Who Was Princess Margaret’s Boyfriend Roddy Llewellyn IRL?
Warning: This article contains major spoilers about Princess Margaret’s relationship with Roddy Llewellyn in The Crown season 3! So hide your face in the nearest available fluffy corgi if you aren’t caught up on the show and somehow got lost on the internet and accidentally clicked this.
Please gather ’round, those of you who (a) just finished The Crown, (b) are absolutely L-I-V-I-N-G for Princess Margaret, and (c) want—nay, need—to find out about this Roddy Llewellyn dude she was not-so-secretly hooking up with during her marriage to Lord Snowdon. The Crown introduces us to Roddy when a bummed-out and incredibly thirsty Margaret is vacationing at her friend’s house. She spots him across the pool, and you remember what happens next: She buys him a speedo, he does some gardening whilst looking hot, they fall in love, go on vacation, get photographed by paps, and then the entire thing blows up in Margaret’s face. It’s all incredibly dramatic and the time has come to find out what the real story is.
First, a Lil Background on Our Dude
The Crown low-key makes it seem like Roddy is some kinda “man of the people” who Margaret plucked out of obscurity, but that’s far from the truth. He might not have been royalty, but Roddy was the son of Sir Harry Llewellyn, 3rd Baronet, and became a baronet himself in January 2009. In other words, he’s a full-blown aristocrat who just happened to like gardening.
(By the way, a baronet is the lowest member of the British order, and it basically means you can use the prefix “sir.” Chic!)
^Proof that Roddy was a very fancy man who did fancy man things like wear pinkie rings.
As we see on the show, there was a truly massive age difference between Roddy and Margaret. She was born in 1930 and he was born in 1947, putting 17 years between them. In other words, he was just 26 when they started their affair, while she was 43. Get! It! Margaret!
^Definitely what a person who gardens all day looks like!!!!!
So, how’d they meet?
Roddy and Margaret met at a party circa 1973 that was hosted by her friends Colin Tennant and Lady Anne Glenconner in Edinburgh. They went on to have an eight-year affair. Wild!
In Craig Brown’s biographical Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret, Colin is quoted as saying, “It was obvious that something happened as soon as Princess Margaret saw Roddy. She was taken with him immediately and devoured him through luncheon. It was a great relief.”
Meanwhile, go ahead and enjoy a clip of Lady Anne talking about this whole saga IRL. “I remember being on the doorstep when Colin drove back and Princess Margaret and Roddy were sitting in the back seat,” she said. “They were more or less holding hands and I thought, Heavens, what have we done?”
How the Scandal Really Went Down
Remember when I mentioned Princess Margaret’s friend Colin, like, two seconds ago? Well, he had a place in Mustique (a private island in the Caribbean and a favorite travel destination of the royals to this day), and she and Roddy were alllll about vacationing there. Unfortunately, someone managed to snap a pic of the two of them hanging on the island in 1976, which made its way to the British tabloids, and—as we saw in The Crown—everything blew TF up.
Apparently, Lord Snowdon really did call for divorce once the pictures went viral (1970s-style viral, y’all), and their marriage ended just one month later. As the New York Times reported in March 1976, Kensington Palace put out a statement that read as follows:
“Her royal highness, the Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, and the Earl of Snowdon have mutually agreed to live apart. The Princess will carry out her public duties and functions unaccompanied by Lord Snowdon. There are no plans for divorce proceedings.”
(Psst: They ended up getting divorced in 1978.) The New York Times also noted that the photographs of Roddy and Margaret had been “unbearably embarrassing” for Lord Snowdon. And he did speak about the split in public, simply remarking, “I would like to say three things. Firstly to pray for the understanding of our two children, second to wish Princess Margaret every happiness for her future, and thirdly to express with all humility the love, admiration, and respect I will always have for her sister, her mother, and, indeed, her entire family.”
Oh, and if you’re wondering whether Roddy had any thoughts, he did! Here’s what he reportedly said in a statement issued to the Press Association after the photos surfaced:
“I am not prepared to comment on any of the events of last week. I much regret any embarrassment caused to Her Majesty the Queen and the royal family, for whom I wish to express the greatest respect, admiration, and loyalty. I thank my own family for their confidence and support, and I am very grateful for the help of my friends at the farm who, with myself, share a common interest in restoring a house to its original order and beauty, and in farming land which it is hoped will provide food for our Parsenn Sally restaurant in Bath. Could we please be permitted by the media, who have besieged us, to carry on with our work and private lives without further interference.”
So, where is Roddy now?
Roddy married Tatiana Soskin (daughter of film producer Paul Soskin) in 1981 and they went on to have three daughters. He’s still alive and kickin’ and presumably feeling all kinds of awkward about his personal life making its way into a TV show.
And for what it’s worth, Margaret was apparently fine with Roddy’s marriage, allegedly telling a friend, “I’m really very happy for him. Anyway, I couldn’t have afforded him much longer.”
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