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Margaret Grade, whose California Inn was loved by the stars, dies at 72

Sabir Ansary — Sun, 17 Mar 2024 19:52:51 +0000

Margaret Grade, a California neuropsychologist who made a sharp career change by opening a cozy, eclectic inn near the Point Reyes National Seashore, which was known for catering to farmers and fishermen with the same attention it gave to the movie stars and writers who lived there sought refuge, died February 28 in San Francisco. She was 72.

Ms. Grade was injured in a car accident in Marin County on January 11. She spent several weeks in a hospital before dying there from complications related to her injuries, said her brother Matthew Grade, a doctor.

The introverted Mrs. Grade recognized that she was a most unlikely innkeeper.

“If they put me up front, it would be bad for business,” she said in a 2003 interview with The San Francisco Chronicle. She also admitted that when she opened her inn, Manka’s Inverness Lodge, she didn’t have the first idea about running an establishment. “I didn’t know the term ‘working capital,’ and as a result, I didn’t have any,” she said.

Yet Manka’s, a century-old former hunting lodge hidden in the woods two hours northwest of San Francisco in Inverness, California, was a trailblazer in hyper-local dining, a haven for chefs and celebrities, and a darling of the national media.

Mrs. Grade (pronounced GRAH-dee) was more than an innkeeper. She had a preternatural ability to anticipate guests’ wishes and sometimes had unusual ways of fulfilling them.

“She’s not someone I would call warm, but you always felt the touch of her hand in every room,” actor Frances McDormand, who spent holidays there with her family for years, says by phone. “She had an old-fashioned understanding of what true luxury is. Part of her real gift was creating a fantasy that you had just fallen into. It was witchcraft.”

Margaret Major Grade, the fourth of eleven children, was born on December 9, 1951 in Elm Grove, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee. Her mother, Shirley Agnes (Bothwick) Grade, worked for a while as a journalist and became famous in international knitting circles. Her father, John Oscar Grade, was a popular general practitioner who hunted, fished and planted wonderful gardens.

Mrs. Grade, called Peg by her family, inherited his love of fast cars and food.

“He taught me by example that eating well, and the prelude to it, is part of life lived to the full,” she said in 2003.

Like many of her siblings, Ms. Grade chose to study medicine, first attending nursing school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and then attending the California School of Professional Psychology at Berkeley (now part of Alliant International University), where she graduated with a doctorate in psychology. Her dissertation, published in 1984, was about boredom.

She built a practice with lupus patients and conducted clinical brain research at the University of California, San Francisco. In the mid-1980s, she joined the San Francisco AIDS Advisory Board and began conducting global AIDS-related research.

Mrs. Grade was looking for a second home in 1989 when she discovered the inn, which was named after its longtime owner, Manka Prokupek. She teamed up with her brother Thomas to buy it, and their younger brother Benjamin, a chef, took over the kitchen.

Mrs. Grade’s sister Johanna Perkins helped her transform the inn’s four rooms and ground-floor restaurant into a quirky arts and crafts gem with an aesthetic that favored enormous floral arrangements, frayed tree branches and a cheerful use of taxidermy: deer hooves serving as clothes hooks, a squirrel that greeted guests at the reception hangs a framed tarantula in a bathroom.

After her brother Ben returned to the Midwest in 1996, Ms. Grade visited cookbook author Marion Cunningham, who served for years as consigliere to a generation of Northern California chefs and food writers to ask whether she should dedicate her life to cooking. Ms Cunningham said she had to read the work of food writers Richard Olney, Jane Grigson and MFK Fisher before making her decision.

Mrs. Grade never looked back, but running both the kitchen and the inn was a huge challenge. In 1998, she hired Northern Californian chef Daniel DeLong. Together they raised the kitchen, and they soon became romantically involved. The two never married, but became parents of twins in 2008.

With only food that Mrs. Grade described as “within reach,” the couple built dishes from chanterelles that local children gathered in the forest, seafood from the surrounding waters hours before it was served, and notable local produce such as bread from the star baker. Chad Robertson and cheese from Cowgirl Creamery.

Descriptions on her daily menus were poetic. “Local king salmon on a throne of Bolinas beans, defended by a close cousin,” said one. “Another sole rescued from the surrounding seas,” said another.

Mrs. McDormand recalled a dish called something like “a little raft of local sea urchin floating in a bay with creamy corn chowder,” which her son devoured when he was ten, endearing him to the infamously prickly Mrs. Grade.

Ms. Grade spoke in a voice that seemed only slightly louder than a whisper, and she talked privately about her personal life, which appealed to celebrities; they knew she would respect their privacy as well. Robert Redford shared the dining room with a local child who was celebrating a birthday. Sean Penn made chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen. The chef Thomas Keller came for his birthday dinner.

But the real stars were the people who brought the raw produce to the back door.

“If a duck farmer showed up and sold us sausage, it was like having King Charles in our establishment,” Luc Kamerlandwho cooked at Manka for seven years, told the newspaper The Point Reyes Light.

Mrs. Grade did indeed have Charles in her establishment. In 2005, while still a prince, he and his wife Camilla traveled to the United States in part to fuel his interest in organic farming. He visited restaurateur Alice Waters at her Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley and then went to Manka’s.

“She made the most beautiful lunch in his honor,” Ms. Waters, who attended the meal and whose Berkeley restaurant, Chez Panisse, was a model for Ms. Grade, said in an interview. “When I looked at the menu I thought, ‘Oh my God, is he going to like this?'”

He did, including a dish that Mrs. Grade called “duck fit for a prince.”

In addition to her brother Matthew, Mrs. Grade is survived by her children, Coco and Django Grade-DeLong, and six other siblings, Johanna Perkins, Mary Katherine Grade Reynolds and Benjamin, Andrew, Charles and Jean Therese Grade. She lived in Inverness.

Early on December 27, 2006, the inn, made of redwood, burned down after an oak tree fell and severed a propane line during a storm. Chef Elizabeth Falkner and actors Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal were sleeping upstairs. Mr Gyllenhaal joined the rush to save what he could from the burning building.

Zoning laws kept Mrs. Grade from rebuilding. She and Mr. DeLong continued to operate cabins in the area and purchased other properties, including Olema, a historic inn with a restaurant they called Sir and Star, which opened for great reviews in 2013. But the couple never recaptured Manka’s magic, and Olema has since closed.

“Her basic modus operandi was to be willing to let laws and rigid structures disappear,” said her brother Matthew.

That was reflected once when Mrs. Grade tried to add high ceilings to a room she was remodeling. The county zoning administrator insisted they could only be 8 feet tall, Jim Emmott, who worked on her construction projects, told The Light. She pushed back.

“I don’t know if you realize it, but I’m in the fantasy world,” he remembered her telling the manager. “I wonder how you would plan for me to fit a fantasy under an eight-foot ceiling. Does Disney World have an 8-foot ceiling?”

