Princess Margaret’s broken marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones lasted 18 years before they finally broke up – yet one of Lord Snowdon’s male lovers shared his amazement that the couple’s relationship had gone this far.
British society interior designer Nikki Haslam, 83, claimed in his memoir Redeeming Features (2010) that he had a ‘very brief romance’ with the late earl a year before his 1960 marriage to Queen Elizabeth II’s younger sister.
Nikki has appeared in ITV’s new five-part royal documentary series: The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor, which airs on Thursday 20 April on ITVX, to discuss the relationship of society photographer Lord Snowdon and Princess Margaret.
In the first episode, titled Love & Duty, Nikki explains: “Tony was an amazing seducer, he could seduce that leg of the table. He was so much fun, Tony, devil incarnate but charming in every way.
“He was naughty but wonderful, I mean naughty in the pretty sense,” says the socialite, before admitting: “I was quite surprised he went so far, as far as the marriage (between Anthony and Margaret) was concerned.”
Princess Margaret’s fractured marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones (pictured together in 1974) lasted 18 years before they finally broke up – yet one of Lord Snowdon’s male lovers shared his amazement that the couple’s affair had gone this far.
Lady Anne Glenconner, the late Princess Margaret’s consort, also appears in the episode, but she has fewer positive words to say about the royal pair.
She says: OhAnd once the marriage started to go wrong, I was there for her when she was going through a rough time. I saw the way Tony treated her which I didn’t like at all.
It was in Tony that he was so spiteful – and he did these terrible things. He used to leave little notes,” claims Lady Glenconner.
The 90-year-old socialite, who was a maid of honor at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, tells the show how one of the letters to his wife apparently read “I hate you”.
“I don’t know why he really acted like that,” admits Mrs. Glenconner, “I felt so sorry for her.”
She adds that “Tony was so smart…he stayed with the Queen and the Queen Mother. Absolutely. I mean they thought he was great.”
Elsewhere in the programme, Nikki recalls an unhappy moment between the Earl and the Princess.
“We were at a party and Tony had one of those matches that would light anywhere, you’d hit it, old fashion matches, and he’d kind of light it and throw it at Princess Margaret, the socialite explains.
British society interior designer Nikki Haslam (pictured), 83, claimed in his memoir Redeeming Features (2010) that he had a ‘very short romance’ with the late Earl a year before his 1960 marriage to Queen Elizabeth II’s younger sister.
Nikki has appeared in ITV’s new five-part royal docuseries: The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor, broadcast on Thursday 20 April on ITVX, to discuss the relationship of society photographer Lord Snowdon and Princess Margaret (seen in 1966)
And she said, “Tony, don’t do that. You could have burned my dress,” and he said, “Good thing, too, I’ve always hated that stuff.” “
Margaret, who died in 2002 at the age of 71, met Anthony in 1958 at a dinner party organized by mutual friends, and married at Westminster Abbey in May 1960, the first royal wedding to be televised.
However, the union reportedly did not go well, and the couple soon divorced, with the royal family engaging in extramarital affairs.
Famously, Margaret invited Rudy Llewellyn, a lover who was 17 years her junior, to Mustique Island in 1974, where they were photographed by the paparazzi, which led to the end of her marriage.
Margaret and Anthony, who died in 2017, made their divorce official in 1978, after 18 years of marriage.
The romance between Antony Armstrong-Jones and the King has been dramatized more than once, most recently in the second and third seasons of the royal drama The Crown.
The full series is available on Thursday 20th April on ITVX
