The fifth season of The Crown dropped on Netflix last week, and fans have flocked to the streaming service to catch up on all the latest happenings in the hit royal drama. The series follows Queen Elizabeth II’s reign throughout different stages of her life, with this penultimate series taking viewers through the 1990s, as the royal family is plagued by scandals and hardship.
Also appearing in the series is the Queen’s rebellious sister, Princess Margaret, who’s love life caused problems for the monarchy in the 1950s, when she was in a relationship with former Royal Air Force pilot Group Captain Peter Townsend. The Crown viewers may remember Townsend’s appearance back in season one, when, played by Ben Miles, he had a romance with the princess, played by Vanessa Kirby.
Townsend was a decorated fighter pilot who fought in the Second World War, and was also an aide to Elizabeth and Margret’s father King George VI – but he was also divorced and had two children. After much speculation in the press about their relationship, it was revealed that Townsend and the princess were indeed an item, and were set to marry.
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But as he was divorced and she was under 25, she required permission from her sister, who was also head of the Church of England, who did not recognise divorce. To avoid a difficult situation for the Queen, the marriage was put on hold, with the couple intending to wait until Margaret turned 25 so they could marry independently of the Queen.
During this time, Townsend was sent on a diplomatic assignment to Brussels. Two years later, upon his return to England, Margaret released a statement to the press confirming the couple had decided against marriage.
On October 31, 1955, she said: “I would like it to be known that I have decided not to marry Group Captain Peter Townsend. I have been aware that, subject to my renouncing my rights of succession, it might have been possible for me to contract a civil marriage.
“But mindful of the Church’s teachings that Christian marriage is indissoluble, and conscious of my duty to the Commonwealth, I have resolved to put these considerations before others. I have reached this decision entirely alone, and in doing so I have been strengthened by the unfailing support and devotion of Group Captain Townsend.”
The couple went their separate ways, only meeting a handful of times throughout the rest of the decade. In 1959, Townsend married 20-year-old Belgian heiress Marie-Luce Jamagne, while Margaret went on to marry the photographer Anthony Armstrong-Jones in 1960.
Townsend and Jamagne would share three children, while Margaret’s marriage ended in divorce in 1978. The former couple fell out of touch following their separation, and would not meet again until years later.
In season five of The Crown, their reunion is depicted during a reception at London’s Caledonian Club. Now played by Phantom Thread actress Lesley Manville and former James Bond Timothy Dalton, they meet for the first time since he moved away decades earlier.
In the episode, the former couple share one final dance, and Townsend returns the love letters she wrote for him, firmly closing the door to the past and the close bond they once shared. In reality, Margaret and Townsend reunited one final time in the summer of 1992, when he joined the princess for a lunch at Kensington Palace.
Following their meal, the former couple shared a walk through the palace gardens, according to Margaret’s biographer Christopher Warwick, who wrote about the meeting in Princess Margaret: A Love Story. He wrote: “Afterwards, as Townsend drove away, she waved goodbye with a pocket handkerchief.
“Then, walking back into the apartment, the Princess turned to her private secretary and said words to the effect that he was just as she remembered him except that his hair had turned grey. There was something in the way she said it that made me think that she hadn’t lost feelings altogether.”
It was to be the last time they saw each other, as Townsend died of stomach cancer in 1995 at the age of 80. Princess Margaret died in 2002 aged 71, after suffering cardiac problems which followed a stroke.
The Crown season five is available to stream now on Netflix.
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