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Born on this day – the dashing but VERY complex society photographer who married Princess Margaret but caused scandal for much of his life

Sabir Ansary — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 15:06:41 +0000

He is known as the dashing society photographer who became the husband of Princess Margaret.

Lord Snowdon was born on this day in March 1930 and rose to the very highest levels of the establishment.

Yet Antony Armstrong-Jones was an intriguing figure in his own right, one of the most glamorous men in post-war London even before he married the Princess in 1960.

Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones was born on 7 March 1930 at his family home in Eaton Terrace, Belgravia

He was the only son of the Welsh lawyer Ronald Armstrong-Jones and Anne Messel. Anne and Antony are pictured in 1933

At the age of 16, he contracted polio while on holiday in Wales and spent the next six months recovering at Liverpool Royal Infirmary.

He also had a penchant for scandal, carrying on numerous affairs and fathering an illegitimate child before the marriage to Princess Margaret collapsed amid much acrimony.

Armstrong-Jones was born in 1930 in the large family home in Eaton Terrace in London’s Belgravia, the son of Welsh lawyer Ronald Armstrong-Jones and his wife Anne Messel.

But just before his fifth birthday, his parents divorced and both Tony, as he was known to those close to him, and his sister Susan went to live with their mother.

Anne married Lawrence Parsons, 6th Earl of Rosse later that year. The following year his father also remarried, before marrying for a third time and having a child, Antony’s half-brother Peregrine Armstrong-Jones.

Armstrong-Jones’s obituary in The Guardian described his childhood as “loveless and emotionally starved”, and that he was “treated as clearly inferior” to his mother’s two sons with Lord Rosse.

At the age of 16, he contracted polio while on holiday in Wales and spent the next six months recovering at Liverpool Royal Infirmary. The only visitor to his family during this period was his sister Susan.

He survived the disease, but the disease took its toll on one of his legs, leaving him with a limp for the rest of his life.

His childhood illness meant that the future Lord Snowdon would, as an adult, be a tireless campaigner for people with disabilities.

As a boy, after attending Sandroyd preparatory school in Wiltshire, he went to Eton and then Cambridge, but dropped out after failing his second-year exams and decided to devote himself to photography.

His career began after society photographer Stirling Henry Nahum – known professionally as Baron – visited Armstrong-Jones at his London flat, which also served as his working studio.

Baron agreed to take him on as an apprentice, and by 1956 he had produced enough notable work to mount a one-man exhibition.

This would mark Armstrong-Jones’s entry into royal circles, giving him the commissions to the royal family, and with it his meeting Princess Margaret, at a dinner party in 1958.

He was commissioned to take portraits of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and their children at Buckingham Palace, and took official portraits of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh during their tour of Canada in 1957.

Antony attended Cambridge University but dropped out after failing his second year exams and pursued a career in photography

His career first took off after photographer Baron visited his London flat, which also served as his working studio, after knowing his stepmother.

His other subjects included Dame Maggie Smith, David Bowie, Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Grace of Monaco and Diana, Princess of Wales.

Margaret and Tony married in 1960 and he would become the first Earl of Snowdon.

But behind the public persona – and the glamor of his role and the circles he moved in – lay a man with an intriguing and complicated private life.

Just three weeks after the wedding, a child he fathered with a married lover, Camilla Fry, was born.

His illegitimate daughter, Polly Fry, was raised to believe that Camilla’s husband Jeremy was her father, and the truth was kept secret for 45 years until Polly decided to take a DNA test in 2004.

The result confirmed that Armstrong-Jones was her biological father. Yet the scandal surrounding him and De Frys did not end there.

And there was a lot of gossip about him regarding possible relationships with men.

Writer Anne de Courcy quoted a close friend of his who said of his differing sexual preferences: “If it moves, he’ll have it.”

When asked about his sexuality, Armstrong-Jones, who died in 2017, replied: “I didn’t fall in love with boys – but a few men are in love with me.”

Society interior designer Nicky Haslam, now 83, claimed to have had an affair with him. In his memoir, Redeeming Features, he said he had “a very brief romance” with Armstrong-Jones a year before his marriage to Princess Margaret.

When he appeared in the ITV documentary series The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor in 2023, he said: ‘Tony was a great seducer, he could seduce that table leg. He was great fun, Tony, a devil incarnate, but a charmer in everything.’

His entry in the Dictionary of National Biography identifies him as bisexual, a label he has never openly denied.

Unfortunately, the marriage to Margaret would not last. The couple divorced in 1978, with accusations of infidelity on both sides.

Margaret never married again, but Armstrong-Jones did marry Lucy Lindsay-Hogg later that year.

When De Courcy asked him about his sexuality, Tony famously responded, “I haven’t fallen in love with boys – but a few men have fallen in love with me.”

In 1956 he organized a one-man exhibition of his work and the following year he was commissioned to make portraits of Queen Elizabeth II. He is pictured in an exhibition of his photographs in New York in 1975

Rumors about his extramarital affairs and his sexuality circulated throughout his life. He is pictured in Sloane Street, 1959, after photographing a fire

In her biography, Anne de Courcy quoted a close friend of Armstrong-Jones who claimed: ‘If it moves, he’ll have it’

In the 1960s, shortly after his marriage to Margaret, Snowdon became artistic advisor to The Sunday Times Magazine

Furthermore, his entry in the Dictionary of National Biography identifies him as bisexual, a label he never openly denied during his lifetime.

In the 1960s, shortly after his marriage to Margaret, Snowdon became artistic advisor to The Sunday Times Magazine and established himself as one of Britain’s most respected photographers of his time.

His subjects included Dame Maggie Smith, Lynn Fontanne, David Bowie, Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Grace of Monaco and Diana, Princess of Wales.

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Penelope Cruz wears an ’80s-inspired leather mini suit as she joins muses Margaret Qualley, Zoey Deutch and Vanessa Paradis at the Chanel Paris Fashion Week show

Sabir Ansary — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 10:32:03 +0000

The stars were out in full force on Tuesday at the city’s hottest ticket, the Chanel Paris Fashion Week show at the Grand Palais.

And all eyes were on Penelope Cruz, 49, who took in the ’80s in a leather miniskirt suit that she wore with a beaded belt and a collared top.

She had a short, sharp bob, wore killer heels with an ankle strap and dark sunglasses as she waved to the crowd.

Of course, she had Chanel’s essential classic quilted bag in her hand.

She was in good company that day as Margaret Qualley, 29, was also in attendance, wearing a bouclé mustard long coat over a matching mini.

In a nod to times gone by, she wore Mary-Jane heels and knee-high black socks, completing her look with a side ponytail.

