Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret, by Craig Brown

I read Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret (2018) in hopes of being entertained by the scandalous nature of a notorious woman’s life. The writer, Craig Brown, knows just the right details to present.  He seems to have read every newspaper account, every lurid letter, every intimate journal entry, by just about anyone with anything to do with the British monarchy and aristocracy. Margaret was doomed by the order of her birth—she was born after her sister Elizabeth, who stood first in line to the throne.  Margaret was therefore a sort of prisoner.  Regarded in her youth as a beautiful woman and therefore an object of fascination and desire, she was a fleeting cultural icon. When intense pressures from her government, the press, and her family denied her wish to marry a divorced man, whom she apparently loved, she seems to have given up.  Shortly thereafter she married a photographer who for lack of a better word was a lowlife sluggard who constantly slept around.  She did the same. Eventually they divorced. She was attracted to writers and artists but had little to say to them.  She was a skilled foul mouth who was widely known and (by some) reviled for her insults.

The book does little to create much sympathy for the woman.  Trapped by her position, she lacked the fortitude to break out.  Instead she lived on her considerable annual allowance, performed an endless series of menial royal duties, chain smoked, drank, and died. Just like its subject, this book was a disappointment. But it does make you wonder exactly why the British monarchy survives.