Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon ( born as Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret Rose of York, HRH The Princess Margaret at times ), CI, GCVO, from the House of Windsor ( born August 21, 1930 on Glamis Castle, Scotland, † February 9, 2002 in London) was the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II and daughter of King George VI. and Queen Elizabeth.
Life
Princess Margaret of York was born on 21 August 1930 in Scotland at Glamis Castle, the ancestral home of her mother's family, who was a daughter of the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. At the time was Margaret's grandfather George V British king. Her father, who later became King George VI. , Was a younger brother of Edward VIII finished second to the throne. After the abdication of Edward VIII because of his marriage to Wallis Simpson in 1936, her father was king surprising. Since then she has led up to her marriage in 1960 title and name HRH The Princess Margaret.
Until the birth of her nephew Charles in 1948 was Princess Margaret, second only to the throne of Great Britain. She was raised with her sister Princess Elizabeth of the governess Marion Crawford and private teachers. A regular school visited the two girls never grew and without the same age playmates on. During the Second World War, the sisters stayed at Windsor Castle.
In the first half of the 1950s, Princess Margaret had a romance with Colonel Peter Townsend. This was divorced so that a royal wedding could not be used after that time public opinion. However, as in 2004 result published documents, they could have kept their titles and the grant from the Civil list at a marriage. However, they decided in 1955 to end the relationship.
1960 married Princess Margaret to Antony Armstrong -Jones, renowned photographer, who was raised in the following year by her sister, who was Queen since 1952, to the Earl of Snowdon. With him she had two children, David Armstrong -Jones, Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Armstrong -Jones.
The marriage was exposed to heavy loads due to their very different personalities from the start. In later years, extramarital affairs came on both sides additional difficulty. The princess spent her breaks - mostly without her husband - regularly on Mustique, an island of the Grenadines in the Caribbean, where they owned a vacation home. The land was a wedding gift from the then owner of the island, Margaret's childhood friend Colin Tennant, 3rd Baron Glenconner (Lord Glenconner ) been. Princess Margaret was considered sociable and artistic interest, sang and played piano. She used mainly in the 1960s and 1970s, private usage of quantities of showbiz such as Mick Jagger, David Niven and Peter Sellers. Princess Margaret were divorced after two years of separation time in 1978 and did not perform any new marriage.
In the last years of her life Princess Margaret suffered from diseases. In 1998, she suffered a mild stroke, a short time later was followed by a fall which resulted in a permanent impairment of their mobility. More strokes followed in the years 2000 and 2001. During the 100th birthday of her aunt Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, she joined in December 2001 for the last time in public on.
Princess Margaret died on February 9, 2002, after another severe stroke at a hospital in London. At his own request, she received a cremation crematorium in Slough. Your urn was placed in her parents' grave in St. George's Chapel Windsor Castle. Her time of death she was standing behind the descendants of her sister Elizabeth in eleventh place of the British throne.
Tasks
Princess Margaret came early alongside their parents in public, so at the coronation of her father. Since the late 1950s she took for Queen Elizabeth II regular tasks in the public perception. This included trips abroad, especially in Commonwealth countries.
She was also the patron of a number of organizations in the UK and the Commonwealth. Their main focus was on the areas of music, ballet and charities. She was president of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (comparable to the German Child Protection Association ).
Like almost all members of the royal family was Princess Margaret honorary colonel of a larger number of units of all forces in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries.
Aftermath
Princess Margaret was known in her time as one of the most colorful personalities of the House of Windsor. Because of their unstable and scandalous life will change her life story even after her death the interest of the British press. 2006 had their children the extensive jewels and Preziosensammlung the princess on the auction house Christie's auction, scoring a double-digit million amount; the proceeds should cover the resulting high inheritance taxes partially and the British Stroke Foundation accrue. It was the first time in history at all, that the jewelry of a sister still reigning monarch was publicly auctioned.
In Canada, the memory of Princess Margaret receives special attention: in Fredericton in the Province of New Brunswick a bridge over the Saint John River bears her name. In Toronto was the renowned teaching and research hospital for cancer therapy specialized Princess Margaret Hospital under the auspices of her niece Princess Anne named after her in 1958, as well as the supporting the hospital Foundation Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation. Also in the Bahamas ( acute care hospital ), in Hong Kong ( acute care hospital, Nephrology and Urology) and Perth in Western Australia ( Children's Hospital ), there is in each case a named after her Princess Margaret Hospital. On the Grenadine island of Bequia, a neighboring island of Mystique, is called a bay at Port Elizabeth, where it is to be swum, Princess Margaret Bay.
About Princess Margaret numerous biographies have appeared in English, current translations into German are not available.
Progeny
From closed on May 6, 1960 marriage between Princess Margaret Rose and Anthony Armstrong -Jones, Earl of Snowdon, come two children:
Title
- Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret of York (August 21, 1930 - December 11, 1936 )
- Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret (December 11, 1936 - October 3, 1961 )
- Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (October 3, 1961 - February 9, 2002 )