Princess Margaret with John Peel at the Reform Club in 1992
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, CI, GCVO, GCStJ (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and the only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II. Margaret spent much of her childhood in the company of her elder sister and parents. Her life changed dramatically in 1936, when her paternal uncle King Edward VIII abdicated to marry a divorcée, Wallis Simpson. Margaret's father became king, and her elder sister became heir presumptive, with Margaret second in line to the throne. During the Second World War, the two sisters stayed at Windsor Castle, despite suggestions that the Royal Family be evacuated to Canada. During the war years, Margaret was considered too young to perform any official duties and instead continued her education. (see more on wikipedia...)
Links To Peel
In 1992 Peel chatted with Princess Margaret when she and past participants of Desert Island Discs were at the Reform Club to celebrate 50 years of the programme. He revealed that they discussed their respective appearances in the Archers, in which they both played themselves.
Princess Margaret was known for her active social life, which brought her into contact with many show business and pop personalities, including Mick Jagger and Bryan Ferry - and in the 1970s was known to have upper-class friends who lived in hippy communes.
She knew Peel favourites the Incredible String Band, whom she met when they were living in a row of cottages on the Glen estate near Innerleithen, Peeblesshire, owned by the Princess's friend Colin Tennant (Lord Glenconner). One member of the ISB recounted how, when she was staying at Tennant's country house in the early 1970s, the band was hired to provide Scottish country dance music for a dinner party which Princess Margaret attended. At the end of the evening they were obliged to accompany her on a version of Monty Python's "Lumberjack Song" where she sang and played piano (apparently, she had had music lessons in her childhood and was a good sight-reader) [1]. She also served for a time as president of the English Folk Dance and Song Society and was said to have been a fan of the music of Dave Swarbrick.
