family approved of the union, despite Armstrong-Jones not being a member of the aristocracy. Wedding of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones Princess Margaret and Anthony Armstrong-Jones photographed following the announcement of their engagement in February 1960. The statement also drew on some devastating criticism of the Act by the Lord Chancellor Lord Kilmuir, who as David Maxwell Fyfe had been a barrister and Home Secretary. The double agent Sir Anthony Blunt, played by Samuel West, was initially hired by Queen Elizabeth II as her official art advisor and surveyor of her pictures yet his real job was far removed from the world of galleries and auctions. Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend, a former Battle of Britain pilot, fell in love when he was an equerry first to George VI and then to Elizabeth II. Edward Heath, leader of the Conservatives, eventually succeeded Harold as PM, but he was later re-elected in 1974 for another two years before stepping down and letting Labour MP James Callaghan take his place. It stated that the Act was "out of harmony with modern conditions". As a commoner, Armstrong-Jones wasn't considered to be a real prospect for Margaret, which is why their romance went undetected for so long. That month they announced their separation and their marriage officially ended two years later. Princess Margaret announced her separation from Lord Snowdon on March 19, 1976, the the BBC reported. Though they began dating in 1958, Armstrong-Jones and Princess Margaret were quiet about their relationship in the beginning. It wasnt until 1967 that Tony took the famous photo that likely inspired The Crowns version. Known by his nickname Porchey, Lord Porchester played by John Hollingworth was hired as the racing manager for the Queen in 1969, but was in fact a long-time friend of Queen Elizabeths. The same year he divorced Princess Margaret, Tony married Lucy Lindsay-Hogg, a film production assistant. Princess Margaret, photographed by Tony Armstrong-Jones. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Per The Telegraph, "In 1966, while Lord Snowdon was in India, Margaret embarked on her first extra-marital affair, a brief dalliance with Antony Barton, a Bordeaux wine producer and a godfather to Lady Sarah." In the very first episode of season 3, "Olding," Sir Anthony Blunt, art advisor to the queen, is exposed as a Soviet spy. She co-edited The Emma Press Anthology of Illness, and previously spent all of her money on Kylie Cosmetics. Princess Margaret, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, Group Captain Peter Townsend and Princess Elizabeth in the Royal Box at the Strand Theatre (August 1946), Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret in The Crown, Princess Margaret returns to London from Balmoral in October 1955 for her meeting with Townsend, On board the worlds last surviving turntable ferry. They separated, and in 1978 officially announced their divorcemaking Margaret the first royal to divorce since King Henry VIII. Below, more mind-blowing details about the princess and her photographer husband for you to obsess over. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Speculation abounded that Tony was having flings with other women while away on assignment for The Sunday Times, while Margaret had her own dalliances with the liked of Anthony Barton, a college friend of Tony's, and Roddy Llewellyn, a landscape gardener 18 years her junior. He remarried in 1978 but later divorced in 2000. Armstrong-Jones and Princess Margaret had two children together during their 18 year marriage. He died at the age of 86 in January 2017. Anthony Blunt Did Antony Armstrong-Jones Have a Love Child? Biographer Anne de Courcy told Town & Country, "Nobody knew about their relationship, there wasn't a whisper about it." They weren't under the radar for long, though. You might be wondering why he appears this season, but Lyndon (played by Clancy Jones) met the Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon on their tour of the U.S. in 1965. After the two years was up, there was still a problem. Tony never confirmed or denied the longstanding rumors about his sexuality during his lifetime, but that didn't stop the speculation. Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones' Full Relationship Timeline, Kendall and Bad Bunny's Full Relationship Timeline, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. Her husband was allegedly blindsided, and reportedly described himself as "desperately sad" about the news, according to the outlet. Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones's marriage is well-documented throughout The Crown, and viewers are likely wondering about the finer details of the couple's love story after watching Season 3. From double agents, new flames and horse racing managers (with an implied royal affair thrown in for good measure), weve covered the backstory of some of the key people whose lives intertwined with Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret. Princess Margaret As he was not a known escort, no one paid any attention to the appearance of an extra man in her wide and varied acquaintance, she wrote. READ MORE: See The Crown cast at the Season 3 premiere, READ MORE: Watch the trailer for Season 3, Bauer Consumer Media Ltd, Company number 01176085; Bauer Radio Limited, Company number: 1394141; Registered office: Media House, Peterborough Business Park, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA and H Bauer Publishing, Company number: LP003328; Registered office: The Lantern, 75 Hampstead Road, London NW1 2PL, All registered in England and Wales.