Queen: Princess Margaret was childhood 'companion' says expert

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Tomorrow marks the 45th anniversary of Harold Wilson’s resignation as Prime Minister. While most people will have forgotten the event, his departure caused a political sensation at the time – wholly unexpected and assumed to have reshaped the national landscape. He had been Labour leader for 13 years and in Downing Street for nearly eight – meaning the words “Prime Minister” instantly evoked his face and his flat Yorkshire vowels.

Mr Wilson’s resignation was unusual because, for most of his party and the general public, the announcement came “from out of the blue”, and was not, seemingly, prompted by any obvious health issues.

The unexpected nature of his departure gave rise to various conspiracy theories, and suspicion in some quarters that his resignation was forced, for some secret reason.

To this day there’s a lack of consensus on the “real” explanation for why he left.

A researcher in the field of neurology published work suggesting that Mr Wilson, who had been living with cancer for years before his death in 1995, was actually struggling with Alzheimer’s disease while still in office.

Wilder theories involve his supposed paranoia over an alleged conspiracy involving the KGB and M15, proposing that he left to avoid a secret plan to unseat him and destabilise England’s government.

There seem to be rumours surrounding the date he chose to resign, as well.

According to a 1982 report by the Daily Mirror, the former Prime Minister timed his resignation announcement to help Her Majesty the Queen over Princess Margaret’s marriage break-up.

The aim, the report says, was to soften the impact of the news that the Princess’s marriage to Lord Snowdon was over.

The explanation was given in a book called “The Pencourt File”, which was serialised in the Daily Mirror.

The report quotes the book as saying: “The matter of timing had been raised at Buckingham Palace.

‘When Sir Harold heard about the Royal Family’s domestic problems he had, according to Lady Falkender said: ‘Well, Ma’am, do you think this would help?’

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“The Prime Minister had then offered to time his resignation announcement with the news that Princess Margaret’s 16-year marriage had ended, hoping to draw most of the resulting unwelcome publicity. “

Sir Harold’s offer to the Queen was reportedly bitterly opposed by Lady Falkender, his personal and political secretary.

She suspected Buckingham Palace of pulling strings to protect their own interests.

Lady Falkender told Pencourt that she was not sure exactly why Sir Harold had volunteered to help the Royal Family.

She is quoted as saying: “I understand one thing about the Palace.

“We may know how to operate here at Downing Street, but we are absolute amateurs because THEY really operate.”

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Princess Margaret married photographer Anthony Armstrong Jones in 1960.

A few years later, their union became a source of “growing public ridicule,” according to the New York Times.

They fought in public, Margaret took long vacations without her husband, and rumours swirled around her close friendship with a man 17 years her junior.

In 1976, the couple announced their separation, and two years later, they were officially divorced.

Margaret became the first royal to divorce since Henry VIII, who reigned way back in the 1500s.

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