The Passionate Princess

To some, she epitomized the poor little rich girl. The younger sister of the Queen seemed to have everything: wealth, beauty, wit, freedom from too onerous a royal workload, the zest to pursue a glamorous, sometimes controversial lifestyle in the most rarefied echelons of society. Yet the lasting memory of Princess Margaret will probably be that of a sad figure who was unlucky in love and who never really found a fulfilling role in life or a lasting marital relationship.

Margaret Rose died on Saturday at the age of 71 after suffering a stroke — suspected to be her fourth in four years — that led to cardiac complications. In the early hours of the morning she was whisked from her home in London’s Kensington Palace to King Edward VII Hospital. A few hours later, at 6:30 a.m., she died “peacefully in her sleep,” according to a Buckingham Palace statement. Her two much-loved children, Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto, were at her bedside. As the Union flag flew at half — mast over Buckingham Palace for the first time since Princess Diana’s death in 1997, the royal family was making arrangements for the funeral — a private service on Friday at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor, where her father, King George VI, is also buried.

The Princess’ death came as something of a shock — in fact, it was her 101-year-old mother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, whose ill health had been the focus of public concern for months. Yet Margaret too had been unwell. When last seen in public, just before Christmas, she was confined to a wheelchair, her face disfiguringly puffy — apparently from medication — and shrouded by enormous dark glasses. With both her left side and her eyesight seriously affected by strokes, Margaret was a frail, spectral figure — in poignant contrast to the vibrant young woman who once rewrote the book on proper royal behavior.

Perhaps the greatest public sympathy Margaret ever evoked was in response to her legendary lost romance, from which, it is said, she never really recovered. In 1953 she fell in love with Group Captain Peter Townsend, a much — decorated pilot in the Battle of Britain. He was 16 years her senior and — worse yet in the staid 1950s — divorced, and thus unacceptable to the political Establishment and the Church of England. Sad at her sister’s unhappiness, Queen Elizabeth asked Margaret to wait a couple of years. She did, and could have married Townsend at the age of 25 without the Queen’s permission, but she would have had to give up her royal privileges and position in doing so. Whether the thought of becoming plain Mrs. Townsend was too much, or whether she could not face the disapproval of Church and family, Margaret gave up the idea.

Five years later, in 1960, the 29-year-old princess married another commoner, society photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones. He was made the Earl of Snowdon, the couple had two children and they enjoyed an active lifestyle that was unconventional for a royal at the time. There were parties with pop stars, writers and actors like Peter Sellers, a favorite of Margaret’s. But eventually the constraints and duties of royalty began to irk Snowdon. After about seven years, the marriage began to disintegrate and blazing rows were common. In 1974 Margaret suffered a nervous breakdown. Four years later the couple divorced, an event somewhat shocking to a nation as yet unused to much light being shed on private rifts and crises inside the royal family.

In the years that followed, Margaret indulged herself in a lifestyle that took a toll on both her health and her popularity. “She was not our favorite royal,” said a 40 — ish Mayfair manicurist last week. “We resented having our tax money going to support her hedonistic lifestyle.” Margaret smoked — up to 60 cigarettes day at one point — and drank heavily. Her name was linked with a variety of men, in particular Roderick Llewellyn, a landscape gardener 17 years her junior with whom she had an affair that lasted several years.

Margaret was criticized for spending too much time on holiday — all those trips to the Caribbean island of Mustique, where she had a house — and not enough time on her public duties. To be fair, her health was shaky — but even this was seen as partly self-inflicted. She had hepatitis in 1978 and bronchitis in 1981, and a piece of a lung was removed for fear of cancer in 1985. The biopsy proved negative, and she quit smoking — only to take up her famous, long black cigarette holder again three months later. After being hospitalized with pneumonia in 1993, she finally kicked the habit.

Amid the widespread disapproval of her lifestyle, any good works she did tended to be forgotten. True, Margaret could be a difficult, high-handed presence — who often demanded deference even from her friends. But her many adopted charities greatly valued her efforts on their behalf. And she dutifully slogged through her allotted round of ribbon cuttings, provincial trips and hospital openings. Patron or president of more than 80 organizations, she worked hard for the Guide Association, the Royal Ballet and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, a particular favorite of which she had served as president continuously since the age of 23.

Improbably, she succeeded brilliantly at one of the skills that some of her more conservative family members fumbled: parenting. Lord Linley, 40, a successful cabinet maker, and Lady Sarah, 37, an artist, married intelligently and durably, stayed close to their mother, gave her three grandsons and are by nearly all accounts happy and well-adjusted. They rarely make headlines — in fact, they are quiet, respected, near-perfect royals of the sort Margaret herself might have been, had her youthful dreams not been thwarted.

Margaret’s nephew Prince Charles, who, after hearing the news, traveled to the royal Sandringham estate in Norfolk to stay with the now frail Queen Mother, paid tribute to his “darling aunt.” Said he: “She had such a wonderfully free spirit. She loved life and lived it to the full.” She had incredible musical talents and a very sharp mind, he noted, and she would be hugely missed by his family. For all her faults, Princess Margaret will also be missed by many Britons. If nothing else, the passionate, unpredictable princess brought life and color to a royal family once more famed for duty than for sparkle.