Karen Dolby - The Wicked Wit of Princess Margaret

OTHER TITLES IN THE SERIES

The Wicked Wit of Winston Churchill

The Wicked Wit of Jane Austen

The Wicked Wit of Charles Dickens

The Wicked Wit of Oscar Wilde

The Wicked Wit of Queen Elizabeth II

The Wicked Wit of Prince Philip

First published in Great Britain in 2018 by

Michael OMara Books Limited

9 Lion Yard

Tremadoc Road

London SW4 7NQ

Copyright Michael OMara Books Limited 2018

All rights reserved. You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-78243-958-5 in hardback print format

ISBN 978-1-78243-959-2 in e-book format

www.mombooks.com

Contents

I cannot imagine anything more

wonderful than to be who I am.

I n June 2006, 896 items from Princess Margarets private collection went under the hammer at Christies auction house in London. Highlights included the Poltimore Tiara she wore for her wedding, countless gifts of Faberg, furniture and jewels from her grandmother, Queen Mary, a gold and sapphire cigarette case from her father, King George VI, engraved with: To Margaret from her very devoted Papa GR Christmas 1949. Other works of art: gifts and personal messages, from the simple to the most valuable, from family, friends, the public, organisations and heads of state, were also amongst the collection, which began in the Princesss childhood and archived her whole life. Like Princess Diana, with whom she was often compared, Princess Margaret had lived her life in the spotlight, her every move recorded and documented. She courted controversy and was fted and photographed, praised and vilified, in equal measure.

Watching film footage of Princess Margaret, reading the anecdotes and conflicting accounts of her life, her character remains something of an enigma. Vivacious, charming and witty, she was also sometimes downright rude. A bohemian who was also a stickler for protocol. A snob who mixed widely.

So many contradictions. Its hard to escape the impression that sometimes the Princess behaved badly just because she could; a childhood instinct for naughtiness that never left her. As an adult she was often tempted to see just how far she could go and exactly how much she could get away with.

Bored, underemployed, not sufficiently challenged. Margaret was often let down by so-called friends. Her restless character needed a purpose and a role. When her beloved father died, she was stranded. Not only grieving and bereft, she watched as all around her family members took on new roles and important functions; everyone elses positions changed except for her own.

Writer and man of letters Gore Vidal, who came to know Princess Margaret well, commented, She was far too intelligent for her station in life She often had a bad press, the usual fate of wits in a literal society.

Hers was a strange position. Born fourth in line to the throne, she went up to third at the age of six, when her uncle abdicated, then back down to fourth again in 1948 with the birth of Prince Charles, after which she continued dropping. She was number eleven at the time of her death in 2002.

Unlike her elder sister, Elizabeth, Margarets role was not defined. She had no fixed path and as a result vacillated between duty and inclination. She was drawn to the arts and artists of all sorts, but she was also royalty in a world where the old order was changing. She chose to mix in a society where rank and birth no longer held sway but for someone like the Princess, this was a contradictory mix. She was ever aware of her position and even when most relaxed and uninhibited would sometimes step back and pull rank. Throughout, Princess Margarets life bore witness to the big question that The Guardian posed in its obituary of her what, exactly, is a princess for?

From glamorous style icon to a rather lonely figure; in ill-health and semi-paralysed, living out her days at Kensington Palace, Princess Margaret was always her own woman. Fted by the press in her youth as the beautiful, tragic Princess who sacrificed love for duty, she was equally criticised in her later years for her icy hauteur and difficult demands.

Close friends remember a loyal, fun-loving woman who was frequently misunderstood.

She could be utterly preposterous, rude, demanding and outrageous. She could also be warm, witty and clever. There was no excuse for some of her behaviour but she could never be accused of being boring. And there was something about Princess Margaret that kept friends, enemies and everyone in between, entranced.

This book focuses on her unique wit and sharp view of society and the world, told through her own words and stories from those who knew her best.