Penelope Cruz wore an ’80s-inspired leather mini suit while attending the Chanel Paris Fashion Week show at the Grand Palais with muses Margaret Qualley, Zoey Deutch and Vanessa Paradis

She was in good company that day as Margaret (left) was also present, wearing a bouclé mustard long coat over a matching mini and Zoey (right)

Vanessa Paradis, the muse of the late great fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld looked fantastic in a 70s style blouse and jeans

Gigi Hadid stormed the catwalk in a very elegant black ensemble with chunky gold jewelry

Models walked across a semi-circular catwalk in front of a projection screen

Geometric lilac prints and layering were also key themes worn by the models

Zoey Deutch, 29, looked incredible with her short blonde pixie cut and a belted tweed coat worn as a dress.

The leggy lady wore sophisticated pumps and added some color to her look with a pink camellia brooch.

And Vanessa Paradis, 51, the muse of the late great fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld looked fantastic in a 70s style blouse and jeans.

Lagerfeld worked at Chanel until his death on February 19, 2019. That same day, the house appointed his longtime right-hand man, Virginie Viard, as its new artistic director.

Gigi Hadid, 28, stormed the somber-looking semi-circular runway in a very elegant black ensemble with chunky gold jewelry.

Chanel stuck to its signature classic styles, with lilac, black and white being the main color themes.

Elvis’ granddaughter Riley Keough, 34, wore a tweed jacket at the back over a printed dress.

She wore a chain belt to accentuate her waist and added some color to her ensemble with a red toiletry bag and a touch of ruby red lipstick.

Penelope took off her dark sunglasses as soon as she entered the room

She waved to the spectators as she prepared to enter

Zoey Deutch looked incredible with her short blonde pixie cut and a belted tweed coat worn as a dress

Vanessa draped a black coat over her shoulders for her grand entrance

And the lining of her coat was red, which brought the color together nicely.

Riley signed on as the new face of Chanel in October, when Chanel confirmed that the actress will be part of its upcoming Spring 2024 campaign.

She was also in the City of Love in July when she attended Chanel’s haute couture show, while she also attended the brand’s 2023 cruise show in Los Angeles two months earlier.

She also has deeper ties to the fashion house, as she is close friends with longtime Chanel ambassador Kristen Stewart after they appeared together in “The Runaways.”

Kristen recently praised Riley, who appeared in “The Terminal List,” “Mad Max: Fury Road” and “American Honey,” among others.

In the September issue of Vanity Fair magazine, she said, “She’s the best at everything she’s done. Because she doesn’t act. She’s a solid sender.

“She’s always honest, and that’s a vulnerable place to put yourself.

“And I don’t mean that to disparage any project, but there are some actors who just can’t do anything uninteresting.”

Meanwhile, Riley previously described her own fashion sense as “malleable” and “inconsistent.”

Elvis’ granddaughter Riley Keough wore a jacket over a printed dress – signing on as the new face of Chanel in October

Lilac was one of the main colors on the oversized floppy hats on the catwalk

Fashion lovers everywhere will no doubt be trying to get their hands on next season’s headwear

Lagerfeld worked at Chanel until his death on February 19, 2019. That same day, the house appointed his longtime right-hand man, Virginie Viard, (photo) as its new artistic director.

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Margaret Qualley and Beanie Feldstein stun in chic floor-length dresses at the New York premiere of Drive-Away Dolls

Sabir Ansary — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 02:38:43 +0000

Margaret Qualley and Beanie Feldstein were dressed to the nines Tuesday night as they led stars at the New York City premiere of their new film Drive-Away Dolls.

The duo hit the red carpet with their co-star Geraldine Viswanathan in glamorous looks at the AMC Lincoln Square Theater ahead of a screening of the comedy film.

Qualley, 29 – who is married to Taylor Swift's longtime collaborator – looked chic as he posed in a sleeveless black lace dress with sparkling crystal accents.

The sheer dress was worn oa nude bra and black high-waisted shapewear shorts.

She styled her brunette hair into an updo with a large black bow to match the bow on her bedazzled ballet flats.

Margaret Qualley and Beanie Feldstein were dressed to the nines Tuesday night as they led stars at the New York City premiere of their new film Drive-Away Dolls

The duo hit the red carpet with their co-star Geraldine Viswanathan in glamorous looks at the AMC Lincoln Square Theater ahead of a screening of the comedy film.

As for makeup, Qualley let her enviable brows steal the attention by wearing just a few coats of mascara, soft peach blush and clear lip gloss.

Although he skipped the red carpet, Qualley's husband Jack Antonoff was on time for the screening.

The music producer was photographed arriving at the AMC Lincoln Square Theater with his entourage.

She and Antonoff married last August in New Jersey in an intimate ceremony attended by his longtime friend Taylor Swift.

Qualley seemed elated as she was reunited with Feldstein and Viswanathan, who both greeted her with a hug on the red carpet.

Feldstein, 30, wowed onlookers in a strapless silver metallic dress with a black floral pattern.

The Broadway alum gave her outfit an edgy vibe by wearing a black mesh top and shiny black platform heels.

She dressed up with a glittering diamond choker necklace and pulled her hair back into a bun.

Qualley – who is married to Taylor Swift's longtime collaborator – looked chic as he posed in a sleeveless black lace dress with sparkling crystal accents

The sheer gown was worn over a nude bra and black high-waisted shapewear

Beanie Feldstein wowed onlookers in a strapless silver metallic dress with a black floral pattern

The Broadway alum gave her outfit an edgy vibe by wearing a black mesh top and shiny black platform heels

Feldstein was accompanied at the premiere by her wife Bonnie-Chance Roberts

The couple packed on the PDA as they shared a kiss for the cameras

The couple married in May 2023

Qualley seemed excited to be reunited with Feldstein and Viswanathan

Geraldine Viswanathan showed off her busty appearance in a flirty fuchsia-colored dress with a low, ruffled neckline

The floor-length dress hugged the waist and emphasized her hourglass shape

The Blockers star kept her makeup light and natural for the star-studded event

Qualley and Viswanathan put on an animated display

The ladies cheered on the film's cast and crew as they arrived

Drive-Away Dolls is the latest project from director/producer Ethan Coen, known for Fargo (1996) and No Country for Old Men (2007).

Coen wrote the script together with his wife and acclaimed film producer Tricia Cooke

Feldstein was accompanied at the premiere by her wife Bonnie-Chance Roberts.

The couple – who got married in May 2023 – packed on the PDA as they shared a kiss for the cameras.

Viswanathan, 28, puts on a busty show in a flirty fuchsia dress with a low, ruffled neckline.

The floor-length dress hugged the waist and emphasized her hourglass shape.

The Blockers star kept her makeup light and natural for the star-studded event.

Drivee-Away Dolls follows two young women, Jamie (Qualley) and Marian (Viswanathan), as they embark on an unexpected road trip to Tallahassee in hopes of a fresh start.

But the journey takes a turn when the ladies encounter a group of inept criminals IMDb.

It is the latest project from director/producer Ethan Coen, known for Fargo (1996) and No Country for Old Men (2007).

He co-wrote the script with his wife and acclaimed film producer Tricia Cooke.

