The Royalist - The Scandalous Life of Princess Margaret

The Scandalous Life of Princess Margaret

Written by Joanne Leyland

Wednesday, 16 November 2005

Do you recall the days when TV reports or discussions about the Royal Family centred on nothing more exciting than who designed Diana's latest hat? Or what the Queen said to the Archbishop?

Well, the following comes with a public health warning as something quite remarkable happened live on British television at lunchtime (yes, it was only 12pm) on Tuesday. Ironically, it was around the same time the Queen was opening the latest (only the eighth in history) sitting of the Church of England's General Synod. Believe me, it may not have been the most exciting place for Her Majesty to have been but thank goodness she was out of the Palace as the last place she would have surely wanted to be was in front of the TV set.

The reason?

Royal biographer Noel Botham (seen left) spoke for several minutes, in surely too much detail, about the very private life of the Queen's sister, Princess Margaret. And before you think it was the same old information about her disastrous marriage to Lord Snowdon, or the fact she may have allegedly (I stress, allegedly) taken drugs at a rock concert, think again.

For the subject was about Margaret's alleged lesbian relationship with one Sharman Douglas. You may be thinking, 'well, that's nothing new?!'

But it got worse. Here's what was said by Noel Botham, the author of a biography and TV documentary (shown late last night on ITV1) about the original 'royal rebel' in relation to the alleged affair between the young Margaret and the Ambassador's daughter: "For hundreds of years there have been no pregnant Princesses in Royal families in Europe. The reason that happened is because when a woman reached a certain age, got interested in sex, she was given a lady, a girl, to have sex with. And that was the contraception, that was a royal contraceptive. And then she'd get married and have children...so it's as simple as that, it was a royal contraceptive, to have a relationship with a woman".

As you can maybe grasp from that, it wasn't exactly the bog-standard royal chat you'd hear from Hugo Vickers or Robert Lacey!

At the moment Margaret's reputation really is being put through the shredder as last night's ITV1 documentary 'The Secret Life of Princess Margaret' (a slightly updated repeat from 2003) was nothing compared to what British TV viewers will be treated to on November 27th, for that is the night the much-hyped drama 'The Queen's Sister' will go to air on Channel Four. As you can see on the left, in one of the few images to have been released to promote the drama, this is one film the Royal Family must surely wish they could have stopped.

Margaret's ex-husband, Lord Snowdon, is especially furious about what is undoubtedly a sensational portrayal of the mother of his children, saying: "If you knew somebody was making a film in which your wife was portrayed as having lesbian affairs, drinking too much and having rows, what would you do?". The usually discreet Snowdon also vented his anger at the production team behind the film, claiming: "To say this film is painstakingly researched is bulls**t. They have not got in touch with me or my family". Snowdon has since been invited to a private screening of the TV drama but declined.

Princess Margaret once said: "Constitutionally I don't exist". That may have been the case but she sure as heck "existed" when it came to her private life. Of that we have no doubt.

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