EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Princess Margaret’s older lover encouraged a romance when she was a teenager ‘which he shouldn’t have done’, her former Lady In Waiting says

Their tempestuous romance ended in heartbreak but now Princess Margaret’s relationship with Group Captain Peter Townsend, whom she regarded as the love of her life, has been put into slightly disquieting perspective by her Lady-in-Waiting for 30 years.

Lady Anne Glenconner’s verdict on Townsend is not flattering, even though he earned three medals as a fighter pilot before he was made equerry to George VI in 1944. Townsend, who died in 1995, recalled at the time of his appointment that Margaret was ‘as unremarkable as one would expect of a 14-year-old girl’.

But Lady Anne, 91, says Queen Elizabeth II’s sister remembered it differently.

‘I once asked her about it, actually. He was a war hero, very attractive. She was very, very young. She was only 15 [sic] when he first arrived and he was a married man. I think he encouraged her, which he shouldn’t have done.’

Asked on today’s Rosebud podcast if she thinks Townsend, 15 years Margaret’s senior, was taking advantage of his proximity to her, Lady Anne says she does. ‘That isn’t something that has been brought out very much, but I couldn’t agree more,’ she adds.

The relationship between Princess Margaret and Group Captain Peter Townsend has been put into slightly disquieting perspective by her former lady-in-waiting Lady Anne Glenconner

Lady Anne said she thinks Townsend, 15 years Margaret’s senior and equerry to King George VI, was taking advantage of his proximity to her 

Townsend earned three medals as a fighter pilot before he was made equerry to George VI in 1944

Townsend’s first marriage, to Rosie Pawle, by whom he had two sons, began to unravel. They divorced in 1952. He and Margaret then discovered his status as a divorcee eliminated any chance they might marry.

He wrote a memoir but Rosie, who died in 2004, refrained from doing so. ‘She was offered, as you could imagine, as much as £500,000, to come up with all the stories,’ her son by her second marriage, Piers de Laszlo, tells me. ‘She never did once, which was bloody good of her.’

Lord Ivar Mountbatten, the first Royal Family member to have a same-sex wedding, has combined work and pleasure.

The TV personality, 60, and his husband James Coyle, are giving talks on a cruise around Polynesia for two weeks run by a firm that ‘reimagines LGBT+ holidays’. Lord Ivar, a first cousin, once removed, of Prince Philip and a third cousin, once removed, of Queen Elizabeth, says: ‘Being trapped on board a boat with 250 gays may be your idea of hell, but, truth be known, it is blooming good fun — and they certainly know how to party. I feel another holiday may be needed to get over this one.’

Lord Ivar Mountbatten, seen here with husband James Coyle, was the first Royal Family member to have a same-sex wedding

Director Paul Feig warned that the actors’ strike ‘has to get solved’ because otherwise ‘Hollywood soon won’t exist’

Hollywood director Paul Feig, whose hit comedies include Bridesmaids and the 2016 Ghostbusters remake, says the actors’ strike is no laughing matter.

‘It has to get solved, and everybody needs to come to the table and figure it out or Hollywood soon won’t exist,’ he tells me at the House of Flamenka gala night at the Peacock Theatre in London’s West End. Actors in the U.S. remain on the picket lines because of disputes with film studios over pay and the use of AI. The 61-year-old director adds: ‘I worry about the crews because those are the people I rely on.

‘I rely on actors and writers, too — but I worry most about the crews, because what are they supposed to do in the meantime?’

Rishi Sunak is trying to stub out smoking, and it seems Dara Huang is unconvinced by the habit.

The mother of Princess Beatrice’s stepson Christopher has shared this photo of her puffing on a cigar at a Mayfair private members’ club.

The mother of Princess Beatrice’s stepson Christopher shared this photo of her puffing on a cigar at a Mayfair private members’ club

Wearing a gold metallic dress and white blazer, she says: ‘My first and last cigar.’ The architect, 40, was engaged to Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi when the property developer met Beatrice, the daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York.

Their seven-year-old son, known as Wolfie, was best man at Beatrice and Edo’s wedding in 2020.

I previously disclosed that American Dara is so close to her ex-fiance that she relocated her London office in 2020 from Clerkenwell to the Kensington building where his property development firm is based.

Here’s a charming prince who may have found his Cinderella.

As staff cleared up after Prince Christian of Denmark’s lavish 18th birthday celebrations last weekend, they found a gold stilleto apparently abandoned by a party-goer.

Rather than go from house to house seeking its owner, the Prince instead asked the Palace to post a photograph of the shoe on social media.

As staff cleared up after Prince Christian of Denmark’s lavish 18th birthday celebrations last weekend, they found a gold stilleto apparently abandoned by a party-goer

Anne-Sofie Tornso Olesen was invited to the party at Copenhagen’s Christiansborg Palace to represent the area where she lives outside the Danish capital

Anne-Sofie Tornso Olesen, 18, tells me: ‘Yes, the shoe is mine’

Now, a beautiful young woman has come forward to claim the shoe as her own.

Anne-Sofie Tornso Olesen, 18, tells me: ‘Yes, the shoe is mine.’

She was invited to the party at Copenhagen’s Christiansborg Palace to represent the area where she lives outside the Danish capital. ‘I won the invitation in a tombola,’ she tells me.

It remains to be seen whether Christian returns the shoe in person to Anne-Sofie, who does have something in common with our own Queen – her father is a wine merchant just like Camilla’s was.

He’s the immaculately turned out former Celebrity MasterChef finalist who was recently likened to a ‘computer-generated Tudor nobleman’ by artist Sir Grayson Perry.

So it’s no surprise to hear that BBC Radio 2 presenter Rylan Clark likes to keep things spotless, even in the bedroom. The 34-year-old broadcaster reveals that he has a phobia of crumbs, describing them as his biggest ‘ick’.

At the Pink News Awards in Lancaster Gate, central London, he tells me: ‘If someone gets food on my naked legs, that makes me sick.’ He adds: ‘Don’t eat in bed.’

Wouldn’t dream of it.

Think British waterways are polluted? Comedian Al Murray agreed to take a dip in the sacred River Ganges in India while filming his latest Sky documentary, Why Does Everyone Hate The British Empire?, and found himself sharing the water with an animal carcass.

‘That was horrible,’ wails 55-year-old Murray, who is best known for his Pub Landlord comedic character. ‘There was a dead dog with a crow picking bits off it.’

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