‘The log book clearly states that Townsend asked for his bedroom to be moved next to the Princess’s,’ the curator told me.Īt that time, the Princess was barely 17 years old. As it happened, she had been accompanied on her overnight visit by Group Captain Peter Townsend, who was, at that time, an equerry to King George VI. He told me that he had recently found notes in the castle’s logbook of the occasion in October 1947 when Princess Margaret had stayed. Perhaps most interesting of all was the curator of a National Trust castle who came up to have a copy of Ma’am Darling signed. ‘He was completely taken aback, because he barely knew him.’ Gilliatt was in fact chosen for the role only because the groom’s other male friends were so clearly unsuitable. Princess Margaret, the younger sister Queen Elizabeth II, and her husband photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones arrive in 1960 in London in the Opera HouseĪfter talking, or at least trying to talk, to the notoriously reticent Heath for half an hour, Princess Margaret suddenly lost her temper, saying: ‘You are more boring than a provincial mayor!’ She then placed both hands on Heath’s head and turned it away from her.Īt another literary event, an elderly gentleman told me that he had been with Dr Roger Gilliatt when he had received the telephone call from Antony Armstrong-Jones asking him to be his best man.

She refused to speak to Princess Diana (after the infamous Panorama interview) and the Duchess of York (after the toe-sucking photograph).Ī former Conservative MP told me that, when Edward Heath was Prime Minister, he had been placed next to Princess Margaret at a formal dinner. I knew Princess Margaret had a reputation for sending her enemies to Coventry. In Ma’am Darling, I mention that Princess Margaret claimed never to have spoken a word to Princess Michael of Kent, even though they were neighbours in Kensington Palace. It was the talk of the place for weeks! Not very ladylike behaviour!’ ‘She had lunch there and stubbed her cigarette out in her trifle dish. She came to the RAF camp I lived on,’ recalled one lady. ‘I met her when I was in the Girl Guides. Not once did she even acknowledge him, let alone thank him.’ ‘His task was to escort her round and wait on her with copious amounts of gin.Īt one point, he had to carry a silver tray so she could put her cigarettes out on it. A man told me that his father had been in the Royal Navy in the Sixties. Many of the stories about the Princess involved alcohol and/or cigarettes. Ever since, strangers have been approaching me with their memories of her But no: ‘You got her exactly right!’ she said, ‘Though what I’ll never understand is why we let her get away with it for so long.’ My book Ma¿am Darling: 99 Glimpses Of Princess Margaret came out at the end of September.

Ma’am Darling by Craig Brown