Princess Margaret’s broken marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones lasted 18 years before they finally divorced – but one of Lord Snowdon’s male lovers shared his surprise that the couple’s relationship has even come this far.
British interior designer Nicky Haslam, 83, claimed in his memoir Redeeming Features (2010) that he had “a very brief romance” with the late Earl a year before his 1960 wedding to Queen Elizabeth II’s younger sister.
Nicky appears in ITV’s new five-part royal docuseries The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor, which airs on ITVX on Thursday 20 April, to discuss the relationship between photographer Lord Snowdon and Princess Margaret.
In the first episode, titled Love and Duty, Nicky explains, “Tony was a great seducer, he could seduce that table leg. He was great fun, Tony, a devil incarnate but a charmer in everything.
“He was naughty but awesome, I mean naughty in the nicest sense,” says the socialite, before admitting, “I was pretty surprised it went this far, as far as marriage goes.” [between Antony and Margaret].’
Princess Margaret’s broken marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones (pictured together in 1974) lasted 18 years before they finally divorced – but one of Lord Snowdon’s male lovers has shared his surprise that the couple’s relationship has even come this far
Lady Anne Glenconner, the lady-in-waiting of the late Princess Margaret, also appears in the episode, but has less than positive words to say about the husband of the royal family.
She says, “OhWhen the marriage was on the rocks, I was there for her when she was going through a tough time. I saw the way Tony treated her, which I didn’t like at all.
“The thing about Tony was he was so hateful — and did these horrible things. he left little notes,” claims Lady Glenconner.
The socialite, 90, who was a bridesmaid at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, tells the program how a message to his wife apparently read: ‘I hate you’.
“I don’t really know why he acted like that, I just felt very sorry for her,” confesses Lady Glenconner.
She adds that ‘Tony was pretty smart… he stayed with the Queen and the Queen Mother. Absolute. I mean, they loved him.’
Elsewhere in the program, Nicky recalls a not-so-happy moment between the Count and the Princess.
‘We were at a party and Tony had one of those matches that you could light anywhere, you lit them, old fashioned matches, and he sort of lit them and threw them at Princess Margaret,” the socialite explains.
British interior designer Nicky Haslam (pictured), 83, claimed in his memoir Redeeming Features (2010) that he had “a very brief romance” with the late Earl a year before his 1960 wedding to Queen Elizabeth II’s younger sister
Nicky appears in ITV’s new five-part royal docuseries The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor, broadcast on ITVX on Thursday 20 April, to discuss the relationship between photographer Lord Snowdon and Princess Margaret (seen in 1966)
“And she said, ‘Oh Tony, don’t do that. You could have set fire to my dress, and he said, ‘Good thing, I’ve always hated that stuff.'”
Margaret, who died in 2002 at the age of 71, met Antony in 1958 at a dinner party hosted by mutual friends, and married at Westminster Abbey in May 1960, the first televised royal wedding.
However, the union was not good, and the couple soon drifted apart, with both royals engaging in extramarital affairs.
Margaret famously invited Roddy Llewellyn, a lover 17 years her junior, to the island of Mustique in 1974, where they were photographed by paparazzi, marking the end of her marriage.
Margaret and Antony, who passed away in 2017, made their divorce official in 1978, after 18 years of marriage.
The romance between Anthony Armstrong-Jones and the royal family has been romanticized more than once, most recently in the second and third seasons of the Netflix royal drama The Crown.
The full series is available on Thursday 20 April on ITVX