The Wildest Stories From Princess Margaret's Party Days

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While some royal family members work hard to always be on their best behavior when in the public eye, others, like the party-loving Princess Margaret, earned a reputation for living a lavish life on her own terms. As the younger sibling of Queen Elizabeth II, the Countess of Snowdon never had the same royal expectations pushed on her the way that her sister did, and as such, Margaret took full advantage of being the spare. Still, despite being a fan of dancing, singing, playing the piano, and gossiping, the princess' reportedly questionable attitude towards some of her guests led many to consider her to be a hellish person to have at a party.

Evidently, Margaret had no problem speaking up when someone or something irritated her. For example, one of the royal's former party guests claimed that during a game of Trivial Pursuit, the princess grew frustrated when someone corrected one of her answers. As a source recalled in Craig Brown's biography "Ma'am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret," "She got so furious that she tossed the whole board in the air, sending all the pieces flying everywhere." 

However, it wasn't just her friends and game night attendees that ended up on the receiving end of the royal's questionable conduct. Margaret was also said to enjoy insulting the work of artists whom she disliked and even made eyebrow-raising insults to various celebrities like Twiggy, Grace Kelly, and Judy Garland. With plenty of shocking moments and memorable events throughout her lifetime, there's no shortage of wild stories about Princess Margaret.

While there's no question that the royal lifestyle is a glamorous one, Princess Margaret's daily routine definitely took the concept of luxury to the next level. As Craig Brown recounted in the biography "Ma'am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret," the princess' day began at 9 a.m. for "breakfast in bed, followed by two hours in bed listening to the radio, reading the newspapers (which she invariably left scattered over the floor), and chain-smoking."

After that, Margaret was said to have then enjoyed an hour-long bath at 11 a.m., after which she would do her hair and makeup before getting dressed for the day. "As one would imagine of a Princess, she never wore any of her clothes more than once without having them cleaned." Then, at exactly 12:30 p.m., it would be time for her "vodka pick-me-up." Afterward, the princess would eat a four-course lunch downstairs, complete with fruit, an array of cheeses, and a half bottle of wine. Though it likely will not sound relatable to the vast majority of non-royals, there's no questioning that the Countess of Snowdon's morning involved an unquestionable amount of pampering truly worthy of a princess.

While Princess Margaret became quite infamous for her love of socializing, there were plenty of times when she grew tired of some of her own guests' behaviors. Per the Evening Standard, the princess' future ex-husband, photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones (otherwise known as the Earl of Snowdon), stated years after the fact that he and Margaret used to have a neat trick for keeping themselves busy when she became bored by the guests' conversations during dinner parties.

According to Armstrong-Jones, the then-royal couple would play what they called the "bread game." Whenever one of the dinner attendees said something they found to be boring or cliché, either Margaret or Armstrong-Jones would rip off a piece of bread and move it toward the middle of the table. At the end of the dinner, the person with the most pieces would be considered the winner. The outlet added that the whole point of the couple's shenanigans was to poke fun at the silly exchanges from dinner guests without anyone else being aware of what they were doing. It definitely sounds like an inventive way to entertain yourself during dinner.

Though Princess Margaret held a reputation for being the life of the party, her celebratory lifestyle also included some vices that ultimately led to serious health issues. The Countess of Snowdon was known to enjoy hard alcohol, and according to the BBC News, at one point she was smoking as many as 60 cigarettes in a single day. The princess experienced various health issues throughout her life (which initially began in her mid-teens), but things really escalated when she was an adult. In January 1985, Margaret had a part of her left lung removed due to a cancer scare. The tissue was later reportedly found to be nonmalignant.

After the procedure, the royal's ex-husband Antony Armstrong-Jones publicly stated, "I am very relieved that everything went all right and that it was not something serious" (via The Sun). Despite the scare, the Countess of Snowdon continued her smoking habit, rejecting advice from doctors and family members to quit. However, she supposedly cut her daily usage in half. In 1992, Margaret came down with a "feverish cold" and was hospitalized with pneumonia months later. Although she ultimately recovered, the princess would later suffer from multiple strokes. She died in 2002 after experiencing cardiac issues following one last stroke.