The comedy-thriller also stars Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal and Colman Domingo.

Drive-Away Dolls will be in theaters from Friday, February 23.

Steve Buscemi – who often worked with Coen – attended the celebration in New York with his girlfriend Karen Ho.

CJ Wilson — who plays “Flint” — was dressed in gray for the occasion

Steve Buscemi attended the celebration in New York with his girlfriend Karen Ho

The host of the Amber Ruffin Show, Amber Ruffin, cut a stylish figure in a beige suit with a black and white pinstripe vest

Annie Gonzalez – who plays 'Carla' – wowed in a sleeveless beige sweater dress that she teamed with a gold chrome clutch bag

Joey Slotnick – who plays Arliss – wore a classic black suit for the big night of the film in New York

Although he skipped the red carpet, Qualley's husband Jack Antonoff was on time for the screening

The music producer was photographed arriving at the AMC Lincoln Square Theater

Viswanathan was first photographed leaving her car outside the theater

Drive-Away Dolls follows two young women, Jamie (Qualley) and Marian (Viswanathan), as they embark on an unexpected road trip to Tallahassee in hopes of a fresh start.

But the journey takes a turn when the ladies encounter a group of inept criminals, according to IMDb

Manchester By The Sea star CJ Wilson — who plays 'Flint' — dressed for the occasion in charcoal gray.

The host of the Amber Ruffin Show, Amber Ruffin, cut a stylish figure in a beige suit with a black and white pinstripe vest.

Annie Gonzalez – who plays 'Carla' – wowed in a sleeveless beige sweater dress that she paired with a gold chrome clutch bag.

Joey Slotnick – who plays Arliss – wore a classic black suit for the big night of the film in New York.

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Party-loving Princess Margaret was everything the Queen was not: artistic, rebellious, scandalous… Yet the sisters were close. And Margaret's death on this day in 2002 hit Elizabeth hard…

Sabir Ansary — Fri, 09 Feb 2024 07:54:51 +0000

When it was confirmed to Princess Margaret that her older sister would one day become queen, her reaction was one of compassion, bordering on contempt.

'Poor you!' she famously replied to ten-year-old Elizabeth.

For much of her life, Margaret did her best to live in striking and sometimes alarming contrast to the example of the dutiful firstborn.

As Craig Brown puts it in his biography Ma'am Darling, 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret, it was as if the cigarette-smoking, scandal-stricken younger sister was determined to be some kind of anti-queen.

Princess Margaret continued to attend royal engagements to the best of her ability in her final years, despite her poor health

Princess Margaret's two children, Lady Sarah Chatto and Lord David Linley, pictured with their respective partners as they watch their mother's coffin leave the funeral service for cremation on February 15, 2002

She died at King Edward VII Hospital on February 9, 2002, after suffering a stroke that led to heart problems during the night.

Still, the sisters were close and spoke to each other every day if possible, until Margaret passed away on February 9, 2002 at the age of 71.

While Elizabeth busied herself with endless tasks, including evening red boxes of papers, Margaret – four years younger – had become one of the most glamorous figures in post-war Britain.

She was a patron of the arts, especially ballet, and was also known for her late nights, singing, dancing and a romantic life that included much heartache.

Her love for – and secret involvement with – the war hero Group Captain Peter Townsend was thwarted by convention. Townsend, considerably older, was also married.

The princess's marriage to photographer Tony Armstrong-Jones, another totem of '60s glamour, ended in acrimony and the first royal divorce since Henry VIII.

Although she didn't quite match their mother's impressive 101 years, Elizabeth lived a long and healthy life well into her 90s, passing away in September 2022 at the age of 96.

But Margaret's health deteriorated as time passed, with the removal of part of her left lung in 1985, a stroke in 1988 and the burning of her feet in a bathroom accident that left her in a wheelchair.

Margaret's last public appearance was at the 100th birthday of HRH Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester in December 2001.

The princess died on February 9 after a stroke that led to heart problems overnight.

Her children, David and Sarah – a favorite of their Aunt Elizabeth – stood by her bedside.

The Queen issued a public statement, saying: 'It is with great sadness that the Queen has requested that the following announcement be made immediately.

“Her beloved sister, Princess Margaret, passed away peacefully in her sleep at King Edward VII Hospital at 6.30am this morning.

'Princess Margaret suffered another stroke yesterday afternoon.

'She developed heart problems during the night and was taken from Kensington Palace to King Edward VII Hospital at 1.30am. Lord Linley and Lady Sarah were with her, and the Queen was kept fully informed all night.

“Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and other members of the Royal Family are being informed.”

Charles, Prince of Wales, paid tribute to his 'dear aunt' in a moving television broadcast the day after the announcement.

Lady Sarah Chatto, Lord Linley and Queen Elizabeth attend Princess Margret's funeral at St George's Chapel

Margaret's coffin leaving King Edward Vll's Hospital to a waiting hearse on February 9, 2002

In the photo, choir boys walk out of the Queen's Chapel after the death of the Princess

He said at the time: 'My dear aunt has had such a terrible time over the past few years with her terrible illness.

'It was difficult for her to deal with it, especially because she was such a wonderfully vibrant woman with such a free spirit. She lived life and loved it to the fullest and that is why we will always remember her.”

Private memorial services were held at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham and Glamis Castle, the ancestral home of the Queen Mother, who would die with her youngest daughter the following month.

Margaret's coffin, shrouded in Margaret's personal standard, was taken from Kensington Palace to St James's Palace before her funeral.

A service was held at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for family and friends on 15 February 2002, which happened to be the 50th anniversary of the funeral of her father, King George VI.

The service was kept very private and attended only by around 450 family and friends, including 30 members of the Royal Family such as the Queen, Margaret's ex-husband Lord Snowdon and her two children.

Most of her family chose to be buried, but Princess Margaret was cremated at Slough Crematorium.

Margaret's coffin was taken from Kensington Palace to St James's Palace before her funeral

Margaret did not want to be buried because she hoped to be reunited with her 'daddy' after her death

This is said to have been motivated by her desire to be reunited with her 'daddy'.

A traditional burial would have meant burial in the Royal Cemetery at Frogmore in Windsor (where Queen Victoria and Prince Albert lie) as there was no space available in St George's Crypt.

Today, her ashes lie in the royal vault of St. George's Chapel, next to the graves of her mother and father.

A state memorial service was held in Westminster Abbey in April 2002.

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On this day – how sensational photos of Princess Margaret in a swimsuit prompted the Queen to call her a 'GUTTERSNIPE'. And an enduring romance that changed royal weddings forever…

Sabir Ansary — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 07:10:46 +0000

When the photos finally surfaced, the entire country was shocked, if not the friends who were privy to the secret.

The apparently happily married Princess Margaret, in a skin-tight swimsuit and corset, lies close to a penniless boy toy 18 years her junior.

He is carrying a pair of Union Jack parakeet smugglers that she bought for him within minutes of their first meeting.

