Kate and William’s modest home has a scandalous past (Image: (Image: Getty))
For the last two years, Kate and William have called a relatively modest property home that is relatively modest – at least by the Royal Family’s standards. Whilst it now provides the Prince and Princess of Wales – and their three children, George, Charlotte, and Louis, with a domestic idyll far from the prying eyes they were used to at their London home in Kensington Palace, the property has a seriously scandalous past.
Adelaide Cottage – a four-bedroom, grade II listed home in Windsor Home Park – dates all the way back to 1831, when it was first constructed for Queen Adelaide, hence the name. Queen Victoria was also a big fan of the property and used to regularly take tea and breakfast there, but one resident of the home was part of one of the monarchy’s biggest scandals during the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth.
Peter and Margaret’s relationship was scandalous ( Image: Popperfoto via Getty Images)
Townsend was 16 years senior to the young Princess and had lived at Adelaide Cottage with his first wife Rosemary and their two sons – Giles and Hugo – in the 1940s. Peter and Rosemary divorced in 1952, and the following year his romance with Princess Margaret was discovered. Their relationship came to light after Queen Elizabeth’s coronation when Margaret was spotted removing a piece of lint from Townsend’s jacket – a gesture seen as being an incredibly intimate one, that someone would only do with someone they shared a close relationship with.
An engagement was announced, but sadly due to Townsend’s status as divorcee, it wasn’t a simple happy ever after for the pair. According to the teachings of the Church of England – of which the monarch is Supreme Governor – people couldn’t remarry in church if their former spouse was living – as Rosemary was.
Two years after their engagement, whilst Townsend had been serving as air attaché in Brussels, Margaret announced that the pair’s relationship would go no further. “I would like it to be known that I have decided not to marry Group Captain Peter Townsend,” Princess Margaret said at the time, as she broke the news that their romance hadn’t gone the distance.
“I have been aware that, subject to my renouncing my rights of succession, it might have been possible for me to contract a civil marriage. But mindful of the Church’s teachings that Christian marriage is indissoluble, and conscious of my duty to the Commonwealth, I have resolved to put these considerations before others. I have reached this decision entirely alone, and in doing so I have been strengthened by the unfailing support and devotion of Group Captain Townsend.”