The Countess of Snowdon clearly loved being a party princess — but on her own terms. As noted in "Princess Margaret: A Biography," there were plenty of people who didn't appreciate Princess Margaret's behavior in social situations. As one individual stated, "I have been at the same house parties as her and her arrogance, her petulance, her rudeness, and her plain bad manners were awful." Nevertheless, despite her bad behavior, the princess still managed to captivate others with her vibrant spirit throughout her life.

However, Margaret also had a mischievous side and used the rules of royal protocol — which stated that a meal couldn't begin till she arrived — to her advantage and reportedly liked to keep her dinner guests waiting, according to the outlet. Most notably, while in Paris in 1959, Margaret forced her guests to wait for her at a party held in her honor, and some of them definitely weren't pleased. Writer and aristocrat Nancy Mitford, who recalled the event, wrote in her book "Love from Nancy: The Letters of Nancy Milford," "Dinner was at 8:30 and at 8:30 Princess Margaret's hairdresser arrived, so we waited for hours while he concocted a ghastly coiffure." Miller added, "She looked like a huge ball of fur on two well-developed legs."

There's no question that Princess Margaret lived a glamorous life that was filled with plenty of memorable moments and events, one of which was her romance with Group Captain Peter Townsend. According to reports, Townsend initially met the teen princess when he applied to work for her father, then-King George VI. Townsend later recalled their meeting, saying Margaret was "as unremarkable as one would expect of a 14-year-old girl" (via Town & Country). However, they would later become romantically involved eight years later when the Countess of Snowdon was 22, with a 16-year age gap separating the two lovers.

While the pair tried to keep their relationship private, the media continued to report on the speculation surrounding the duo, fueling the rumors of the royal romance. But ultimately, it was the couple's wish to tie the knot that led to a public conflict. According to the outlet, Townsend's prior divorce in 1952 disqualified him from being able to marry the princess (the Church of England, as well as the U.K. Parliament, were against the possibility of the pair getting wed). Then in 1955, the government announced that if the princess wished to wed Townsend, she would lose all of her royal privileges, including paid expenses. That same year, Margaret publicly stated that she would put her royal duties before her personal life and would not marry Townsend.

With her controversial behavior, her string of affairs, and her love for a good party, it's no surprise that Princess Margaret had plenty of headline-making moments throughout her life. One of the princess' suggestive photographs (which by today's standards is pretty tame) was recreated in Netflix's popular series "The Crown." However, the outlet stated that the television portrayal wasn't exactly true-to-life. In one episode, Margaret (played by actor Vanessa Kirby) has a particularly steamy moment with photographer and future husband Antony Armstrong-Jones (played by actor Matthew Goode). In the scene, the royal poses for a photograph, and Armstrong-Jones pushes off the sleeves of her dress and snaps the picture.

While the show certainly created a heart-racing moment between the pair, the outlet says that in reality, the picture — which does show Margaret in a similar bare shoulder pose and was taken by Armstrong-Jones — was actually the Countess of Snowdon's 29th birthday portrait.

"The Crown" also recreated a second real-life scandalous photo of the princess that, while similar to the real-life version, wasn't exactly accurate. The Netflix drama's third season reenacted Margaret's infamous bathtub photo. In one of the episodes, Margaret, who was played by Helena Bonham Carter at the time, posed in a bubble-filled tub wearing nothing but a tiara on her head for a reporter. The actual photo, however, was taken by Armstrong-Jones — not a random photog — and there were also no bubbles in the picture.

After her romance with Captain Peter Townsend officially ended, Princess Margaret began a relationship with Antony Armstrong-Jones. The pair first met in 1958, and after getting her family's approval, the pair's engagement was announced on February 26, 1960. They were married on May 6, 1960, and were the first televised royal wedding. The couple initially appeared to be happy during the early years of their marriage and even had two children (David in 1961 and Sarah three years after). However, their similar personalities ultimately led to friction between the formerly blissful pair, and from there, both began to have affairs with other people.

