Fans who have watched Princess Margaret’s tragic storyline via The Crown, likely were left with one impression by its conclusion- if only Margaret had been allowed to marry Peter Townsend, things would have ended up different for her. Margaret, became known in life for her biting, snobbish acidity regarding decorum, excessive drinking and as the first member of the royal family to divorce. Someone who was once so young, glamorous and full of hope, died well before her time and to some as a disappointment. A number 2, living in the spirit of a number 1, Margaret married photographer Tony Snowden after the Townsend debacle and it was one epic disaster- lies, deceit, scandal and mutually abusive. Dramatized or not, The Crown does get a bit of Margaret’s life correctly, except maybe their portrayal of Margaret’s doomed love affair with her father’s equerry Peter Townsend. I think when we acknowledge the dramatization and open a book, the affair seems a bit more dodgy than on the screen. 16 years her senior, married and in a position to know better, Peter may have been the beginning of the pattern of Margaret’s self-sabotaging nature, not the rupture that caused it.

I too can fall for some of The Crown’s dramatizations, after all it can’t all be totally off- some of the conjectural nature of the moments would seem typical of the reactions during certain events. However, after I read Craig Brown’s Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret, there were a few passages that brought me back down to earth and forced me to examine this relationship in a different light.

Peter Townsend

Group Captain Peter Townsend was a pretty courageous and revered WWII hero- a pilot for the RAF, he took one of the most dangerous roles in the British Armed Services and was a legend after his contribution to the Battle of Britain. Highly decorated, he took the job of equerry to King George VI. Now fully trusted and ingrained in the royal household, he was frequently in the presence of a teenage Princess Margaret as well as some of the biggest moments of post- War royal history with the young Windsor family such as trips abroad, even the infamous royal wedding of 1947. Beloved and trusted, Townsend was 16 years Margaret’s senior and had been married with two sons when the affair began.

The Beginnings

Peter began working as equerry when Margaret was 13 years old. In Brown’s bio, he maintains based on Townsend’s own writings that Peter noticed the Princess at 15. At 16 when the royal family went on their first major tour to South Africa since the war ended (the one that was supposed to make a young QE2 forget Philip- fail!), Peter was there and the time he spent with the young Margaret seemed to have been the moment the young and impressionable 16/17 year old started to fall for the man her father, King George had begun to look at like his own son.

When Margaret turned 18 in 1948, she did a bit of a rehab on her image. She started what was known as the “Margaret Set”, a group of aristocrats her age that would drink until dawn at the Savoy and who filled the papers daily with their glamorous parties and over the top lifestyles, in a still very down and war torn England. Remaking herself, as often a number 2 must, her necklines got lower and her lips redder. Whilst Townsend very much looked on and started to feel that maybe something was blooming for her, his marriage was allegedly falling apart. According to Brown, in Townsend’s autobiography, rather than take any responsibility for the failure, he says he was young and naive and married in haste- he was 26 and a war hero….

Brown frequently uses snippets of Townsend’s own words when describing Margaret. Starting at an early age they were frequently about her charm, charisma, personality and obviously her beauty. It’s obvious even in her teen years, Townsend felt a bit smitten and at some point Margaret must have noticed as she admitted to falling in love with Townsend at 16.

Allegedly, the two did not have any type of romantic intention until after the King died in 1952 and after Townsend divorced his wife- she was the adulterer believe it or not and remarried soon after. Convenient for the recollection of memories in autobiography. The two felt that they were being discrete, however a few slip ups landed them unwanted attention, first from the bulldog secretary Tommy Lascelles (Pip Torren does a fabulous job depicting Lascelles in The Crown!) who was appalled that a member of the staff would dare to date royalty and made it his mission to shut it down, but also an unfortunate moment at the Queen’s coronation when she was seen very intimately brushing some lint from Townsend’s jacket. It was caught on camera by the press and interpreted only one way- the correct way.

Deal with the Queen

Prior to the coronation “outing” Margaret had told the Queen and the infamous dinner from The Crown did happen. It was early in Her Majesties reign and I do believe that she wanted her sister find happiness and was largely supportive. Knowing of course in her constitutional role though that Peter being divorced would be a bigger issue than the fact that he was member of the royal staff. Unfortunately, whatever QE2’s feelings, the press had run amuck with the same horror that Lascelles had in the aftermath of the lint picking scandal from her coronation and the public opinion went to the highest in the land- the Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Churchill in very conservative practice, sent Townsend effectively into exile with a nonsense assignment for the next two years. Like The Crown, Margaret was in effect told that she need only wait until she was 25 and then it could be constitutionally supported.

So she did. Despite him being double her age, divorced with children, Margaret waited. Waited and dreamed that as soon as 25 came, when Townsend would be 41 that they would be able to live freely together. When Townsend came home and her birthday was fast approaching, the guard changed. Churchill was out and Eden was in. Eden informed Princess Margaret that despite earlier concessions, the cabinet believed given the nature of their relationship that if Margaret planned to go ahead, she may, but only if she relinquished her royal rights and of course any financial support she made from the Civil Lists. On Halloween of 1955, Margaret made an official announcement. She would not marry Peter Townsend, and deep down Margaret and QE2 knew that the next serious love interest to come along would have to be a given regardless.

Peter and Marie

What Margaret didn’t know, and according to Townsend’s autobiography which Craig Brown quotes at large, whilst in Brussels on his little exile, he met Marie-Luce Jamagne. When Marie, then aged 14, fell off of her horse in front of Peter, he was taken with her. Let’s try this again- she was 14. They would go on to marry in 1959 just 4 years after Margaret told the world that she and Peter Townsend were through. That would make Marie 20 and Peter 45!

In essence, what you saw in The Crown, the gist of their relationship was fairly accurate. However, the final season where Margaret gets to see Peter again and they reminisce on lost love after she’s had a disastrous marriage and divorce with Tony and she thinks how much different her life could have been… Would it? Age gaps are one thing and love is certainly love, but comparing Margaret and Marie there are 3 major similarities- gorgeous women who came from serious social status who were VERY YOUNG teenagers when they met Townsend. It is very difficult when compared in this light to not view Peter Townsend as anything other than either an inappropriate opportunist, or even perhaps in 21st century terms, a groomer. I can’t say that they wouldn’t have been happy, or that Margaret’s life had not been better off, but given the aftermath (or overlapping depending how one views the timelines) gives a very different light to Townsend.

The End-Tony

All judgments, accusations or hypotheses of mine aside, Margaret did marry someone who she thought was handsome, brilliant, engaging as well as fabulously bohemian in a time where her world was anything but. However, unlike Peter’s baggage, Tony’s would remain hidden for some time. A love child with his best friend’s wife conceived during threesomes, a love for infidelity, and a gift for verbal and emotional abuse that would make most narcissists blush Tony was complex. However, he was met with physical and verbal abuse from Margaret, as well as her snobbish and substance addicted frame of mind. One has to wonder if Margaret really thought Tony was this ray of light after the pain of Townsend (Peter would tell Margaret of his plan to marry before Margaret’s engagement), or if he was a filler that went horribly wrong. Either way, we see her through the lens of The Crown, meeting Peter one more time and wondering what could have been. I obviously can’t answer that question, but in reviewing the realities, Townsend comes off a bit more sinister in real life than Ben Miles’ sweet and loyal depiction in The Crown.

**Sources: Craig Brown- Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret