The news that Prince Harry may wish to marry a divorced woman prompted The Daily Telegraph to publish an article on November 1 about other members of the Royal Family who found themselves in a similar position. Princess Margaret is a well-known example. Alistair Lexden described what happened in her case in a letter published in The Telegraph on November 9.
SIR--Princess Margaret won widespread admiration when, in October 1955, she announced that she was giving up the man she loved, Group Captain Peter Townsend, because she was “mindful of the Church’s teaching that Christian marriage is indissoluble” (report, November 1).
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the redoubtable Geoffrey Fisher, praised this “thoroughly good Christian churchwoman”. In reality purely secular considerations led to the great renunciation. If the marriage had gone ahead, the Queen’s sister would have had to give up her rights to the throne. That she could almost certainly have accepted. She also believed that she would lose her income from the Civil List which “would have ruined her”, in Townsend’s words.
She was not told that, far from ruining her, the government was thinking of giving her an extra £9,000 year to assist her wedded bliss. She did not have all the facts when she made her decision. No wonder she was bitter afterwards.
Lord Lexden
London SW1