Tearful Margaret puts duty before love

After 19 days of fevered global speculation, Princess announces that she WON'T wed divorce

PRINCESS MARGARET last night told the world in her own words why she is not to marry Group Captain Peter Townsend. In a few brave, simple sentences, she renounced him in deference to her royal duty to the Throne, the Commonwealth and the Church. And she added: ‘I have reached this decision entirely alone.’

So ends the romance of Princess and Battle of Britain hero that gripped the hearts of millions and threatened a constitutional crisis.

Her announcement, which came at 7.21 last night, was a dramatic culmination to 19 extraordinary days in which Princess Margaret, 25, and Group Captain Townsend, who is 15 years her senior, have been constant companions — as newspapers across the globe have speculated feverishly about their relationship.

Margaret and Group Captain Townsend have known each other for more than 11 years. Their paths first crossed in 1944 when he went to work at Buckingham Palace as Equerry of Honour. The post was reward for his wartime heroics as an RAF pilot, which saw him awarded the Distinguished Service Order and Distinguished Flying Cross and Bar.

At the time Group Captain Townsend had been married to Rosemary Pawle, mother of his two sons, for three years.

The marriage was dissolved in December 1952 on Group Captain Townsend’s petition — and, until last night, it looked likely that his second wife would be a princess.

But Margaret, third in line to the Throne, bowed to the teaching of the Church that ‘ marriage is indissoluble’. To the last, she was backed by the unfailing devotion of the man she loved.

For Group Captain Townsend stayed with her at Clarence House until an hour before she issued her historic 114-word declaration. He had driven there soon after returning from their weekend meetings at Uckfield House, Sussex, and stayed for more than two hours.

The Princess first gave the text of her message to the Queen at Buckingham Palace and to the Queen Mother. And she was with her mother at Clarence House when her decision was announced.

Within seconds the news flashed round the world. The BBC broke into radio and television programmes to announce it; so did ITV. In the Commonwealth and America and many other countries, the decision was broadcast immediately.

And Princess Margaret? She spent the remainder of her evening at home at Clarence House with the Queen Mother. She did not accompany the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to the Royal Film Show.

Crowds gathered outside Clarence House after the decision had been announced. Sightseers left their radio and television sets, hoping to see her. Later, a taxi drove to the main entrance to Clarence House and a messenger took in a large bouquet of flowers. The Princess is staying in London this week and will carry out all her engagements.

At 6.17 last night, Group Captain Townsend, pale and tense, drove for the last time from Clarence House to Lowndes Square, where he has been staying, and then to Uckfield House. He will remain in Britain for a few days before returning to his post as Air Attache in Brussels next Monday.

Throughout nearly three weeks of agonising over her dilemma, Princess Margaret was keenly aware of the constitutional and Church complications a marriage to Group Captain Townsend would involve.

On the constitutional difficulties she sought guidance from the Queen and other members of the Royal Family. Last Thursday, she had a 40-minute talk with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Geoffrey Fisher, on the Church of England’s position.

At no time had the question of her marriage become a political matter. The Prime Minister, Sir Anthony Eden, although he had audiences with the Queen, was not consulted officially.

The Princess’s position is regulated by the Royal Marriages Act of 1772, and by the Church of England doctrine that divorced persons, whether the innocent party or not, cannot be remarried in church.

This was the problem facing the Princess and the Group Captain during their 19 autumn days together.

The Privy Council would have had no option but to advise against marriage. The Queen could not have given her consent because she is the Governor of the Church of England, Defender of the Faith.

But no obstacle was placed in Margaret’s way. She examined with deep seriousness the alternative course: renouncing her royal status and becoming a private citizen. This course would have been embodied in a Bill and laid before Parliament. Once that was passed, the Princess would have been free ‘to contract a civil marriage’ outside the Church.

Last night, MPs were saying that Princess Margaret’s declaration does not end the dispute about the 183- year- old Royal Marriages Act — passed in the reign of George III — or about the Church’s attitude to divorce and adultery. Clement Attlee, the Labour leader, has not been officially consulted on Princess Margaret’s problem. But many socialists take the view that the Act should be scrapped.

In their view, Princess Margaret’s message makes the whole question ‘a definite matter of urgent public importance’.

As the ‘no marriage’ statement was issued, Group Captain Townsend was driving his green Renault through a London smog. Frequently, he ran his hand through his hair.

He had left Clarence House after more than two hours with Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother.