When asked once at a party in NYC about the Queen’s health, Princess Margaret replied: “Which one? My sister, my mother or my husband?”
I am a fan of the work of gifted & important photographer, Anthony Armstrong-Jones, or as I like to call him – Lordy Snowdon. He has enjoyed astonishingly active & varied love-life, 2 wives, 2 illegitimate children & a lover's suicide, & several affairs with men. Princess Margaret was initially surprised that her husband had no intention of giving up his rising photographic career. Because Armstrong-Jones travelled around the world to complete assignments, he was often separated from his wife for many months at a time. The Princess was known to do some partying herself. Princess Margaret: “When we first met, I thought he was very pleasant but everybody told me that he was queer.”
His official biographer- Anne de Courcy blithely noted: “Tony, though small in stature, was well-endowed. Tony's always been driven by 2 things: work & sex. A day without either was considered a total waste. He was proud of his conquests of both sexes. If it moved, he would have it”
Among his lovers were British interior decorator Nicholas Haslam & another leading interior decorator- Tom Parr, Jeremy Fry, best man at the Royal wedding in 1960 & the Queen Mother's long-serving page- William Tallon, or Backstairs Billy, as he was known in the Royal household. Anthony-Jones would go on to have an affair with buddy- Fry’s wife & father a child with her, while carrying on their affair.
The break-up of Princess Margaret & Armstrong-Jones lasted 16 years, with a great deal of drugs, booze, & bizarre behavior by both parties, such as Armstrong-Jones's leaving lists between the pages of the princess’s book, of "things I hate about you".
Armstrong-Jones was able to use of a hideaway cottage with his lovers, or had assignations overseas on photographic assignments; most people, including the Royal Family, looked the other way.
Armstrong-Jones’s uncle was Oliver Messel, the famous stage designer. Messel would rent an apartment in Venice & would stay with him there during in the summer, bringing a handsome man for each of them including Parr, who was to become head of the fine antiques & design company Colefax & Fowler, now lives with his male partner in France.
Armstrong-Jones has 5 children: wood artist & Christie's chairman Viscount Linley & painter Lady Sarah Chatto, both with Princess Margaret, daughter- Frances, by filmmaker Lucy Lindsay-Hogg, who he married within months of his divorce from Princess Margaret in 1978. They were divorced in 2000 after she discovered that he had a son- Jasper, with Melanie Cable-Alexander, the editor of Country Life, & Polly Fry, a photographer, like him.
In 1996, his mistress of 20 years- journalist Ann Hills, took a lethal overdose of pills washed down with champagne. Police found her suicide message on her answering machine, saying that she was distressed that Armstrong-Jones could not see her over Christmas Holidays. An inquest concluded that she was distressed by her failure to find a lasting relationship.
I have read that Armstrong-Jones had affairs with women & only flings with men & it is easy to understand which ones he thought were less trouble.
Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, turns 82 years old today. He can still get that big thing up, or so my sources tell me.
Armstrong-Jones worked as a photographer using the name- Lord Snowdon. In the course of his career, he photographed almost anyone of any importance in the fashion & arts world. I remember a shot he did for Vogue, of a model standing among a pile of cars in a junk yard in Queens, New York. Very outre for 1957.
He once photographed Rudolf Nureyev in his ordinary clothes & asked him to remove the handkerchief from his trouser pocket because it looked ridiculous. Nureyev said: "that is no hankie…". Armstrong-Jones:“I’m not a great one for chatting people up because it’s phony, I don’t want people to feel at ease. You want a bit of edge. There are quite long, agonized silences. I love it. Something strange might happen. I mean, taking photographs is a very nasty thing to do. It’s very cruel.”
This remains my favorite photograph of Princess Diana
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