Princess Margaret Was Never The Same After Elizabeth Became Queen

Because of her role as a public figure, which came largely because her sister was Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret was heavily criticized throughout her life for her excessive spending. She was famously much more hedonistic than her tempered sister, and Margaret’s lifestyle was often a topic in the media, creating news fodder for the press. She was known as a “party princess,” and that reputation followed her for her entire adult life. Her morning routine, according to Craig Brown’s book “Ma’am Darling,” consisted of breakfast in bed at 9:00 a.m. followed by endless cigarettes and two hours of listening to the radio. At 12:30, she started drinking vodka. 

Her honeymoon with Antony Armstrong-Jones, which took place in 1960 aboard the royal yacht Britannia, cost $115,000 and lasted for six weeks. Her visit to the United States in 1965 was a success in that she was able to secure a financial bailout for Great Britain, but she was simultaneously criticized for how lavish her trip was. The trip cost £30,000, an amount that was deemed excessive by the British public, and because of this, she was actually banned from a later trip to the U.S., which was slated to take place in the 1970s. When she was able to visit the United States again in 1995, she brought $10,000 worth of clothing with her for a one week trip. The public often expressed concern over such excesses.