This is February 1976. And she, in the 15th year of her marriage, is hopelessly in love.

Roddy Llewellyn was spotted in his Union Jack suitcases in Mustique in 1976

Princess Margaret, still married, was spotted swimming in the sea with a toy boy friend

Llewellyn was almost twenty years younger than the princess

Queen Elizabeth II, left, is said to have known all about the relationship – and made it known that she disapproved of her sister's 'gutter snipe life'. Margaret's daughter, Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, stands in the centre

Her sister, Queen Elizabeth II, knows all about it – and makes it known that she disapproves of Margaret's 'gutter snipe life'.

But their love affair survived a divorce, a nervous breakdown and a suicide attempt. It lasted seven long years and changed the face of royal weddings forever.

Roddy Llewellyn, a lowly pen pusher at the College of Heralds, was the man who made Princess Margaret happier than ever before.

The princess was once second in line to the throne.

With her signature hourglass figure and permanent cigarette holder, she was a sexy, headstrong, dangerous and imperious beauty.

Her 1960 marriage to bohemian photographer Tony Armstrong-Jones seemed to go the hip way after her clandestine relationship with war hero Group Captain Peter Townsend collapsed in scandal and accusations.

More than twelve years later, however, the wheels fell off.

Tony – who was given the title Lord Snowdon as a wedding present – was serially unfaithful from the start. Margaret tried out a few lovers in retaliation.

But it wasn't until she was invited by her lady-in-waiting, Lady Glenconner, to lunch at the family home in Scotland in August 1973, where she sat next to a floppy-haired 25-year-old, that the 43-year-old princess truly fell in love.

It took less than a minute. It was crazy.

“He was fascinated by this refined, voluptuous woman, so funny and so easy to talk to,” wrote the eminent biographer Anne de Courcy.

'As she made it clear [from the very first moment] how attracted she felt to him.”

Fascinatingly, the age difference in the romance mirrored Margaret's infamous affair with Peter Townsend – while he was 16 years older than her, she was 18 years older than Llewellyn.

Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret in a 1946 portrait

Princess Margaret, left, had already experienced the scandal of a relationship and secret engagement with group captain Peter Townsend, right

Lord Snowdon and Princess Margaret a few weeks before they married in May 1960

Roddy, Margaret's intimates said, was tender and kind in a way Snowdon could never be.

On the other hand, he didn't have the stamina of the older man in the bedroom.

Even as their marriage fell apart, Snowdon strode naked down the hallway dividing their bedrooms and stood imposingly before his wife.

“He threw open my bedroom door, stood there with no clothes on and then… what could I do?” Margaret later told a friend.

It was Snowdon's sexual dominance that caused Margaret to submit to him in other aspects of her life, Ms De Courcy claims.

It wasn't the same with Roddy. Young, kind and thoughtful – the exact opposite of Snowdon – he began to hesitate about Margaret's sexual demands after the initial honeymoon period was over.

“He had never had a long-term relationship with a woman,” Ms. de Courcy explained. “Now he was in a relationship with someone who was not only much richer and older, but also had a demanding, intense and possessive personality.”

According to Roddy's older brother Dai, the physical side of the relationship proved very difficult to maintain.

But there is no doubt that they loved each other. And three years into the relationship – still, surprisingly, a closely guarded secret – the couple flew to the hideaway island of Mustique as 'Mr and Mrs Brown'.

They enjoyed the exotic life on the small Caribbean island and could pretend they were really married – safe in the knowledge that prying eyes and long-lens cameras were unlikely to intrude on their privacy.

They were wrong.

Someone took a photo of them, silhouetted against the backdrop of the ocean, clearly a loving couple oblivious to the rest of the world.

The photo appeared in a British redtop newspaper a few days later.

All hell broke loose. To the British public, Margaret and her husband – plus their two small children David and Sarah – were a close-knit unit, living examples of the idea of a royal family.

Over the course of the day it caused as big a scandal as the Townsend affair – and the publication of the photo around the world caused Snowdon to demand a divorce.

He had played the game, he argued, by keeping his extramarital affairs secret. However, if Margaret didn't care who knew about her and Roddy, he would have left.

At the time, the Queen's former private secretary, Lord Charteris, made it known that the sovereign believed Margaret was living a 'gutter snipe life'.

This was an extraordinary – some historians would say unique – insight into the relationship between Lilibet and her sister.

Unable to cope with the pressure of publicity, Roddy ran away – first to the Channel Islands, then to Turkey and then to South America.

While traveling on the bus, he informed a fellow passenger that he had “had an affair with a married lady and it was all too much for him and sex had become a problem.”

Margaret, deprived of the company of both her husband and her lover, fell into a downward spiral and took an overdose of Mogadon sleeping tablets.

Her recovery was weak, cranky and long.

Eventually the lovers reunited. But Roddy, having escaped the claustrophobic atmosphere of the relationship, was looking for a new life – and found one as a successful landscaper, author and TV presenter.

Princess Margaret at London's Gatwick Airport on her return from the West Indies, where she was holidaying at her villa on the Grenadine island of Mustique

The princess left hospital the day after announcing that she and her husband, Lord Snowdon, were divorcing.

Princess Margaret with Prince Philip, Andrew and the Queen Mother in April 1976

He inherited the family baronetcy – he is now Sir Roderic Llewellyn – and married Tania Soskin, the daughter of a film producer, to great effect.

These may not have been the last words they shared, but they show how a passionate affair between two people from vastly different backgrounds and ages can easily go wrong:

Princess Margaret (modeling a frothy pink dress that shows off her curvy figure): “What do you think, Roddy?”

Llewellyn: 'You look like a strawberry ice cream cone.'

The post On this day – how sensational photos of Princess Margaret in a swimsuit prompted the Queen to call her a 'GUTTERSNIPE'. And an enduring romance that changed royal weddings forever… appeared first on USMAIL24.COM.

EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Daughter of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll who was at the center of A Very British Scandal, dies at 86, taking her secrets and scars to the grave

Sabir Ansary — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 09:29:37 +0000

She became the country's youngest duchess when she married almost 66 years ago, still not quite 21, becoming chatelaine of the extravagant 365-room Belvoir Castle, her new husband's family seat, overlooking a 16,000-acre estate in Leicestershire.

And it was there, in a house on the estate, that Frances, Duchess of Rutland, died peacefully on Sunday morning at the age of 86, with her eldest son, David, the 11th Duke, at her side.

Many might be tempted to marvel with awe and even envy at the material pleasures enjoyed by the Duchess. But those who knew her point out that her life was both overshadowed and fractured by her mother's second divorce, just five years after Frances' own marriage.

She and her brother Brian – both descendants of Margaret's first marriage to American stockbroker Charles Sweeny – urged their mother not to fight proceedings brought against her by her second husband, the 11th Duke of Argyll.

But Margaret, immortalized in a Cole Porter song, disastrously convinced herself she would win.

