Princess Margaret: A Life Unravelled - Hardcover

Heald, Tim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0297848208 ISBN 13: 9780297848202

Publisher: W&N, 2007

Synopsis

The almost universal conception is that the life of Princess Margaret (1930-2002) was a tragic failure, a history of unfulfilment.
Tim Heald's vivid and elegant biography portrays a woman who was beautiful and sexually alluring - even more so than Princess Diana years later - and whose reputation for naughtiness co-existed with the glamour. The mythology is that Margaret's life was 'ruined' by her not being allowed to marry the one true love of her life - Group Captain Peter Townsend. Therefore her marriage to Lord Snowdon and her well-attested relationships with Roddy Llewellyn and others were mere consolation prizes. Margaret's often exotic personal life in places like Mustique is a key part of her story.
The author has had extraordinary help from those closest to Princess Margaret, including her family (Lord Snowdon and her son, Lord Linley), as well as three of her private secretaries and many of her ladies in waiting. These individuals have not talked to any previous biographer. He has also had the Queen's permission to use the royal archives.
Heald asks why one of the most famous and loved little girls in the world, who became a juvenile wartime sweetheart, ended her life a sad wheelchairbound figure, publicly reviled and ignored. This is a story of a life in which the private and the public seemed permanently in conflict.
The biography is packed with good stories. Princess Margaret was never ignored; what she said and did has been remembered and recounted to Tim Heald.

About this title

Review:

It has an engaging sense of immediacy that goes some way towards balancing the sadness that Margaret¿s life inspires in retrospect. (MATTHEW DENNISON THE DAILY TELEGRAPH)

¿She was a witty, intelligent stimulation companion¿happily Tim Heald captures all these qualities in his admirably well-balanced biography." (THE LITERARY REVIEW)

He [Heald] has worked hard and produced an entertaining and reliable book. (SARAH BRADFORD THE GUARDIAN)

The book is both a sympathetic tribute and an exploration into a tormented soul. (THE GOOD BOOK GUIDE)

From the Author:

Best to read(and buy) the book of course but I'm appearing at the
Chichester Festival on July 7 and at Bath and Cheltenham in the autumn.

About this edition

• Publisher: W&N
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0297848208
• ISBN 13: 9780297848202
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368