Princess Beatrice is Married!

[alliwantisagoodnightssleep]

Daily Mail reports they have privately married at Windsor Castle.

Lovely news if true.

I hope they have a lifetime of love and happiness.

@Puzzledandpissedoff

I always wonder if the initial appeal was the 'forbidden' and 'older man', and actually their marriage would have faced real challenges just 'living an ordinary life'

This has always been my own view too ... it's one thing creating attention and drama (which Margaret often did) and quite another living with the consequences

Like so many of that ghastly family she was just one more who expected everything her own way, all the time, and threw a strop if she didn't get it

They've certainly got their fair share of unpleasant family members, but then again, which of us haven't!

@ajandjjmum

As a child I remember my Mum always used to say 'the should have let her marry Peter Townsend'.

I think it was only in later years that the public knew the ultimatum given to Margaret, ie. marry him but give up your HRH and all that goes with it. It was a choice she made. I always wonder if the initial appeal was the 'forbidden' and 'older man', and actually their marriage would have faced real challenges just 'living an ordinary life'.

That's the story that's always told (included in The Crown) but it's actually fiction.

In the early years of the Queen's reign Margaret was third in line of succession (behind Charles & Anne) and therefore needed the consent of the monarch to marry. As the COE refused until 2002 to allow divorced people to remarry, and Townsend was divorced, the Queen said as head of the COE she couldn't consent and asked them to wait for 2 years, presumably hoping they'd get over each other. In that two years the Queen and Anthony Eden reached a compromise - he'd pass legislation taking Margaret and any of her children out of the line of sucession, and then the Queen's consent would no longer be needed. Margaret would still be an HRH, still be a member of the Royal Family - no sacrifice at all really as her sister already had two children. But Margaret, when considering her options, decided she no longer wanted to marry him. It doubtless suited her to be seen as a star-crossed lover, but it wasn't the truth (this is all set out in a letter that Anthony Eden wrote to all the Commonwealth Prime Ministers to explain what had been agreed, which is in the National Archives).

Accurately put, Serenster - as you say, Margaret could quite well have married Townsend but chose not to, the gloss of the whole thing no doubt having worn off by then

It gave her a handy stick to beat the family with over anything else that went wrong, though, and a useful "poor me" act to keep in reserve

" It doubtless suited her to be seen as a star-crossed lover,"

Yes, it seems to me that it's no more people wanting to marry but being forced apart than C&C was.

The RF may not have thought she was suitable, but wasn't she determined to marry APB, so rather a moot point.

That's really interesting Serenster - so she really would have been losing nothing except her place in the succession! How things are remembered - and portrayed - differently.

Iirc, Autumn Phillips renounced her Catholicism so that Peter would remain in the line of succession.

What religion is Edo. If Catholic does the mean Beatrice has renounced her place in the hierarchy of Royal succession ?
Isn't it daft that if someone is a Catholic they can't marry a member of the Royal Family unless the RF member is willing to forego their place in the line of succession.
Or has this law been scrapped ??
And all because Henry V111 threw a strop when he wanted to marry Anne Boleyn and divorce Catherine.

I think it has been changed within the last few years. So you can now marry a Catholic without having to give up your place in the line of succession. But if you decided to become a Catholic yourself you’d have to give it up.

I think Prince Michael of Kent has to give up his place in the succession to marry Princess Michael.

I’m sure Someone more knowledgeable will come along if I’m wrong.

When he was born he was 7th in line. Now he is about 46th or 47th. He did have to give up his place when he married but after a new act in 2015 he was reinstated. I looked it up.

Off course it helps when dresses are well made like this one. Fast fashions of today really don’t compare at all and wouldn’t hold up against alterations. When this dress was made, clothes were often let out, taken up, let down etc.

From memory, my mother's wedding dress was one that her and a few friends paid for together - I have this vague idea there were ration cards involved but that doesn't seem right for the 60s even though it was another country - they all then had the dress altered slightly to fit them. I think three of them wore it. I can only assume that it was possible because the dress was bespoke and was made with generous seams etc.

@BlingLoving

Off course it helps when dresses are well made like this one. Fast fashions of today really don’t compare at all and wouldn’t hold up against alterations. When this dress was made, clothes were often let out, taken up, let down etc.

From memory, my mother's wedding dress was one that her and a few friends paid for together - I have this vague idea there were ration cards involved but that doesn't seem right for the 60s even though it was another country - they all then had the dress altered slightly to fit them. I think three of them wore it. I can only assume that it was possible because the dress was bespoke and was made with generous seams etc.

What a lovely arrangement. I think the whole wedding industry has become very grabby and tawdry. What I love about B and E's wedding is that it seems to hark back to older values.

@BlingLoving Could it have been Green Shield or Coop Stamps to save up for the material?

@BlingLoving
You say it was not the UK.
What country would have had rationing in the 1960 's ?

I meant to add that that was a lovely idea - to share the dress and the cost of it.

Didn't they change the Catholic rule at the same time that females were given equal standing to males within the RF?

[quote LadyEloise]**@BlingLoving
You say it was not the UK.
What country would have had rationing in the 1960 's ?[/quote]
It was in South Africa. I think I must be making up the ration card thing and getting confused between her and stories from my dad who was older and grew up in post ww2 england.

But I do know that my mum and her friends at that time had no money so it seems feasible they all saved up and then pooled their resources to get a really lovely dress? They all had their own veils. So we have hers, but no idea what happened to the dress itself. Maybe they sold it on?

[quote LadyEloise]**@BlingLoving
You say it was not the UK.
What country would have had rationing in the 1960 's ?[/quote]
I don't know which country it would be but I do think it's possible that rationing was still in place in the '60s.
Rationing in the UK didn't end until 1954.

