GIFTS THE PRINCESS COULDN’T REFUSE

WHEN Tony and Margaret stayed at his mother’s old family estate Nymans (famous for its gardens, now owned by the National Trust) in Sussex, they would sometimes visit the Lanes in Brighton. Although the Princess wore casual clothes, usually with a headscarf and dark glasses, she and Tony were the most recognisable couple in the kingdom. If they wanted to buy something, this could be an embarrassment, as when, in one antique shop, the owner asked nervously: ‘Are you Princess Margaret?’ When she replied, smiling, ‘Yes,’ he said: ‘Can I offer you something?’ As she remarked afterwards to one of the friends she was with: ‘That often happens and you can’t say no, it would seem so rude, so you just have to find the cheapest thing that you possibly can.’