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Princess Margaret: The Rebel Royal, the second film in a series about the Queen’s younger sister, revealed the heartbreak the prominent Royal endured as her 16-year long marriage started to break down.
The couple had a tumultuous relationship, which was accompanied by regular partying and extra-marital affairs.
Biographer Anne de Courcy commented on their relationship, stating: “They were both pretty strong-willed and accustomed to having their own way, so there were bound to be collisions.”
She noted Princess Margaret “expected her husband to be with her more, but one of Tony’s strongest motivations was work”.
Mr Armstrong-Jones was a prominent photographer during the 1960s and 70s, and regularly embarked on long overseas work projects, leaving Princess alone to conduct her Royal duties by herself.
In a scathing attack on the former Royal spouse, Jane Stevens, a close friend of Princess Margaret, said: “Tony stopped going with her on any of her public engagements, and after a while she realised he wasn’t going to, so she did all her pubic things on her own.
“It was naughty in a way because he married Princess Margaret, and therefore knowing who he was marrying, he should have helped her, but he didn’t.
“He stuck with the job he had, which had nothing to do with the Royal Family, and that was hard for her.”
Lady Anne Glenconner, a childhood friend and lady-in-waiting to the Queen, echoed Ms Stevens’ statement, noting Mr Armstrong-Jones’ interest in the Royal Family dwindled over time.
She said: “Tony loved all the Royal thing at the beginning, but then he got bored and off he went.
“He was a brilliant photographer and he wanted to go around the world and photograph interesting people.
“And suddenly there he was having to do what he considered to be the rather boring things of Princess Margaret.”
Christopher Warwick, the authorised biographer of Princess Margaret, noted Mr Armstrong-Jones was keen to maintain his own identity and flourishing professional life, photographing the likes of Marlene Dietrich, Laurence Olivier and David Bowie.
He said: “He didn’t want to lose his identity, he didn’t just want to become Mr Princess Margaret, walking two paces behind.”
The Royal couple eventually separated in 1976 after 16 years of marriage, and divorced two years later in 1978.
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