Margaret goes to Windsor Castle

October 23, 1955


Princess Margaret and Group Captain Peter Townsend did not see each other today, reports the New York Times. This was only the second time in the last eleven days that they have not met.

Princess Margaret is staying at Windsor Castle with her sister, Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh.  This morning, they attended services at the Royal Chapel at Windsor Great Park.  But she did not leave the castle for the rest of the day.

Group Captain Townsend has remained in London.  

The "public discussion of the romance between the Princess and the commoner" continues.  Most people think that she should be allowed to marry "anyone she chooses."

Queen Elizabeth is said to be sympathetic with Princess Margaret, but is "believed to be cautioning her to have second thoughts: about marriage Townsend, a divorced commoner.   The Duke of Edinburgh is said to be "firmly opposed" to the marriage.

An Episcopalian rector in Edinburgh told his congregation today that a marriage between Princess Margaret and Group Captain Townsend would be an "illicit union."

The Rev. Douglas Lockhart, rector of St Paul's Episcopal Church of Scotland, said: "in this matter, not even a princess can have her cake and eat it."  He "declared that the no Anglican priest could officiate at the ceremony, and to suggest that Margaret's wedding could take place in a Presbyterian church in Scotland was adding to the "sin of apostasy to violation of Christ's marriage law."
"But no official announcement has been made, and there is still room for hope that no such illicit union is contemplated.  Or, if contemplated it may be courageously abandoned.

":It is the hard lot of royalty that the highest standards are imposed on them and the best example to others expected of them."  He said the couple could not marry as Townsend is still married to another woman.

"The fact that his previous marriage ended in divorce does not alter the position."