Yes, Princess Margaret's Fling with Roddy Llewellyn Was Real
If you've already completed your binge of The Crown Season 3, then a) congratulations, and b) I know what you're wondering. Coming off the incredibly dramatic finale, which finally gives Helena Bonham Carter's Princess Margaret the spotlight moment she'd lacked throughout the rest of the season, there's one question every viewer is pretty much bound to be thirstily asking: Who is Roddy Llewellyn?
Played by Harry Treadaway, Llewellyn is the strapping, chisel-jawed chap who catches Margaret's eye early in the finale and becomes her short-lived boyfriend. Llewellyn strides into Margaret's life at just the right moment, as her tumultuous marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones is falling apart. Though his affairs have long been a relatively open secret, Antony is now seriously involved with another woman, Lucy Lindsay-Hogg (who he will go on to marry in 1978). Margaret is not about to take this deeply hurtful revelation lying down, and she wastes no time in finding herself a younger man who—as several characters do—bears an uncanny resemblance to Antony.
Here are a few key facts to know about Llewellyn.
He was 17 years Margaret's junior.
One of the many eyebrow-raising aspects of Margaret and Llewellyn's relationship, by 1970s standards, was the significant age difference between the pair. When they first met in 1973 Llewellyn was 25, while Margaret was 43. According to the BBC, he was considered to be "her most outrageous choice to date … many years younger, footloose and fancy-free. The couple first met in Scotland in September 1973 at the Café Royal in Edinburgh when travelling to a house party in Peebleshire hosted by Margaret's old friend, Colin Tennant."
His relationship with Margaret was outed by a tabloid.
As depicted in the show, Margaret and Llewellyn's relationship becomes public when a paparazzi photographer follows them on vacation to the West Indies and takes covert photographs of the pair frolicking in the ocean. For Crown aficionados, this moment plays as a callback to the episode of Season 2 in which Margaret and Antony first meet. After agreeing to let Antony photograph her, Margaret persuaded him to send one of the scantily clad pictures to a newspaper, where its publication sparked a minor scandal.
Following the publication of the photos, in real life, Llewellyn issued a shamefaced statement, writing, "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. […] Could we please be permitted by the media, who have besieged us, to carry on with our work and private lives without further interference."
He consulted with Helena Bonham Carter for The Crown.
It's widely known that while some royal family members watch The Crown, some emphatically do not. But Llewellyn seems to have given the production his blessing, and he even met with Bonham Carter prior to filming.
"He came to tea with me and Harry, who plays Roddy," Bonham Carter told the Sunday Times before going on to discuss the reasons why Llewellyn had been such a good match for Margaret. "He was so fun and warm—that's what [Margaret] needed. He's very musical. He started singing a song in my kitchen. He said they found each other just at the right time. They were both very lost, both felt somewhat outsiders, just not quite accepted by the family—or not quite good enough. Her confidence was really undermined by the breakdown of her marriage. He also gave her fun at a time when she hadn’t been having much."
His relationship with Margaret lasted for a long time.
Though The Crown depicts their relationship as a relatively brief fling, which seemingly ends in the season finale, in reality, Llewellyn and Margaret dated for eight years, according to the BBC. In a 2002 piece for the now-defunct News of the World newspaper, Llewellyn opened up about his time with the princess.
"I didn't think about the consequences of such a high-profile affair," he said, per The Telegraph. "I was just following my heart. […] I discovered a warm and witty woman, possessing a strong sense of duty and dedication to her country's interests, who has honoured me with her friendship since that first house party that was so filled with fun and laughter. […] In Princess Margaret I found a fine friend who could steady my restless nature and offer wise counsel."
The queen approved of Margaret's relationship with Llewellyn.
Despite the controversy their romance drew, Margaret's sister, Queen Elizabeth II, reportedly gave the couple her blessing—at least tacitly. Per History.com, Colin Tennant's wife, Anne Tennant, revealed in a 2018 documentary that the queen approached her at Margaret's funeral in 2002, and said, "I'd just like to say, Anne, it was rather difficult at moments, but I thank you so much for introducing Princess Margaret to Roddy 'cause he made her really happy."
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