This wonderful, insightful biography is more revealing than many of the paste-up jobs on other members of the Royal Family. Most interesting is the even handed manner in which Aronson writes of the breakdown of the Snowdon marriage and Anthony Armstrong-Jones's problems in dealing with such a high profile as a senior member of the ruling dynasty. Being the husband of the Queen's sister was never easy for him even though he was a born-aristocrat of the Welsh nobility, an Old Etonian, and the Royal household's favorite photographer before he even courted Princess Margaret.
Equally fascinating is the tragic romance between the unhappily married Margaret and Robin Douglas-Home, a first cousin of Diana's father Johnny, Earl Spencer, and Home's subsequent suicide. Margaret blamed herself for the tragedy, but in hindsight it is illuminating. Diana was not the only member of the Spencer family to have wrestled with the demons of the bi-polar personality disorder. This explains why Princess Margaret so warmly welcomed Lady Diana Spencer into the bosom of the Royal Family, and why she remained one of the young woman's staunchest supporters until the catastrophic 1995 Pamorama interview.
Margaret has often been called the Diana of her day. She was also a beautiful, stylish, promiscuous, and out-spoken woman at the height of her fame. Unfortunately, Margaret's luster had faded by the time she was fort-seven-year-old divorcee. And she was never as popular as Diana later was. Although Lord Snowdon had also been unfaithful in his marriage, the public heaped its scorn upon Princess Margaret, who had not been the guilty party. She was forced to give up her boyfriend Roddy Llewellyn (also an aristocratic Welshman like Snowdon, and the younger brother of Old Etonian nightclub owner Dai Llewellyn) before her 1978 divorce from Snowdon, who himself quickly married his mistress Lucy Lindsay-Hogg, who was pregnant at the time and gave birth to their daughter, Lady Frances Armstrong-Jones, in early 1979. It would be the same circumstance for Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles, whose spouses Andrew Parker-Bowles and Diana had already had many affairs before the publication of the Andrew Morton book in 1992. History often repeats itself, but Margaret made personal sacrifices Diana, so clearly adored by the masses, would have never been subjected to. This may have been Aronson's purpose in writing this carefully researched biography. Highly recommended.
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Top reviews from other countries
Desdemona
Interesting, but one small irritation
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 16, 2014
Robert McColl Millar
Cut off in its prime
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 20, 2021
