Queen: Experts discuss treatment of Princess Margaret

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This week marked 19 years since the Queen’s sister sadly died, just weeks before the Queen Mother. The Crown has brought to life members of the Royal Family which many people previously knew little about and Helena Bonham Carter starring as the Queen’s sister is a stand-out. In the third season of the Netflix drama, Margaret is seen posing in a bath full of bubbles with nothing but some makeup on and a Poltimore tiara, the one she wore on her wedding day.

It takes place during episode two entitled ‘Margaretology’, in which Margaret’s 1965 tour of the US is presented as a triumph.

This scene is clearly inspired by one of the rebellious princess’ more iconic moments, but it did not happen quite like it did in the show.

For one thing, the photograph was really taken in 1962 and it was taken by her husband, Anthony Armstrong-Jones, rather than a press photographer like in The Crown.

Lord Snowdon ‒ or Tony, as Margaret called him ‒ was a photographer by trade and had previously taken another riskque photo of his future wife for her 29th birthday.

There are also clear differences in the actual photograph versus the still released by Netflix.

In the real photograph, there are no bubbles, and the setting is less glamorous, without the towels and faucets.

Snowdon can just about be seen on the edge of the frame, crammed into the bathroom in Margaret’s Kensington Palace apartment.

The Crown also implies Margaret approved the photograph for publication, whereas in real life it remained under wraps for 44 years until 2006.

It was finally displayed at a gallery show four years after Margaret’s death in 2002.

After Lord Snowdon himself died in 2017, the family put it back in the vault, withdrawing it from public view.

The episode ‘Margaretology’ had a few other aspects that were not quite accurate.

While the show depicts Margaret’s trip to the US as a universal success, charming both President Lyndon B Johnson and the press, the royal actually managed to drum up some quite bad press while she was there.

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Her nature, while charming, could lack tact and she had a propensity for offending celebrities.

Margaret even told Hollywood star Elizabeth Taylor her engagement ring was “vulgar”.

What’s more, the Crown suggests that the Queen’s relationship with the 36th President of the United States was worse than in reality.

It presents Margaret as a makeshift ambassador forced to step in when the Queen’s efforts to get Mr Johnson to come to the UK fail.

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Margaret ends up going across the Atlantic for an unconventional, but success negotiation for a financial bailout.

In the episode, it is suggested that the Queen invited Mr Johnson to visit more than once and that these were either rejected or ignored.

However, there is no evidence that this happened.

While the Queen never met Mr Johnson ‒ and he is the only President she never met, despite him being in office for six years ‒ this was not because he rejected her offer, but because they just never extended an offer to each other at all.

The Lyndon B Johnson Presidential Library tweeted in 2018 that for reasons that are unclear, the Queen and Mr Johnson never met and neither extended an invitation.

The archivists wrote in a statement: “President Johnson and Queen Elizabeth correspondent from March 1964 to July 1967.

“Nothing serious ‒ congratulations on births, birthday wishes, and a condolence message after the death of Churchill.

“Queen Elizabeth never sent an invitation to President Johnson to visit Great Britain.

“And President Johnson never sent an invitation to the Queen to visit the United States.

“We do not know why. (We’ve been asked this question before and have not found a specific reason.)”

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