Exploring Antony Armstrong-Jones: Bisexual Photographer And Princess Margaret's First Husband
A Few Weeks Into His Marriage With Margaret, Another Woman Gave Birth To His Love Child
Photo: Kristine / Flickr / CC BY-NC 2.0On May 6, 1960, Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones tied the knot. Just three weeks later, while the royal newlyweds were in the middle of a six-week Caribbean honeymoon, he became a father—but not by his new wife. On May 28, 1960, Camilla Fry gave birth to Polly, her love child with Armstrong-Jones.
Fry was actually married to Armstrong-Jones's best friend at the time, and Polly grew up believing that Jeremy Fry was her father. Polly's true parentage was only confirmed more than 40 years later, in 2004. Despite official recognition, when Armstrong-Jones died in January 2017, he reportedly left Polly out of his will.
He Left "Hate Notes" For Princess Margaret Around Their Home
Photo: Eric Koch/Anefo / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 NLSome husbands leave love notes for their wives. Antony Armstrong-Jones, however, left "hate notes" for Princess Margaret. As their marriage crumbled, Armstrong-Jones would jot down little things about Margaret that he grew to loathe, and then leave the messages in places where she'd randomly find them.
In one, he wrote, "You look like a Jewish manicurist and I hate you." To no one's surprise, the couple divorced in 1978.
He Was A Serial Cheater And Even Fathered An Illegitimate Child At The Age Of 68
Photo: Carl Van Vechten / Wikimedia Commons / Public DomainArmstrong-Jones was a notorious Don Juan. At the time that he became involved with Princess Margaret, he was also in relationships with at least two other women: Gina Ward and the actress Jacqui Chan. Over the years, his affairs resulted in at least two illegitimate children that were publicly recognized. His first child was the result of a fling with Camila Fry, the wife of his best friend. He had his second illegitimate child in 1998 when he was 68 years old and married to his second wife.
He Had Relationships With Both Women And Men
Photo: Eric Koch/Anefo / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 NLThough some of the most significant relationships of his life were with women, he was rumored to have had affairs with men as well. Nicholas Halsam had what he claimed was a "one-sided" romance with Armstrong-Jones in the 1950s. There were also rumors that Armstrong-Jones had a three-way relationship with Jeremy and Camilla Fry, a complicated liaison that produced the one-time Earl's first illegitimate child.
Their Separation Was The First Royal Divorce Since Henry VIII's
Photo: Jac. de Nijs/Anefo / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 NLBy the late 1960s, the marriage between Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones was virtually over. When the divorce became final in 1978, the pair earned the distinction of being the first royals since Henry VIII to divorce. Famously, Henry VIII divorced two wives: Catherine of Aragon in 1533 and Anne of Cleves seven years later.
Though other royals have almost divorced—King George IV, for one, horrified the British public when he attempted to divorce his wife in 1820—no one had actually gone through with it until the Armstrong-Joneses. The media coverage unleashed on the former couple precipated the scandals that would rock the relationships of Princess Margaret's nephews in the 1990s.
He Was The First Commoner To Legally Marry A Royal Princess In Centuries
Photo: Chris Gulker / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0Long before the divorce, Princess Margaret's marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones was itself kind of a big deal. She was the first high-ranking royal to legally marry a commoner—that is, someone who wasn't a titled aristocrat—in centuries. Thanks to the Royal Marriages Act, members of the royal family could only marry with the monarch's permission.
Historically, monarchs only gave permission to matches that were of the proper rank. Before Margaret and Antony's marriage, only a handful of high-ranking royals (heirs or the sons and daughters of heirs) wed commoners. Before Margaret, the most recent royal to marry a commoner was Prince James, Duke of York (the future, ill-fated James II), who wed Anne Hyde in 1660.
He Embraced The Swinging '60s And Kept Marijuana On Hand
Photo: Unknown / Wikimedia Commons / Public DomainPrincess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones had cultivated a reputation as modern royals. Both of them embraced the culture of the 1960s, always stylish and seemingly in touch with new trends.
Armstrong-Jones even experimented with the drug culture of the '60s as well. According to biographer Anne de Courcy, he "often kept a lump of hash in his pocket."
Their Marriage Was Basically Doomed From The Start
Photo: Brian Harrington Spier / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0The marriage between Princess Margaret and Armstrong-Jones was practically doomed from the start. Despite the passion and genuine chemistry that had sustained their relationship in the beginning, each of their individual issues and quirks would sabotage the marriage. Margaret's tendency to drink heavily, for example, was a source of friction.
Tony, on the other hand, would often bury himself in his photography work, which only further alienated Margaret. Both eventually pursued extramarital affairs.
His Parents Couldn't Be Bothered To Visit Him When, As A Teenager, He Was In The Hospital For Six Months
Photo: CDC/Prevention Health Library / Wikimedia Commons / Public DomainArmstrong-Jones had a distant relationship with his parents. Their coolness towards Antony was painfully obvious in 1946 when, at 16 years old, he got polio. Though his grit and determination helped his recovery, his parents did little to support and encourage him. Over the course of a six-month hospital stay, his parents never even visited him.
Margaret And Antony Began The Trend Of Broadcasting Royal Weddings On Television
Photo: Elke Wetzig / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0Thanks to the magic of television, it has become an expectation that millions of people around the world will get to witness royal weddings without needing an invitation. That all started because of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones.
When the elegant and popular couple got married in Westminster Abbey on May 6, 1960, they were the first royal couple to televise their wedding. The BBC estimated that 20 million people watched the royal marriage. The Armstrong-Joneses started a televised wedding trend that many royal couples would follow in later decades.
He Failed Out Of Cambridge And Became A Society Photographer Instead
Photo: Carl Van Vechten / Wikimedia Commons / Public DomainIn many ways, Armstrong-Jones led a life expected of elite sons of Britain. He attended Eton, an uber elite school for boys that groomed generations of British leaders, and then went on to Cambridge. But his time at Cambridge was not exactly a success: he failed out of the storied university.
It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Armstrong-Jones committed himself to photography and became a fixture in London high society. Some of his subjects included the queen herself.
Polio Took A Toll On His Body, And He Walked With A Limp
Photo: Jac. de Nijs/Anefo / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 NLLike many children from his generation, Antony Armstrong-Jones was stricken with polio. His road to recovery was long and hard with six months spent convalescing. Though he overcame the disease, it left him with one leg that was shorter than the other and a limp that would last throughout his life. His own experience as a polio survivor inspired him to support people with disabilities as an adult.
He Came From A Broken Home
Over the course of his life, Armstrong-Jones had two marriages, both of which ended in divorce. Sadly, his idea of marriage as something that can easily go awry may have been formed by his parents' own failed relationship. Armstrong-Jones's parents divorced in 1935 when Antony was only five.
Divorce in Great Britain in 1935 was still something of a taboo. Indeed, it would be only a few more years before the brief reign of King Edward VIII would end over his love for an American divorcée.