When he was away from his family for work assignments, the Earl of Snowdon was said to have begun having casual affairs, as did Margaret. Most notably, the princess was involved with Armstrong-Jones' college friend Anthony Barton, who was also the godfather to the royal couple's daughter Sarah. She also had a fling with an aristocratic nightclub pianist named Robin Douglas-Home. Later in 1969, Armstrong-Jones began a serious romance with Lady Jacqueline Rufus-Isaacs, which reportedly was a deep upset to Margaret even though she was also unfaithful. Finally, in 1976, the royal couple separated and officially divorced two years later. However, despite the clear problems during their marriage, it was reported that the former couple remained good friends.

Some of Princess Margaret's most memorable rumored love affairs were with celebrities. As noted in The Sun, her list of famous flings reportedly included actor Peter Sellers, as well as actor and novelist David Niven. She also had an eight-year love affair with actor Peter O'Toole, who she initially met in 1965. Margaret was said to have started the relationship with O'Toole five years after she had married Antony Armstrong-Jones. O'Toole later spoke out about the pair's affair, claiming that when the couple wasn't getting intimate, they would bathe together in a tub filled with scented water and flowers.

The princess was also said to be linked to London gangster-turned-actor John Bindon. According to The Sun, the ball started rolling in 1970 when Bidon and his girlfriend at the time, fellow actor Vicki Hodge, attended one of Margaret's parties in Mustique. According to Hodge, at one point, Margaret supposedly asked to see his genitals to confirm some rumors she'd heard. "Then he took out his appendage. The Princess examined it rather like a fossil. We all gasped," Hodge recalled. Margaret would deny having any sort of affair with Bindon, but she was spotted spending time with him in Mustique.

Princess Margaret may have loved socializing, but she apparently was not exactly friendly to everyone. Rather than try to buddy up to all of the A-list stars she crossed paths with over the years, the royal seemed more than fine with offering a cold shoulder or two.

When Margaret first met legendary English supermodel Twiggy at a dinner party in the mid-1960s, the royal was apparently nothing short of rude. As Twiggy recounted on an episode of "Parkinson," Margaret seemed to go out of her way not to speak with her the entire evening. The princess only acknowledged her at the end of the meal when she asked for her name. "I said, 'My name's Lesley Hornby, ma'am, but everyone calls me Twiggy,'" the model recalled. "And she went, "Oh, how unfortunate.'"

Speaking of unfortunate, legend has it Margaret once told Hollywood icon Grace Kelly (via The Telegraph), "You don't look like a movie star." Kelly reportedly replied, "Well, I wasn't born a movie star."

Hollywood stars did not escape Princess Margaret's insults, either. Elizabeth Taylor and her lavish life were a particular target for Margaret's sharp tongue. In his biography of the princess' life, Craig Brown described an instance when Margaret insulted Taylor's extravagant jewelry. "After Richard Burton presented Taylor with the huge Krupp Diamond, Princess Margaret remarked to a friend that it was 'the most vulgar thing I've ever seen,'" Brown wrote. 

Most of Margaret's entourage would have probably let this comment slide, but Taylor was perhaps the most iconic woman of her day. When the actor was made aware of this insult, she set out to embarrass the princess right back. "A while later, the two women met at a party. Taylor was wearing the diamond and asked Margaret if she would like to try it on," Brown recounted. "Margaret slipped it on her finger. 'Doesn't look so vulgar now, does it?' observed Taylor."

This was not the only time that Taylor put Margaret in her place. Famous for always running behind schedule, the actor apparently claimed to have arrived late to meetings with Margaret and Queen Elizabeth II. Rumor had it that Taylor made Elizabeth wait for 20 minutes, while Margaret was kept for a full half hour. Regardless of whether or not this story is actually true, it hints at the lack of reverence that Taylor held for both Margaret and the institution from which she hailed.

It seems that Elizabeth Taylor's lack of adoration for Princess Margaret was not just an act. At times, wrote Craig Brown in his biography, the American actor simply viewed Margaret as less-than-entertaining. One evening at Kensington Palace, the princess apparently insisted on singing and playing the piano for her party guests, and as per usual, they were not allowed to go home until Margaret had her fun. Evidently, this particular show went into the wee hours. Taylor, who was part of the captive audience, was not exactly charmed by the late-night performance, and so she started nodding off. Furious, Margaret is said to have seethed, "Is anyone going to take her home, or we'll have to find a sleeping bag?"

