The Queen Must be Plotzing!

I was going to blog about Britney's complete and total melt down, and Lindsay Lohan being caught on camera swigging champagne a few months out of getting out of rehab, but I think we're all a bit bored.

So I was shocked when I saw this on Hello! magazine's site.


Apparently Lord Snowdon is set to share intimate details of his marriage to the late Princess Margaret in a new biography. According to Hello! Magazine:

"News of the book, which is set to hit UK stores in the summer, may come as a surprise to many royal watchers.

"There has always been an understanding that no biography would be published during his lifetime," says royal author Tim Heald - who wrote a biography of the Queen's late sister. "He has never spoken a word in public about Margaret," he continues, "He has remained very loyal to her and to her memory."

"However, the royal snapper, who married the beautiful, blue-eyed royal at Westminster Abbey in 1960, has given his "full agreement" to the new biography by well-known journalist Anne de Courcy. "I am now happy for people to know about my life and I want to put the record straight on some things," says the 77-year-old, whose famously turbulent union ended in divorce in 1978.

Snowdon: The Biography will be published in June."

Wow, the Queen must be plotzing at this news. The last thing she needs is another tell-all book. Especially after the TV movie that was shown on British television about a year ago, whcih portrayed Princess Margaret as a sad lush. Although I wonder how much he's going to say given their two children and the fact that he's managed to still have a good relationship with the Queen.

Still it must be giving the Queen fits behind closed doors. This falls on the heels of Diana talking to Andrew Morton and Fergie publishing her own book.

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Princess Margaret. I don't think she wanted to be Queen, but I think it always bugged her that she was just 'the pretty one.' And not being able to marry the man that she loved because he was divorced, and had two kids, and was a commoner. Given the martial misadventures of the rest of the Windsors, it seems a shame that she never got to marry Group Captain Peter Townsend. But things were different back in the 1950's, particularly after the whole debacle with Edward VIII, the future Duke of Windsor.

I think the government and the Queen just felt that there didn't need to be any more scandals. Even though she was only the Queen's sister, she was still third in line to the throne after Charles and Anne.

I was lucky enough to sit two rows behind her at the Royal National Theater one night about ten years ago. She was so tiny and pretty even in her late sixties. I even got to stand close to her a bit while she was waiting for her car afterward. I floated for days knowing that I was so close to royalty.

I hope that Lord Snowdon is kind to her, particularly since she's no longer here to defend herself.