Princess Margaret's childhood with Queen Elizabeth reveal

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Queen Elizabeth II’s younger sister, who passed away 20 years ago this week, has been profiled in a documentary. “Princess Margaret: The Unlucky Princess”, which airs on Channel 5 this evening, looks at the tumultuous life of Her Majesty’s only sibling. The Countess of Snowdon’s rebellious nature has often been contrasted to her older sister’s strict sense of duty as Queen.

Following the death of their father, King George VI, Elizabeth became Queen aged just 25, and Margaret her subject.

While the siblings had their squabbles, the two sisters were said to have shared a close bond throughout their lives.

Margaret did draw scandal to the Royal Family however, not least over her relationship with her father’s equerry Group Captain Peter Townsend.

The couple had planned to marry once she was 25 years old, but in 1955, Margaret announced their marriage was off.

The Princess eventually ended up marrying society photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1960.

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Their relationship was branded “sexy” by their friends, according to historian Tessa Dunlop, who spoke for the Channel series, “Secrets of the Royal Palaces”.

She said: “All their friends would say this is a sexy relationship. Margaret and ‘Tony’ really loved each other

“They were dubbed Barbie and Ken.”

The couple first met at a dinner party in 1958, before Antony was commissioned to photograph the Queen’s sister a couple of months later.

Ms Dunlop added: “This is the first person to marry so close to the monarchy who is not from the top drawer, who is not titled.

“But he knows how to talk to the royals.”

Despite not hailing from an aristocratic background, Antony was said to have enjoyed a brilliant relationship with Margaret’s family.

Writer Anne de Courcy, the author of the book, “Snowdon: The Biography”, explained the relationship between the Earl of Snowdon and the royals in 2019.

She told Town & Country: “They all liked him very much – Tony had great charm, very good manners and he knew exactly how to behave.

“He felt devotion to the Royal Family, to the Queen, who he admired immensely.

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“He got on very well with Prince Charles and he adored the Queen Mother.”

The Earl of Snowdon was already a big name in his own right before he married into the Royal Family.

The writer Susanna Brown, the curator of photographs at the Victoria and Albert Museum, recalled his stature in “Secrets of the Royal Palaces”.

She said: “Antony Armstrong-Jones was well known for fashion pictures and magazine photography.

“By the time he married Princess Margaret in 1960 he was already very well established as a professional photographer.”

Despite their early romance, the Snowdons’ marriage began to fall apart and both began to have affairs before they separated in 1976.

“Princess Margaret: The Unlucky Princess” airs on Channel 5 today from 6:05pm-7:30pm.

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