When the King died in 1952, their affair continued – and Townsend proposed a year later – but was outed when, as per Vanity Fair: “At Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, on June 2, 1953, the Princess lovingly picked a piece of fluff from the lapel of her lover’s tunic in plain view of all the television cameras in Westminster Abbey.” That’s when I really fell in love with him.” Three years later, he was her chaperone on a three-month tour in Southern Africa, and according to Vanity Fair, this is when she told friends the romance was cemented: “We rode together every morning in that wonderful country, in marvellous weather. They met in 1944, when Margaret was 14 and he was a married 29-year-old. In reality, Group Captain Peter Wooldridge Townsend was a Royal Air Force officer, and was a courtier to Princess Margaret's father, King George VI, until the King's death in 1952. We find out that their romance was thwarted by Queen Elizabeth (Imelda Staunton) who forbade Margaret from a relationship with the older man, and in the longest of all grudges, Margaret is still pissed off about it. The man, who we’re later introduced to, is Peter Townsend, Princess Margaret’s first love who was first played Ben Miles in season one of the show. In Time and Chance, Peter Townsend tells his side of the story in intensely personal terms and places the episode within the whole context of his full and varied life, a story which includes great heroism in World War II as well as his part in one of the most publicized love stories of the twentieth century.Central Press // Getty Images Who is the mystery man? The romance between Princess Margaret and Group Captain Peter Townsend in the 1950s rocked the British Establishment, pulled at the heartstrings of a nation and brought sorrow to two intensely human individuals. Then she simply said: 'That is exactly how I feel, too.' It was, to us both, an immensely gladdening disclosure, but one which sorely troubled us.' She listened, without uttering a word, as I told her, very quietly, of my feelings.

It was then that we made the mutual discovery of how much we meant to one another. 'One afternoon, at Windsor Castle, when everyone had gone to London for some ceremony, we talked, in the red drawing-room, for hours-about ourselves. THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF PETER TOWNSEND, THE MAN CONSIDERED TO BE THE GREAT LOVE OF PRINCESS MARGARET'S LIFE, EQUERRY TO KING GEORGE VI AND HERO OF THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN.

Time and chance by peter townsend