Princess Margaret Died Suddenly In 2002 After Leading A Tumultuous Life
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Helena Bonham Carter is blessing everyone with her talents on season three of Netflix’s The Crown. The British actress takes on the role Queen Elizabeth II’s rebel sister, Princess Margaret.
Vanessa Kirby portrayed the reluctant royal for the first two seasons of the hit TV show, but as the plot moves along in time, new actors and actresses have stepped in to play the famous family.
Netflix announced in July 2020 that actress Lesley Manville will be replacing Helena for seasons five and six of the show. "I could not be happier to be playing Princess Margaret. The baton is being passed on from two formidable actresses and I really don't want to let the side down. Furthermore to play siblings with my dear friend Imelda Staunton will be nothing short of a complete joy," Lesley wrote on Twitter.
With new faces comes a new exploration into the royals' lives (for better or worse)—which, of course, includes Princess Margaret. But unlike some of The Crown’s real-life counterparts who have to deal with the show's effect on their current lives, Princess Margaret does not.
Princess Margaret died on February 9, 2002, at the age of 71.
She suffered a stroke the afternoon before her death and developed heart problems throughout the night, according to the royal family's official website. Princess Margaret was taken to the hospital at 2:30 a.m. and died "peacefully in her sleep" four hours later. Her two children, David and Sarah, were with Princess Margaret when she died, and The Queen was kept fully informed of her sister's condition throughout the night.
Margaret was in poor health before her death.
It was thought to be due to her serious smoking habit. "She smoked continuously, not even putting out her cigarette when the soup arrived, but instead leaning it up against the ashtray," actor Derek Jacobi told The Telegraph. She even reportedly smoked up to 60 cigarettes a day.
She left behind two children, but no husband.
Princess Margaret married photographer and filmmaker Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1960. (Queen Elizabeth created the title Earl of Snowdon and bestowed it upon her commoner-born brother-in-law on the couple's wedding day.)
The couple wed after Queen Elizabeth refused to support her sister’s relationship with Group Capt. Peter Townsend of the Royal Air Force—and it wasn’t because of the 16-year age gap, per Town and Country. (This was a major plot point in season one of The Crown, if you remember. Relationship rumors started when Princess Margaret removed a piece of fluff from his jacket at the Queen’s coronation.)
Peter was married once before and then divorced, a status not encouraged by the Church of England. In fact, the Royal Marriages Act of 1772 prohibited royals from marrying people of divorce without the sovereign ruler's permission, according to History.com. (Obviously, this isn't recognized anymore, because Duchess Meghan Markle married Prince Harry.) Even though Princess Margaret remained with Peter until she was 25 and could go against the Queen’s wishes, she ultimately chose her royal status over love.
She and Antony, First Earl of Snowdon, divorced in 1978.
It marked the first divorce in the royal family in 400 years, so one can only assume that came with a lot of press problems. Things were reportedly not great between Margaret and Antony for years before their divorce. It became especially bad when the divorce happened because of Princess Margaret’s eight-year affair with landscape gardener Roddy Lewellyn.
In fact, their relationship had turned so toxic that Antony would leave hateful notes for Margaret. "She told me, for instance, that she no longer opened her chest of drawers—she got her maid to do it instead—because Tony had developed a habit of leaving nasty little notes inside. One of them said: 'You look like a Jewish manicurist and I hate you,'" Lady Glenconner, Margaret’s former lady in waiting, wrote in her memoir, Lady in Waiting. (FWIW: Kitty Kelley’s The Royals also mentions that particular anti-Semitic note.)
At one point, Kelley writes in The Royals, Antony left a list of the many reasons why he hated his wife for the princess to find.
Despite the family drama, Princess Margaret respected her sister to the very end.
Princess Margaret expected her inner circle to call her "ma’am" or "ma’am darling," demanding a level of respect, according to Biography.com. And she expected that same level of respect—at least—be shown to her sister, wanting those around her to call Elizabeth "Her Majesty the Queen."
The two did have their differences around Margaret’s love life, though. In fact, the queen once referred to her sister as having the life of a "guttersnipe" (a homeless person), according Biography.com.
Overall, though, from childhood to adulthood, the Queen always wanted the best for Princess Margaret. Sure, it was difficult to deal with the negative press and Queen Elizabeth would have probably handled things differently, but the love between the two sisters remained strong.
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