Frances Rutland, pictured left in 1955 as a debutante next to her mother Margaret, the scandal-prone Duchess of Argyll, has died at the age of 86

For those who knew her, Frances (right) lived in the shadow of her mother Margaret's (left) scandalous divorce from the Duke of Argyll

Frances (left) was a famous beauty like her mother (right) and followed in her footsteps by also marrying a duke, but the couple's relationship was strained

Frances (left) with her mother Margaret (right) and fashion designer Norman Hartnell at a cocktail party for foreign fashion buyers at Lancaster House, London, in 1955

Frances pictured with her husband Charles Manners, 10th Duke of Rutland, and their newborn son David at Belvoir Castle in 1959

Scottish heiress and socialite Margaret Campbell, The Duchess of Argyle (1912 – 1993), pictured at a concert in London in 1985

Margaret Whigham, pictured before being presented at Buckingham Palace in 1934, was a glamorous socialite whose outfits dazzled the British public during the Great Depression

Margaret married American tycoon Charles Sweeny in 1933 as her first husband. She had two children with him before divorcing and marrying the Duke of Argyll.

Society darling: Margaret married Ian Douglas Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll, after meeting him on a train at Gare du Nord station in Paris in 1949. In the photo: the couple in 1952

Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll (1912 – 1993) outside the courts in the Strand on the second day of her case, 3 May 1960. By the end of the day she had been successfully sued for libel and defamation by her former social secretary Yvonne MacPherson

Her hopes were dashed after her husband, who claimed she had 88 lovers during their 12 years of marriage, took Polaroid photos showing a naked man (his head removed from the image) with Margaret, also naked except for a three-piece dress. pearl necklace.

The divorce – dramatized two years ago in A Very British Scandal, starring Claire Foy and Paul Bettany – ended in a crushing defeat, with the judge, Lord Wheatley, dismissing Margaret as 'a completely promiscuous woman… who was no longer satisfied had normal relationships and indulged in disgusting sexual activities to satisfy a diminished sexual appetite'.

Margaret's reputation was irrevocably tarnished. She died in 1993 at the age of 80 penniless, after squandering the remainder of her fortune on poorly judged legal battles.

The toll taken on Frances was almost more than she could bear. “She was a fervent Catholic and when she married Charles Rutland, whose second marriage it was, she was denounced by the Catholic Church,” a family friend recalled. 'She took her own children to Catholic services every Sunday, but always sat at the back because she felt she could not receive communion.'

A beautiful woman, she developed in her youth, like her mother, a detachment that became apparent within five years of her mother's divorce. By then, as a friend told Vanity Fair, she “couldn't take all that horrible publicity anymore.”

Legend has it that mother and daughter met by chance at a cocktail party. “Hello, I'm your mother,” said Margaret; Frances is said to have replied, “I remember” – and turned away.

Her relationship with her own children became strained. “She was known as 'Frosty,'” the family friend added. 'I remember looking at a painting of hers when she was young. She was a completely different person. She developed the most unusual smoking habit. She stubbed out her cigarette on her plate. Always spread it on her plate. Dinner at Belvoir.'

Another friend, who remembers Frances' intelligence – 'she spoke Arabic and French' – mentions her passion for breeding Arabian stallions and creating a series of beautiful gardens. Both, he suggests, were evidence of the reserves of resilience developed under very painful circumstances.

Lucy is a Parisienne princess at the Chanel show

Charlotte Casiraghi (left) and Lucy Boynton (right) attend the Chanel Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2024 show

LuCy Boynton, who joined the ranks of Hollywood royalty after appearing in the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, is now mingling with princesses off-screen.

The journalist's daughter, 30 (right), was given a front row seat at the Chanel Haute Couture show in Paris yesterday, alongside Charlotte Casiraghi, 37, daughter of Princess Caroline of Monaco.

The pair paid tribute to the fashion house, with Boynton wearing a Chanel minidress and Casiraghi a Chanel houndstooth jacket.

Historian Andrew Roberts is on a mission to make TV dramas more realistic. “I'm a historical advisor to Churchill for a Netflix show,” he tells me at The Oldie lunch at the National Liberal Club. “You save them from [inserting] absurd things.' About the recent Napoleon epic he says: 'A historian would have saved Ridley Scott from all kinds of ridiculous betises [acts of foolishness].'

The Downton sisters reunite for Michelle's musical duo

Michelle Dockery

Is that you, Lady Mary? Michelle Dockery, 42, who once sang as the daughter of the Earl of Grantham in Downton Abbey, strummed the guitar (right) as she performed with co-star Michael Fox, 35, who played a footman, at London's Lafayette. The pair formed a band, unimaginatively called Michael & Michelle.

Fox's friend, Laura Carmichael, who played Lady Mary's sister Lady Edith, was in the audience. “They sound great,” she says. “They change the energy in the room. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be singing with them in the future. I leave it to the professionals.'

Camilla gets creepy

Queen Camilla loves Peter James's creepy crime novels so much that she once traveled to Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, to meet him on the set of the ITV adaptation of his Roy Grace series.

Now I hear that the author has been invited to appear on her new podcast, The Queen's Reading Room.

“I spoke at Her Majesty's Literary Festival in June, and now I'm in the second series of her podcast,” James, 75, tells me at the Nielsen Bestseller Awards in London's Piccadilly. “She's like my biggest fan.”

Sir Mick Jagger can't get satisfaction from River Cafe owner Ruth Rogers. “He was at the restaurant and said, 'Ruthie, how are you?'” she says of Rolling Stone on her podcast Ruthie's Table 4. “I said, 'I'm so excited that [U.S. TV host] David Letterman is here'. Then I realized you don't say that to Mick Jagger…'

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Margaret Qualley cuts an elegant figure in white tailored jacket and quirky lace ruff as she opens the Chanel Haute Couture show in Paris

Sabir Ansary — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 11:17:59 +0000

Margaret Qualley put on a sophisticated display on Tuesday, as she opened the show for the Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2024 collection show for Chanel in Paris.

The actress, 29, looked ethereal as she strutted down the runway in a very classic Chanel look.

She donned a tailored white textured jacket, adorned with neat pockets and gold monogrammed buttons.

The Poor Things star also donned a white skirt underneath with a sheer panel and opaque coordinating tights.

Margaret pushed her look to more zany heights by adding an old-fashioned lace ruff around her neck.

Margaret Qualley put on a sophisticated display on Tuesday, as she opened the show for the Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2024 collection show for Chanel in Paris

The actress, 29, looked ethereal as she strutted down the runway in a very classic Chanel look, donning a tailored white jacket, adorned with neat pockets and gold monogrammed buttons

The Poor Things star also donned a white skirt underneath with a sheer panel, while pushing her look to more zany heights by adding an old-fashioned lace ruff around her neck

She confidently led the rest of the models down the catwalk in a pair of strappy black high heels.

Margaret, who has been a Chanel ambassador for a number of years, wore her hair in an intricate updo, secured with an elegant black bow.

