10 times Princess Margaret was a royal rebel from ‘ghastly’ dinner rules to Mick Jagger affair rumours
Princess Margaret had a very eccentric lifestyle
Princess Margaret is known to have had a life filled with glamour, passion and drama, from reportedly breaking dinner party etiquette to rumours she dated Mick Jagger.
Tomorrow, August 21, would have been her 95th birthday, and over two decades on from her death, we are still curious about her lavish lifestyle.
Keep reading for some of the most jaw-dropping stories about Princess Margaret…
Princess Margaret’s ‘extravagant’ lifestyle – Mick Jagger rumours to dinner party etiquette
Luxury honeymoon
1. Princess Margaret famously had a very extravagant lifestyle and was never far away from jewels and dinner parties. Her six-week honeymoon on the royal yacht Britannia reportedly cost around £90,000 in 1960. In 1995, as reported by the Independent at the time, she apparently took £7,200 worth of clothing for just a week-long trip to the US.
The princess was used to such splendour, on one occasion she allegedly demanded a motorcycle escort for a trip from Kensington Palace to Waterloo Station.
Buying her own tiara
2. On her wedding day in 1960, where she wore a wedding dress with a nine-foot train, she wore the Poltimore tiara.
The stunning diadem didn’t come from the Crown’s collection, but her own. In a move which was significantly independent at the time, she purchased the eye-catching piece at an auction for £5,500k, according to jeweller Garrard, which was responsible for the creation of many tiaras and jewels sworn by the royal family.
Princess Margaret’s morning routine
3. It seems Margaret’s morning routine was just as glamorous as the rest of her agenda, according to reports.
She would be awoken with breakfast in bed at 9am, “followed by two hours in bed listening to the radio, reading the newspapers (which she invariably left scattered over the floor), and chain-smoking,” according to Craig Brown’s book, Ma’am Darling.
The princess would then reportedly enjoy hours soaking in a bath drawn by her Ladies in Waiting. Then, she would dress in (always) clean clothes and leisurely enjoy her usual makeup and hair ritual at her dressing table.
By 12.30pm, according to the royal book, Margaret reportedly was ready for a vodka “pick-me-up”.
Read more: Princess Margaret’s advice she gave Queen Elizabeth after three of her children got divorced
Fashionably late
4. Princess Margaret seemed to have some pretty rigid expectations when it came to dinner parties. Although, she may not have always stuck to the rules.
Royal protocol dictated that dinner couldn’t start until Princess Margaret arrived. Unfortunately for her peers, Margaret was often unfathomably late.
The Letters of Nancy Mitford, a collection of correspondence from the late British aristocrat, detailed how Princess Margaret was once reportedly late for dinner.
It claimed: “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.”
The bread game
5. When dinner parties were too dull for the dazzling princess, she and her husband, Antony Armstrong-Jones, would enjoy a cheeky game, dubbed the bread game.
The supposed rules were as follows…
Every time someone said a cliché, either Margaret or her husband would reportedly rip off a piece of bread. They would collect the bread in the middle of the table.
By the end of the evening, whoever had ripped the most pieces of bread and gathered them would win.
Royal reaction to divorce
6. Speaking of the Earl of Snowdon, when Princess Margaret was given the news her estranged husband wished to divorce her, by her private secretary Lord Nigel Napier, over the phone, she apparently replied: “Thank you, Nigel. I think that’s the best news you’ve ever given me.”
Princess Margaret was rumoured to be dating Mick Jagger
7. Princess Margaret’s love life was much speculated about, especially when it came to rumours of infidelity during her marriage to Antony. The princess was known to have had a relationship with Roddy Llewellyn, whilst she was still wed to the Earl of Snowdon, but apparently, there was also a much higher-profile name linked to Margaret – Mick Jagger.
Although the Rolling Stones singer has never kissed and told, after the princess and the rockstar hit it off at a party, they supposedly have “spoke on the phone constantly,” and Princess Margaret was said to have invited Mick Jagger to a slew of social events.
However, a relationship between the pair has never been confirmed.
Sassy responses
8. Princess Margaret’s wit has been dubbed as legendary, but she also had a reputation for being abrasive. The time Princess Margaret met famed model Twiggy at a dinner party highlights this…
“Who are you?” Margaret reportedly asked, to which Twiggy replied: “I’m Lesley Hornby, ma’am, but people call me Twiggy.”
“How unfortunate,” Princess Margaret apparently retorted.
She wasn’t a fan of squirrels
9. Margaret was unique to say the least. In fact, she had many eccentric moments. She was said to have hated squirrels – so much so, she allegedly whacked them with an umbrella in a public park, according to her lady-in-waiting Lady Anne Glenconner in her 2019 book.
Margaret even signed her checks in a quirky fashion. No title, no last name, just Margaret.
She was dubbed a ‘chain-smoker’
10. Princess Margaret was known to have a penchant for alcohol and cigarettes and according to the book, Ma’am Darling, she “tried to combine the smoking and drinking by gluing matchboxes onto tumblers, so she could strike matches while drinking”.
Royal Insider has contacted Buckingham Palace for comment.
Read more: Princess Margaret’s ‘damning words’ to Sarah Ferguson for ‘bringing shame to royal family’
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