June 2 - The Queen's Sister

Today’s movie is a biographical drama with a scene on June 2. I hope you will enjoy this film and watch it tonight.

THE QUEEN’S SISTER                                

George VI dies. Queen Elizabeth II is crowned on June 2, 1953. [2:35 to 3:18]. The royal family lean on Margaret to end her relationship with Peter Townsend or be cut off without a cent. When Margaret can’t persuade the Archbishop of Canterbury side with her, Margaret ends the relationship. She becomes a party girl. She meets Anthony Armstrong-Jones and they begin an affair. When this becomes public they get married in an elaborate ceremony that engenders support from monarchists and criticism for its expense. Cracks soon appear in the marriage. Sometimes Margaret wants to be treated like a royal and other times to be treated like an ordinary person. The couple argue about everything, even the names of their children. The both have affairs while Tony fights back against the upper crust lifestyle Margaret wants to subject their children to. When an affair of Margaret’s becomes very public, she and Tony jet off to a tropic island to present a united front, but this causes criticism of their extravagant lifestyle.  Margaret heads to a friend’s country house to lay low.  She begins an affair with a younger man, Roddy Llewellyn but when this also becomes public Tony divorces her. She is hospitalized to cure her drinking and drug abuse. When she is released she learns Roddy Llewellyn is marrying someone else and is left to ponder her future.

A sad story about a girl who had everything but self-control. Margaret seems to have been on of those people who  always gave in to their sensual pleasures. Of course that brought her nothing but destruction. 

Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch by Sally Bedell Smith (Random House, New York, 2012) at page 79 gives the date of the coronation

Producer - Kath Mattock 

Director - Simon Cellan Jones

Screenplay - Craig Warner

Released - November 27, 2005

Runtime – 1 hour 36 minutes

Starring –

Lucy Cohu as Princess Margaret

Toby Stephens as Tony Armstrong-Jones

David Threlfall as Prince Philip

Aden Gillett as Peter Townsend

Dominic Mafham as Robin Douglas Home

Simon Woods as Roddy Llewellyn

Alex Barclay as Billy Wallace

Edward Tudor-Pole as Cecil Beaton

Copyright by Ivan Walters 2014.