Just because Margaret enjoyed performing, though, does not mean that she reserved the spotlight all for herself. In his book, "Princess Margaret: A Biography," royal expert Theo Aronson described an incident that led to tensions between Margaret and Judy Garland. "At a party at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Her Royal Highness sent a message across the room to say that she would like to hear Miss Garland sing. The singer was appalled, both by this trivializing of her talent and by the Princess' lordly tone." Never one to be coerced into singing for a room full of guests, Garland allegedly fired back, "Tell her I'll sing if she christens a ship first."

While Elizabeth Taylor and Judy Garland were unafraid of taking Princess Margaret down a peg, that was not true for every star. The English actor and playwright Richard Everett once hoped to enjoy a special evening out with the princess. Instead, however, Everett and Margaret had a rough night out. 

As Everett later recalled on "The Graham Norton Show" (via Express), the trouble started when he failed to understand that Margaret wanted him to light her cigarette. "I remember one moment I was kind of chatting away at Kensington Palace before leaving for the theatre and she got a cigarette out and looked at me like this," he said. "And I was chatting chatting chatting chatting, going on, and then the lady-in-waiting was looking at me too and there was this Rolex lighter on the table -‒ I just didn't realize I was meant to light it."

From there, things went from bad to worse. Rather than pick up on Margaret's cues, Everett thought he was being offered a gift. "And then suddenly I thought she was asking me if I wanted a cigarette so I said, 'Ooh don't mind if I do,' and I lit my cigarette," the actor explained. Everett's gaffe disgusted Margaret, who had hoped to receive the princess treatment — not offer it to someone else. As Everett noted, "They all looked absolutely horrified and then I realized, I was like 'Shhh.'" 

During her heyday, Princess Margaret ruffled the feathers of the British upper class by rubbing shoulders with celebrities viewed to be far below her station. At the time, it was thought that royals needed to maintain a healthy distance from the artistic elite, lest they become viewed as celebrities themselves. But Margaret could not help but be drawn to the world of actors and artists, and vice versa. Andy Warhol used her likeness in his artwork, John Betjeman cried when he met her, and John Fowles fantasized about her in his diary. Perhaps, though, none of these artists admired Margaret quite so much as Pablo Picasso. 

Even from afar, Picasso developed a tremendous crush on the princess. The painter was so smitten by her petite frame and her brown locks that he spent years plotting the perfect marriage proposal. He even told his biographer, John Richardson, to dress as a herald for the big moment — ordering the materials to make costumes. Richardson would later remember, "If we didn't have the right clothes, Picasso would make them for us: cardboard top hats — or would we prefer crowns?" (via The Guardian).

When Richardson eventually crossed paths with Margaret, he shared this anecdote — to her horror. "She was outraged. She said she thought it the most disgusting thing she had ever heard," Richardson recalled. Indeed, if Picasso failed to actually propose, it was probably for the best.

Had Pablo Picasso been successful at winning Princess Margaret over, he would have almost certainly been expected to follow a number of strict royal rules. Although Margaret has been remembered as a life-long party girl, she was not against the concept of rank. When it came to respecting her status, she had a strong preference for protocol. At parties, this meant blending casual fun with traditional titles. She required everyone — including her husband, photographer Anthony Armstrong-Jones — to publicly refer to her as "Princess Margaret."

When she partied away on the island of Mustique, she asked all the other residents to speak of her using the phrase "her royal highness" — even on nights out. According to some sources, Margaret would ruin the fun if anyone forgot to use her titles. As some members of her inner circle told El País, the princess "could be very wild and unrestrained. And she could be very difficult. She liked to be spoiled and taken care of. If she felt well cared for, she was fun." If she didn't feel sufficiently well-respected, the good times could apparently come to an end.

That being said, it has been reported that Margaret allowed some of her closest companions to use special nicknames. During their marriage Armstrong-Jones could reportedly call her "Ducky" — but only within the confines of their home. Her best friends were permitted to call her "ma'am darling," as opposed to just "ma'am." 

Princess Margaret liked to have fun, and in her view, that was the whole point of going to a party in the first place. Becoming trapped in a dull conversation with a drab dinner companion was not a part of her agenda. And, as a princess, she could guarantee that she would always have an escape. In fact, Margaret enlisted her friend, Lady Anne Glenconner, to rescue her from uninteresting conversations and direct her to more fascinating guests. By appointing Glenconner as her lady-in-waiting, Margaret was sure to have a sort of social gatekeeper with her at all times. 

Writing about this years later for Newsweek, Glenconner recalled, "At a cocktail party or dinner, I'd find people that Princess Margaret wanted to meet and bring them over and introduce them. I had to gauge when the timing was right; if she was having a fascinating talk with somebody, I didn't want to butt in with a new person." On the flip side, if Margaret was not having a good time, Glenconner knew that she could present the princess with a new conversation partner. But, how did she know whether or not Margaret was sufficiently entertained? "I had to assess whether she was enjoying the conversation. A lot of that was down to eye contact," Glenconner revealed. 

It's hardly a secret that Princess Margaret could be petulant and hard-to-please, but perhaps no group of people understood this better than her own family. In public, Margaret may have invoked her rank to get her way, but in private she didn't hesitate to insult even those who outranked her. Per the Daily Mail, rumor has it that she even offended her grandmother, Queen Mary of Teck, by telling her, "I can't think why you have such a horrible place as the Castle of Mey." Mary, apparently, reacted by uninviting her from future gatherings, snapping, "Well, darling, you needn't come again."

Margaret also sparred with her influential mother, Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother. And, perhaps most bizarrely, Margaret once argued with Queen Elizabeth II over a wheelchair that was supposed to take the queen mother to a gathering. As royal expert Craig Brown wrote in his biography, "Ma'am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret," Margaret felt that the wheelchair should have been hers. After all, she was still recovering from an incident that led her to burn her feet in the bathtub. "The queen had seen to it that a footman would have a wheelchair ready for her mother but as the lift doors opened onto the first floor, Margaret made a dash for it," Brown wrote. The younger Elizabeth was apparently not amused, exclaiming, "For God's sake, Margaret — get out! That's meant for Mummy."

Many creatives spend a lifetime crafting work that will one day be presented to the British royal family. Of these, it's fair to assume that a majority hope to receive some sort of public recognition for their achievements. Several of the big names who met Princess Margaret, however, found that this dream was simply never to be. The reason? Margaret was famous for insulting the most artistic minds of her day. At parties and special events, she seemed to savor insulting their work.

Take, for example, the film producer, Robert Evans. When he traveled to England for a special royal screening of his film, "Love Story," he viewed the invite as an honor. "All of us stood in a receiving line as Lord Somebody introduced us, one by one, to [Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother] and her younger daughter. It was a hell of a thrill, abruptly ending when the lovely princess shook my hand," Evans would later recall, per The Guardian. Apparently, Margaret told him that her husband, Anthony Armstrong-Jones, had already viewed the film and "hated it." Evans said that he immediately quipped back, "F**k you, too."

A similar scene played out when former director of the National Theater, Richard Eyre, organized a royal viewing of "Sunday in the Park with George" by Stephen Sondheim. "As she comes in she announces to me quite loudly that she can't stand Sondheim," Eyre said, according to The Guardian.

In the final years of Princess Margaret's life, she famously found happiness on the island of Mustique. She loved its festive atmosphere, rustic charm, and distance from the British tabloid media. But, if the princess enjoyed her time on Mustique, it was because her hosts — Colin Tennant, 3rd Barron Glenconner, and Lady Anne Glenconner — worked overtime to give her the royal treatment. As Nicholas Courtney told Craig Brown for his biography about Margaret, the Glenconners would bring fresh water to the beach so that the princess could rinse off after her swim. They would also, ostensibly, keep the whiskey flowing.

Tatiana Copeland, who once threw a party attended by the princess, told Town & Country, "You had to make sure you had [Famous Grouse whiskey] when she came to your house." Apparently, if you failed to supply Margaret with her drink of choice, you became persona non grata in her book. As Copeland recalled, "If you couldn't be bothered to know what she liked to drink, she probably wouldn't be bothered to come back to you."

Of course, all of this pampering required a whole lot of elbow grease. One year, Courtney told Brown, Margaret was so difficult to please that Colin could barely get a minute's rest. "He collapsed with exhaustion when Princess Margaret left the island," the actor revealed. "He put every ounce of energy into making it fun for her."