ON THIS DAY WITH SHAUN WALLACE

October 31, 1955

PRINCESS MARGARET called off her plans to marry divorced Group Captain Peter Townsend. The BBC interrupted normal programming to read a brief statement from the Princess.

In it she said: “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 teaching that Christian marriage is indissoluble, and conscious of my duty to the Commonwealth, I have resolved to put these considerations before any others.”

She continued: “I have reached this decision entirely alone, and in doing so have been strengthened by the unfailing support and devotion of Group Captain Townsend.”

The Princess met the Battle of Britain fighter pilot when she was still a teenager when he, twice her age, was married with two children. He separated from his wife.

Rumours had started circulating in the media when a newspaper covering the Queen’s coronation in June 1953 noticed the Princess flick a piece of fluff off Group Captain Townsend’s jacket.

He was equerry to the King and after George VI’S death in 1952, Comptroller of the Queen Mother’s household.

Under the Royal Marriages Act of 1772, the Princess required her sister’s permission to marry before the age of 25.

After then she needed Parliament’s approval. The Princess turned 25 in August 1955 and Parliament had made clear it would not consent to her marriage. She was left with only two options: renounce all her rights and privileges or call off the wedding.

The Princess went on to marry the photographer Antony Armstrong-jones

(who became the Earl of Snowdon) in 1960 and the couple had two children.

In 1978 she became the first royal to divorce since Henry VIII. Group Captain Townsend died at the age of 80 in 1995.

Question: Which famous actor died on this day in 1993, at the age of 23, from a drug overdose on a West Hollywood sidewalk?

Last week I asked: On this day in 1929, Wall Street suffered its worst crash in history. What is this day known as? BLACK THURSDAY