Ephraim Hardcastle

DAVID Linley and his sister Sarah broke their father Lord Snowdon’s heart when they sold 800 of Princess Margaret’s possessions at auction four years after her death in 2006.The claim in Channel 5’s Secrets Of The Royal Palaces, shown tomorrow, also describes Snowdon – who died in 2017 – as being ‘crushed that his children sold the Poltimore Tiara, worn by Margaret when she married him, for £926,400’. ‘This Christies’ auction was heartbreaking for Lord Snowdon,’ says his friend Viscountess Hinchingbrooke. ‘In fact, he wrote to his children asking them to stop it.’ David, now Lord Snowdon, and Lady Sarah Chatto raised nearly £14million – but they didn’t get all the loot. The late Queen, also angered by the clearout, ordered that profits from any official gift to Margaret should go to good causes.