Princess Margaret, the Royal Family’s Black Sheep
From indulgence to self-destruction
Sixty years ago, Princess Margaret was the bad apple in the Royal tree. Although she looked like the twin of Queen Elizabeth II, to common people she was everything but.
Margaret the Countess of Snowdon drank vodka at noon and smoked like a chimney. Also, she was a real 1960s rebel and a socialite — a bit too far from a stiff royal lady.
But Margaret could have lived differently if her father had known how to parent and hadn’t become the King.
An Indulged Child
Princess Margaret Rose was born on 21st August 1930 as the second daughter to the Duke and Duchess of York.
From early childhood, her father Albert was smitten by her. Our Princess Margot was full of light-hearted pranks and the Duke pampered her from an early age. While he called Elizabeth his “pride”, Margot was his “joy” who made his days brighter.
Until the age of 6, Margaret had an ordinary girlhood. But then her uncle King Edward abdicated after only 11 months at the throne so he could marry American socialite Wallis Simpson. What was he thinking?
