Royal Scandal: How Queen Mother Encouraged Margaret’s Secret relationship

Before Harry and Meghan, there was another royal pairing that threatened to make waves for the monarchy, that of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones. They married in 1960 but eventually divorced.

But in this case the two kept their controversial lives under the radar with a little bit of help from none other than the Queen Mother.

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According to royal biographer Anne de Courcy the Queen Mother became rather fond of her future son-in-law and helped her daughter Margaret to keep their assignations on the down-low.

How did Princess Margaret manage to keep her budding relationship with future husband Antony out of the press?

Anne de Courcy wrote in Vanity Fair in 2009 that Margaret was smitten by Antony in part by his boldness as she was, “accustomed to unquestioning deference, had never met anyone like him.”

Why was theirs such a scandalous union? In two words, class difference. After all, she was royalty and he was a lowly photographer.

As a result Margaret found it necessary to hide her love affair from everyone save for her closest friends and the Queen Mother with whom she lived at Royal Lodge, Windsor.

The Queen Mother Helped Margaret Keep Her Affair Private And Hidden From View

According to de Courcy, Margaret, “decided that she wanted Tony in her circle, and after a while, his face could be seen among the parties of six or eight people in which the Princess went to the theatre or dined out.”

“As he was not a known escort, no one paid any attention to the appearance of an extra man in her wide and varied acquaintance.”

Soon enough the couple were having secret visits, as in, “Her car would drop her unobtrusively in the adjacent, parallel road.”

“Dressed as anonymously as possible in a tweed skirt, sweater, and headscarf, she would slip down a small alley that led to the studio’s backyard – at the back, the basement was at ground level – and down the spiral staircase into the small sitting room where Tony would cook them a simple supper.”

Margaret And Antony Had A Charming Initial Relationship

Then when Margaret was at Royal Lodge, Antony would return the favor and drive down to see her, under pretense.

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“It was known that he was building an aviary there, and the assumption was that it was for the Queen Mother. As the year drew on, another excellent excuse for visits was his commission to take the 29th-birthday portraits of the Princess.”

Nowadays, the once loved-up couple is more famous for being the first senior royals to divorce since Henry VIII.