Anna Wintour was in attendance at the fashion show, and cut a typically stylish figure in floral maxi dress under a gray marbled coat.

The Vogue editor-in-chief added a purple bejewelled choker and a huge diamond pendant, while sporting her signature black sunglasses.

She sat next to her close friend, award-winning director Baz Luhrmann, who sported a black suit and a moustache.

Joining Anna was Arielle Dombasle, who looked chic in a black knitted minidress over a white zip-up top, encrusted in gems.

She added a pair of leather heeled boots and a long black coat, while toting a patent leather quilted Chanel handbag.

Julie Gayet arrived in a padded black trench coat that was embossed with the Chanel logo.

She confidently led the rest of the models down the catwalk in a pair of strappy black high heels and wore her hair in an intricate updo, secured with an elegant black bow

Anna Wintour was in attendance at the fashion show, and cut a typically stylish figure in floral maxi dress under a gray marbled coat

The Vogue editor-in-chief added a purple bejewelled choker and a huge diamond pendant, while sporting her signature black sunglasses

She sat next to her close friend, award-winning director Baz Luhrmann, who sported a black suit and a moustache

Joining Anna was Arielle Dombasle, who looked chic in a black knitted minidress over a white zip-up top, encrusted in gems

She added a pair of leather heeled boots and a long black coat, while toting a patent leather quilted Chanel handbag

The French actress and singer completed her look with sheer tights, gold and diamond bangles and a classic red lip

Julie Gayet arrived in a padded black trench coat that was embossed with the famous Chanel logo

She added a matching belt to cinch her in at her svelte waist and black leather heeled boots, while carrying a matching clutch

She added a matching belt to cinch her in at her svelte waist and black leather heeled boots, while carrying a matching clutch.

Iman Perez put on a leggy display in a pink checked dress with a matching belt and sheer black tights.

She boosted her height with a pair of black leather heeled boots and toted a tiny pink handbag, adorned with a bow.

Cecile Cassel opted for a more daring look, donning a black semi-sheer mesh shirt, allowing a glimpse at her slender figure underneath.

She added a pair of coordinating trousers, black high heels decorated with pearls and a trio of gold Chanel necklaces.

Kim Higelin sat beside her and flashed her long legs in a more casual ensemble, sporting a denim co-ord and carrying a tiny navy purse.

She wore a short jacket and matching miniskirt with a knitted crop top underneath and black Mary Jane heels.

Ines de la Fressange looked classy in a pair of black flares and a red tweed jacket, secured with a black and silver buckled belt.

She draped a navy striped scarf over her shoulders and accessorised with a black velvet handbag and patent leather boots.

Iman Perez put on a leggy display in a pink checked dress with a matching belt and sheer black tights

She boosted her height with a pair of black leather heeled boots and toted a tiny pink handbag, adorned with a bow

Cecile Cassel opted for a more daring look, donning a black semi-sheer mesh shirt, allowing a glimpse at her slender figure underneath

She added a pair of coordinating trousers, black high heels decorated with pearls and a trio of gold Chanel necklaces

Kim Higelin sat beside her and flashed her long legs in a more casual ensemble, sporting a denim co-ord and carrying a tiny navy purse

She wore a short jacket and matching miniskirt with a knitted crop top underneath and black Mary Jane heels

Ines de la Fressange looked classy in a pair of black flares and a red tweed jacket, secured with a black and silver buckled belt

While Elsa Zylberstein stood out from the crowd in a pair of purple and black checked trousers teamed with a silk blouse with a matching trim.

The collection saw models slip into a number of timeless and elegant looks, that Chanel has become known for.

One model donned a voluminous white ruffled skirt with a plain long-sleeved top and a bralette over the top, adorned with three-dimensional flowers.

Another channelled Barbie in a bright pink satin skirt, embroidered with intricate silver beads, and a matching cropped jacket.

There were several floral inspired ensembles on the catwalk, with one model donning an eye-catching colourful jacket stitched from individual flowers.

While another garment was a sheer floral dress with a plunging neckline and voluminous sleeves and a third saw a model walk in a sheer textured jacket covered in pastel flowers.

The iconic Chanel tweed jacket was also incorporated into the collection, with one model wearing a black and white version with a white tutu dress underneath and another wearing a green and pink sleeveless version with a pink feather belt.

The collection was created by the current creative director of Chanel, Virginie Viard, who was appointed in 2019 after the death of Karl Lagerfeld.

While Elsa Zylberstein stood out from the crowd in eye-catching purple and black checked trousers teamed with a silk blouse with a matching trim

The collection saw models slip into a number of timeless and elegant looks, that Chanel has become known for

One model donned a voluminous white ruffled skirt with a plain long-sleeved top and a bralette over the top, adorned with three-dimensional flowers

Another channelled Barbie in a bright pink satin skirt, embroidered with intricate silver beads, and a matching cropped jacket

There were several floral inspired ensembles on the catwalk, with one model donning an eye-catching colourful jacket stitched from individual flowers

While another garment was a sheer floral dress with a plunging neckline and voluminous sleeves

And a third saw a model walk in a sheer textured jacket covered in pastel flowers

The iconic Chanel tweed jacket was also incorporated into the collection, with one model wearing a black and white version with a white tutu dress underneath

And another model was spotted wearing a green and pink sleeveless version with a pink feather belt

The collection was created by the current creative director of Chanel, Virginie Viard, (pictured) who was appointed in 2019 after the death of Karl Lagerfeld

The show is called ‘The Button’, intended to pay tribute to the jewelled button signature to Chanel.

The fashion house states that the collection aims to ‘bring to life a story about time and transmission’.

The show itself was written and directed by David Free and scored by rapper Kendrick Lamar.

The show is called ‘The Button’, intended to pay tribute to the jewelled button signature to Chanel

The fashion house states that the collection aims to ‘bring to life a story about time and transmission’

The show itself was written and directed by David Free and scored by rapper Kendrick Lamar

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Revealed: Queen Mary, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret were forced to sit in a ditch after an accident involving King George's bicycle while cycling home to save fuel during World War II

Sabir Ansary — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 00:59:48 +0000

The Mail discovered a story in declassified papers from the Czech Cold War archives

By Tom Kelly

Published: 7:29 PM EST, January 21, 2024 | Updated: 7:58 PM EST, January 21, 2024

The royal family's determination to 'do their bit' helped galvanize the nation in the dark days of war.

Now newspapers have revealed how on one occasion Queen Mary and Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret ended up in a ditch after an accident as they cycled home from church to save fuel during the wartime petrol shortage.

They waited there patiently as a frustrated King George struggled to reattach his bicycle chain, which kept falling off.

Details of the incident were told by the driver of a Czechoslovak statesman and friend of the royal family, who offered them a ride.

Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret pose on bicycles in Windsor, England on April 4, 1942

Photos from April 1942 show the Princesses with their bicycles at Royal Lodge, Windsor

The Mail discovered the story in recently released papers from the archives of the Czech Cold War security service.

They also tell of teenage Princess Elizabeth's fondness for “naughty” stories and of Lord Snowdon's law-breaking motorcycle ride.

But the most bizarre story is that of the royal meeting with diplomat Jan Masaryk and his driver.

The files state: 'Masaryk was a friend of the royal family. [The chauffeur] remembers how in 1942, when there was a fuel shortage, he saw the royal family cycling to church.

'When the service was over, they saw the queen and the two princesses sitting in a ditch. The king tried to repair the chain.

'Masaryk offered them a lift, the bicycles were picked up by someone later.'

Queen Elizabeth rides through the grounds of Sandringham to inspect the harvest by horse and cart, while her daughters, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, ride behind on bicycles with their father, King George VI, in August 1943

The Mail discovered the story in recently released papers from the archives of the Czech Cold War security service

Photos from April 1942 show the Princesses with their bicycles at Royal Lodge, Windsor.

The driver recalled another time when he drove Mr. Masaryk, with Elizabeth in the back.

The file said: 'Masaryk told their stories. Elizabeth loved it, and 'the spicier' the story was, the more she liked it.'

Surveillance files from 1967 on Princess Margaret's then husband, Lord Snowdon, during a visit to Prague tell of a ride on a Czech-made Jawa motorcycle.

Lord Snowdon's bodyguard 'had no choice but to jump on and ride behind. They have been stopped twice for traffic violations.'

But Lord Snowdon was praised as a “highly intelligent” man who had “brought the royal family to life” by the British ambassador's wife, Margaret Barker, who cruelly contrasted him with King George, whom she called “a totally impossible man” . a stammer, unable to learn a single speech a year.

He spoke alone on the radio while the Queen held his hand to give him courage, but even then he spoke gibberish.'

She also described Princess Margaret as 'crazy' and 'immoral'.

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Inside the London Clinic: The private hospital where Kate Middleton was treated has its own concierge, offers meat from Smithfields market and fish from Cornish boats and counts Prince Philip, Princess Margaret, Liz Taylor and JFK among its famous patients

Albert Elence — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 18:32:24 +0000

For decades it was the hospital of the royal family, leading politicians and celebrities.

The London Clinic, where the Princess of Wales is being treated after abdominal surgery, first opened its doors in 1932.

The illustrious list of previous patients includes Prince Philip, Princess Margaret, Hollywood star Elizabeth Taylor and future US President John F. Kennedy.

The clinic has a leading cancer center where patients are received for chemotherapy, radiotherapy and other treatments.

The company boasts that it can provide 'CyberKnife' radiotherapy for prostate cancer patients, 'SpyGlass' technology for patients requiring endoscopy and CAR-T immunotherapy for cancer patients.

In 2019, it unveiled a specialized center for robotic surgery.

Patients receive their own concierge service, while the hospital's chef heads up a kitchen serving fish from Cornish boats and meat from Smithfields Market.

The London Clinic has previously treated Prince Philip. The late Duke of Edinburgh is pictured above leaving the private hospital in 2013

The London Clinic, where the Princess of Wales is being treated after abdominal surgery, first opened in 1932. Above: Police outside the hospital today as Kate undergoes treatment

Since the 1980s, a number of facilities at the site have been officially launched by members of the Royal Family.

The King, as then Prince of Wales, opened the physiotherapy department in 1989, while Princess Margaret launched the MRI unit in 1991 and the late Queen unveiled a new cancer unit in 2010.

Prince Philip was admitted to the clinic in 2013 for what was described as an 'abdominal examination', while Princess Margaret was treated there in 1980 to have a benign skin lesion removed.

In 1947, Kennedy, then a US congressman, was diagnosed with Addison's disease in the clinic.

Taylor underwent knee surgery there in January 1963 after falling on a film set.

Other former patients include former Labor Prime Minister Clement Attlee, who was admitted for surgery on his prostate in 1939 – when he was Leader of the Opposition.

Another former prime minister, the Conservative Anthony Eden, had his gallbladder removed at the London Clinic in 1953 when he was Foreign Secretary.

Current Foreign Secretary David Cameron, who was Prime Minister from 2010 to 2016, was born there in 1966.

Kate, Charlotte, George, William and Louis at the service on Christmas Day 2023 at Sandringham

Hollywood star Elizabeth Taylor underwent knee surgery at The London Clinic in January 1963. Above: Taylor left the hospital with her leg bandaged

Princess Margaret was treated there in 1980 to have a benign skin lesion removed

Future Labor Prime Minister Clement Attlee – then Leader of the Opposition – is seen in bed at the London Clinic in 1939, after undergoing surgery on his prostate

EastEnders actress Wendy Richard died in the clinic in 2009 after breast cancer, while Chile's former dictator Augusto Pinochet was arrested there in 1998 for crimes against humanity.

The London Clinic was officially opened in 1932 by the then Duke and Duchess of York.

It was the brainchild of a group of Harley Street doctors who wanted to plan a new nursing home to the highest medical standards of the time.

According to its website, the hospital was “founded on the principles of delivering excellence in one place.”

The facility said it could treat 155 conditions, with hundreds of treatments, tests and scans available.

It also acted as a charity, reinvesting in research, education and innovation.

At the last Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection, carried out in June 2021, The London Clinic was rated as “good” overall.

According to the health watchdog, the hospital has around 23,000 inpatients a year, with a further 110,000 outpatients.

It is registered to provide surgery, diagnostics and screening, treatment of diseases, conditions or injuries, management of the blood supply and blood derived products.

The building at 20 Devonshire Place has seven main operating theaters and three additional theatres, as well as six specialist departments for urology, gynaecology, thoracic surgery, orthopedics and spine procedures.

In 2021, the clinic's head chef, Paul O'Brien, received an award for supporting patients during the coronavirus pandemic.

He leads a team that provides tailor-made meals for patients, also sourcing ingredients from Home Counties farms.

A concierge can help patients arrange travel and accommodation, as well as book tours, theater shows and restaurants in the capital.

A spokesperson for Kate said this afternoon: 'Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales was admitted to the London Clinic yesterday for a planned abdominal operation.

'The operation was successful and it is expected that she will remain in hospital for ten to fourteen days before returning home to continue her recovery.

'Based on current medical advice, it is unlikely that she will resume her public duties until after Easter.

Queen Elizabeth II leaves the London Clinic after visiting her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on June 15, 2013

“The Princess of Wales appreciates the interest this statement will generate.

“She hopes the public will understand her desire to maintain as much normalcy as possible for her children; and her desire for her personal medical information to remain private.

'Kensington Palace will therefore only provide updates on Her Royal Highness's progress if there is important new information to share.

“The Princess of Wales would like to apologize to everyone involved for having to postpone her upcoming engagements. She looks forward to reinstating as many people as possible as soon as possible.”

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