But I do love the idea of 3 brides sharing the same dress. My great aunt and my gran were wartime brides, one married in her uniform the other wore her best dress rather than an white one occassion wedding dress.

My Gran also spoke about the village all trying to save the sugar and egg rations so couples getting married could get a wedding cake.

Going back to Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend, I read Craig Brown's Ma'am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret. It's an entertaining read, and quite insightful.
I was shocked by the details regarding Peter Townsend.
He was 16 years older than Margaret, he became equerry to King George VI in 1944 when she was 14. It is rumoured the romance started during the 1947 tour to South Africa when she was 17 and he was 33.
But he didn't get his divorce until 1952. He was sent off to a posting in Belgium in 1953 to put a bit of distance between him and Margeret.
During his time in Belgium he picked up (literally) a young Belgian girl who fell off her horse at his feet at a horse show. He ingratiated himself with her parents , as you do. She was about 14 at the time, he was 40.

He returned to the UK to reunite with Princess Margaret before she finally decided that life as humble Mrs Townsend wasn't really for her and put an end to the rumours and the relationship with her public statement in 1955.

He returned to Belgium, and married the young Marie-Luce Jamagne in 1959 when he was 45 and she was 20.

To call him a cad would be polite.

I don't think public opinion would be so forgiving of such a man these days.

Going back to Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend, I read Craig Brown's Ma'am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret. It's an entertaining read, and quite insightful.
I was shocked by the details regarding Peter Townsend.
He was 16 years older than Margaret, he became equerry to King George VI in 1944 when she was 14. It is rumoured the romance started during the 1947 tour to South Africa when she was 17 and he was 33.
But he didn't get his divorce until 1952. He was sent off to a posting in Belgium in 1953 to put a bit of distance between him and Margeret.
During his time in Belgium he picked up (literally) a young Belgian girl who fell off her horse at his feet at a horse show. He ingratiated himself with her parents , as you do. She was about 14 at the time, he was 40.

He returned to the UK to reunite with Princess Margaret before she finally decided that life as humble Mrs Townsend wasn't really for her and put an end to the rumours and the relationship with her public statement in 1955.

He returned to Belgium, and married the young Marie-Luce Jamagne in 1959 when he was 45 and she was 20.

To call him a cad would be polite.

I don't think public opinion would be so forgiving of such a man these days.

Regarding royal wedding dress sharing: Two of the sisters of the king of Sweden wore the same (new to them) dress at their weddings. Different accessories. In the sixties I think, I'll try to find links. Most certainly not a question of money or rationing.

Margaretha, possibly not the shared dress:

www.shutterstock.com/editorial/image-editorial/princess-margaretha-of-sweden-and-husband-john-ambler-on-their-wedding-day-sweden-1964-3978575a

Birgitta and Desiree, shared dress (Birgitta wore it twice, Stockholm wedding and Sigmaringen wedding, to the same man. Possibly catholic service in Sigmaringen and Lutheran in Stockholm):

historiskbildbyra.imagedesk.se/viewpic.htm?ID=1560377

www.google.fi/search?q=prinsessan+birgitta+bröllop&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjFlvH93dzqAhXTsioKHQykDfkQ2-cCegQIABAC&oq=prinsessan+birgitta+br&gs_lcp=ChJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWcQARgBMgIIKTICCABQhVpYnltgk2doAHAAeACAAWuIAbgBkgEDMS4xmAEAoAEBwAEB&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img&ei=OQcWX4WWG9PlqgGMyLbIDw&bih=714&biw=414&client=safari&prmd=inmv&hl=sv-fi&hl=sv#imgrc=xskYh-vTokuW1M

Regarding royal wedding dress sharing: Two of the sisters of the king of Sweden wore the same (new to them) dress at their weddings. Different accessories. In the sixties I think, I'll try to find links. Most certainly not a question of money or rationing.

Margaretha, possibly not the shared dress:

www.shutterstock.com/editorial/image-editorial/princess-margaretha-of-sweden-and-husband-john-ambler-on-their-wedding-day-sweden-1964-3978575a

Birgitta and Desiree, shared dress (Birgitta wore it twice, Stockholm wedding and Sigmaringen wedding, to the same man. Possibly catholic service in Sigmaringen and Lutheran in Stockholm):

historiskbildbyra.imagedesk.se/viewpic.htm?ID=1560377

www.google.fi/search?q=prinsessan+birgitta+bröllop&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjFlvH93dzqAhXTsioKHQykDfkQ2-cCegQIABAC&oq=prinsessan+birgitta+br&gs_lcp=ChJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWcQARgBMgIIKTICCABQhVpYnltgk2doAHAAeACAAWuIAbgBkgEDMS4xmAEAoAEBwAEB&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img&ei=OQcWX4WWG9PlqgGMyLbIDw&bih=714&biw=414&client=safari&prmd=inmv&hl=sv-fi&hl=sv#imgrc=xskYh-vTokuW1M

Oh the link to Princess Birgitta wearing the shared dress didn't go through right, new try:

www.sjobergbildbyra.se/fotoweb/archives/5000-Alla-bilder/Classicpicture/Classicpicture11/217126.jpg.info

Oh the link to Princess Birgitta wearing the shared dress didn't go through right, new try:

www.sjobergbildbyra.se/fotoweb/archives/5000-Alla-bilder/Classicpicture/Classicpicture11/217126.jpg.info

Oh the link to Princess Birgitta wearing the shared dress didn't go through right, new try:

www.sjobergbildbyra.se/fotoweb/archives/5000-Alla-bilder/Classicpicture/Classicpicture11/217126.jpg.info