PRINCESS MARGARET & GROUP CAPTAIN PETER TOWNSEND
All eyes were on Princess Margaret and who she would chose as a husband, but it was her parents’ equerry (personal assistant), Group Captain Peter Townsend who won her heart. A dashing RAF fighter-pilot war hero, Peter was 15 years older than Margaret and divorced, so the lovers kept their affair secret. Of course, word leaked out. As Peter was divorced, Margaret needed the government’s permission to marry, and that request was denied. Facing the choice of marrying Peter and losing her royal title, or keeping calm and carrying on as Princess Margaret, she chose the latter and the affair ended in 1955.
PRINCESS STEPHANIE & DANIEL DUCRUET, & JEAN RAYMOND GOTTLIEB
Monaco’s Princess Stephanie caused a major scandal in 1988 when she began an affair with her bodyguard Daniel Ducruet, bearing two children, Louis and Pauline. Prince Rainier was horrified and initially refused to allow the pair to marry, but eventually gave his consent and the couple wed in July 1995. It was all over a year later when Daniel was caught out in an illicit fling. Not long after her divorce, Stephanie began an affair with palace guard Jean Raymond Gottlieb, and when her daughter Camille was born in 1998, the princess declined to name the father. Only recently has Jean Raymond’s been recognised as Camille’s dad; she’s not in the Monegasque line of succession
PRINCESS DIANA & BARRY MANNAKEE
In 1985 Princess Diana fell for her bodyguard Barry Mannakee – he was married with two children. Diana later described him as her “greatest love”. The pair grew so close that Barry was allegedly later moved to another post due to his supervisors deeming his relationship with Diana had become “inappropriate”. In 1987, Barry was killed in a motorcycle accident, and his death has continued to be the subject of wild conspiracy theories pertaining to UK security services bumping him off.
PRINCESS ANNE & SIR TIM LAURENCE
In 1986, Lieutenant Commander Tim Laurence was appointed as equerry to Queen Elizabeth, and while working on the Royal Yacht Britannia he met Princess Anne – and sparks flew! Anne’s marriage to Mark Phillips had fallen apart, and she and Tim indulged in a clandestine affair. After Anne and Mark announced their separation in 1989, her relationship with Tim became public when their love letters were published. In 1992, Anne and Mark divorced, and within months, she married Tim in the Church of Scotland, where the remarriage of a royal was permitted. Almost 30 years on, their marriage is one of the most successful in the Windsor clan
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