War hero, equerry, round-the-world traveller… and Princess Margaret’s lover: How there was much more to Group Captain Peter Townsend than his status as the royal husband that never was

He was a warfare hero, a former equerry to the King and the person Princess Margaret was not allowed to marry.

And though the latter truth was maybe the least attention-grabbing factor concerning the fascinating Group Captain Peter Townsend, it’s the cause his title nonetheless resonates in the present day. 

The previous RAF pilot, who died 29 years in the past in the present day from abdomen most cancers, served King George VI from 1944 to 1952 after preventing within the Second World Warfare.

He met the younger Princess Margaret when, because the King’s equerry, he was residing at Adelaide Cottage – now the house of Prince William and Kate – at Windsor.

Margaret and her elder sister, the longer term Queen Elizabeth II, would take tea within the gardens with their mom, Townsend and his spouse Rosemary and the couple’s younger sons.

Townsend and Margaret are believed to have change into romantically concerned earlier than his formal break up from his spouse in 1952 – however they have been deterred from marrying due to his standing as a divorced man. 

After Margaret publicly ended their relationship, Townsend went on to re-marry and have three kids along with his second spouse – Belgian heiress Marie-Luce Jamagne, who was 25 years his junior. 

His exploits after his relationship with Margaret ended included a visit all over the world and a profession as a wine service provider. 

Townsend was born on November 22, 1914, in Rangoon, Burma, to Lieutenant Colonel Edward Townsend and his spouse Gladys. 

Considered one of seven kids, Peter was only a few months outdated when his mom introduced him again to the household residence in Devon.  

He joined the Royal Air Pressure in 1930, coaching at RAF Cranwell, and was commissioned as a pilot officer in 1935. 

Following 4 years of service, Peter went on to function a Squadron Chief within the Battle of Britain within the Second World Warfare.

At one level, he was shot down throughout fight and needed to have one in every of his huge toes amputated.

He was talked about in despatches for his position in defending transport convoys from the air and capturing down enemy plane. 

In 1944, Townsend was appointed to the place that might cement his place in royal historical past. 

In 1947, his position as equerry noticed him accompany Margaret throughout a three-month royal tour of South Africa in 1947.  

Townsend would then have been aged 32, while Margaret was 17.

She later advised a confidante: ‘We rode collectively each morning in that great nation, in marvellous climate. That’s once I actually fell in love with him.’ 

Townsend discovered himself drawn to Princess Margaret’s love of life, as he defined in his guide, Time and Likelihood: An Autobiography: ‘She was a woman of surprising, intense magnificence, confined because it was in her brief, slender determine and centred about giant purple-blue eyes, beneficiant, delicate lips and a complexion as clean as a peach. 

‘But I dare say that there was not one amongst them extra touched by the Princess’s joie de vivre than I, for, in my current marital predicament, it gave me what I most lacked – pleasure.’

Margaret later admitted to having a ‘terrific crush’ on Townsend when she first met him. 

The pair’s romance was cemented once they grew nearer following the dying of King George in 1952.  

‘Throughout 1952, Princess Margaret and I discovered growing solace in each other’s firm,’ Townsend wrote.

‘The 12 months started with the Princess’s grief, brought on by the sudden dying of her father; it continued with the change in her family state of affairs – residing alone along with her mom (whom she adored) – and the regular deterioration in mine; it ended within the break-up of my household. 

‘If on the fabric aircraft, in addition to temperamentally, the Princess and I have been worlds aside, we responded, in our emotions and feelings, as one.’

Whereas Peter had beforehand been married to Miss Cecil Rosemary Pawle since 1941, with whom he had two sons, he ultimately filed for a divorce in November 1952 after she had an affair. 

In April 1953, lower than a 12 months after his divorce from Rosemary, Townsend proposed to Margaret.

Their relationship turned public after the Queen’s Coronation in June that 12 months, when Margaret was seen tenderly eradicating a chunk of fluff from Townsend’s uniform.

Nevertheless, Margaret’s sister, now the Queen, needed to consent to her marriage to a divorced man. 

The monarch’s standing as head of the Church of England difficult issues.  

With each the royal household and the British authorities nonetheless recovering from Edward VIII’s abdication in 1936 to marry Wallis Simpson, who was divorced, Queen Elizabeth was suggested it might be unconstitutional for her to approve the match.

It was determined that Townsend could be despatched away to work as an air attaché for the British Embassy in Brussels for a 12 months, after which, the couple was requested to attend one other 12 months.

Though Margaret had now turned 25, they have been nonetheless denied the correct to wed, and the federal government – led by Prime Minister Anthony Eden – acknowledged that if she married her love then she could be stripped of her royal privileges in addition to her revenue.

Margaret and Townsend have been lastly reunited on October 12, 1955.

Nevertheless, three weeks later, an announcement drafted in Princess Margaret’s title learn: ‘I would love it to be recognized that I’ve determined to not marry Group Captain Peter Townsend.

‘I’ve been conscious that, topic to my renouncing my rights of succession, it may need been potential for me to contract a civil marriage. 

‘However, conscious of the Church’s instructing that Christian marriage is indissoluble, and acutely aware of my responsibility to the Commonwealth, I’ve determined to place these concerns earlier than any others.’

Having returned to Belgium heartbroken after Margaret’s choice, he went on to marry Ms Jamagne in 1959 and the couple had two daughters and one son.

It was famous that the younger girl bore a hanging resemblance to Princess Margaret.

Their kids Isabelle, Marie-Françoise, and Pierre have been born in 1961, 1963 and 1964 respectively. 

In Might 1960 Margaret married photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey.

The princess and the Earl of Snowden, as Armstrong-Jones turned, had kids David and Sarah collectively however divorced in 1978.

In 1978, 23 years after his separation from Margaret, Townsend launched his autobiography, Time and Likelihood, the place he expressed his peace along with her selection.

He wrote: ‘She might have married me provided that she had been ready to surrender every little thing – her place, her status, her privy purse.

‘I merely hadn’t the burden, I knew it, to counterbalance all she would have misplaced.’

Townsend and the Princess met once more in 1992 for lunch at her residence in Kensington Palace. This was believed to be their closing assembly.

Earlier than marrying his second spouse, Townsend launched into an epic round-the-world journey that noticed him journey to locations together with Hong Kong, Australia, the Congo, South America and Belgium. 

His travels have been documented in French documentary Passeport pour le Monde and his guide Earth My Buddy.

He later cast a profession as a wine service provider – a commerce which his eldest son Giles – who died in 2015 – adopted him into. 

Giles’ brother Hugo, who was born in 1945, has frolicked residing as a monk and is a skilled psychotherapist. 

Townsend’s daughter Isabelle turned a trend mannequin and actress, while Marie-Françoise works for an inside designer and Pierre has spent his profession within the humanitarian sector.  

After Townsend’s dying at his residence in France on the age of 80, the attendance at his funeral demonstrated how revered he was.

In addition to family and friends, he was honoured by the presence of the British Ambassador to France, who represented the Queen.

Battle of Britain pilot Air Commodore Sir Archie Windskill represented the Queen Mom. 

Princess Margaret was not current however is believed to have despatched a personal message to Marie-Luce.

Margaret stored Townsend’s letters to her and stored them in bundles. 

She decreed earlier than her dying in 2002 that they need to not be learn till 2030 – 100 years from her delivery.