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was, however, furious when, in the aftermath of ‘the piece of fluff’ incident, the papers
were full of Townsend rather than the Queen and her Coronation.
The Margaret–Townsend affair, although far less disquieting in its implications than
Edward VIII’s determination to marry Mrs Simpson, touched a raw nerve in the British
body politic, setting up Pavlovian reactions in every stratum of society. Among the
leaders of the establishment, the principal courtiers and the politicians, the alarm bells
rang loud and clear. ‘We had to establish a new reign,’ a courtier said. ‘We simply
couldn’t afford another Edward/Mrs Simpson situation…’ The parallels with 1936 were
clearly there and in many ways it seemed a re-run of the Abdication. The British press,
despite the stories in foreign newspapers, had hitherto failed to take up the story and
did not do so until the ‘piece of fluff’ incident provoked comment that could no longer
be ignored. Lascelles then realized that further concealment would be impossible and
that the situation required immediate action. On 13 June, the day before the story was
to break in the British newspapers, he drove down to Churchill’s country house,
Chartwell, to tell him of Princess Margaret’s ‘wish to marry the recently divorced Peter
Townsend’. It was also a re-run of 1936 in the Churchill household. ‘A pretty kettle of
fish,’ Colville commented, curiously using the same phrase Queen Mary had said to
Baldwin when he had visited her to discuss the Abdication. Churchill’s first reaction was
also on the same lines: the course of true love must run smooth and why shouldn’t the
beautiful young Princess marry her handsome war hero? Mrs Churchill sharply pointed
out to her husband that he was ‘making the same mistake that he had made at the
Abdication’. This time Churchill listened to his wife. He ordered the Attorney-General,
Sir Lionel Heald, to prepare a report on the constitutional position and to take informal
soundings among Commonwealth Prime Ministers as to their views on the marriage. It
was decided in Cabinet that the Government could not approve the marriage – the
Marquess of Salisbury, a high churchman and close friend of the late King, being
particularly firm on the subject. In the meantime, Churchill promised Lascelles that at
his next meeting with the Queen, he would urge Townsend’s removal from court.
In the end the press precipitated Townsend’s departure. On 14 June The People issued
a floater under the banner headline ‘The People Speaks Out’. The British people, it said,
should be aware that according to ‘scandalous rumours’ around the world the Princess
was in love with a divorced man and wanted to marry him. They named him as
Townsend. The story was of course, they said, tongue-in-cheek, ‘utterly untrue’ since it
was ‘quite unthinkable that a Royal Princess, third in line of succession to the throne,
should even contemplate marriage with a man who has been through the divorce
courts’. The fact that Townsend had been the innocent party in his divorce ‘cannot alter
the fact that a marriage between Princess Margaret and himself would fly in the face of
Royal and Christian tradition’. The People succeeded in flushing the fox out of the
Palace. Lascelles and the Queen’s Press Secretary, Commander Richard Colville, warned
Elizabeth that there would be endless speculation and that Townsend would have to go.
Churchill backed them up, informing Elizabeth of the Cabinet’s opposition to the
marriage. No evidence has yet come to light as to whether or not he also told her that it