Royal History Today: March 7

Death of Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox

     Margaret Douglas was born on October 8, 1515 to Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus and Margaret Tudor, who was the Queen Dowager of Scots as her first husband was the deceased James IV of Scotland.

     The younger Margaret was therefore a granddaughter of Henry VII of England and a niece of Henry VIII, with whom she had a mostly favorable relationship. She grew up in the English court, mostly in association with her cousin and close friend, Mary Tudor (the future Mary I of England).

     Margaret became a lady-in waiting for Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn, and it was during this time that she fell in love with Boleyn's uncle, Lord Thomas Howard - the younger son of the Duke of Norfolk - and the pair became secretly engaged. King Henry executed Anne in 1536, and did not want one of her relatives to marry Margaret, who was now heiress presumptive to the English throne because Henry had declared his daughters (Mary and Elizabeth) bastards. He had Margaret and Lord Howard committed to the Tower of London and the Act of Attainder was passed, which forbade marriage into the King's family without his permission. Margaret was released, but Howard eventually died in the Tower. Four years later, she had another affair, this time with Howard's half-nephew, Sir Charles Howard, who was also a half-nephew of Henry VIII's fifth wife, Catherine Howard.

     This relationship was called off, and Margaret married Matthew Stuart, Earl of Lennox, a Scottish nobleman in 1544. Together, they had two children - one of whom, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley married Mary, Queen of Scots. This marriage united their claims to the English throne and paved the way for their son, James VI of Scotland - whose grandfather Matthew served as a regent during his minority - to ascend to the English throne as James I.

     Margaret died in 1578, and though she was mired in debt, she was given an impressive funeral at Westminster Abbey at the expense of Elizabeth I of England, and was buried in the same vault as her younger son, Charles at the Henry VII Lady Chapel in the Abbey.

Birth of Antony Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon

     Antony Armstrong-Jones was born as the only son of barrister Ronald Armstrong-Jones and his wife, Anne.

     At a young age, Antony's parents separated and he contracted polio, from which he spent six months recuperating while at Liverpool Royal Infirmary. His education consisted of two boarding schools: Sandroyd School in Wiltshire and Eton, as well as Jesus College at the University of Cambridge, where he studied architecture, but failed his final exams. In 1950, he steered the winning Cambridge boat in the 1950 Boat Race.

     Upon graduation, he took up a career in photography, and gained a reputation for taking portraits of the rich and famous. Among his early subjects were Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, whom he had photographed for their 1957 Canadian tour.

     On May 6, 1960, Armstrong-Jones married the Queen's sister, Princess Margaret at Westminster Abbey, and he was made Earl of Snowdon (in reference to his Welsh ancestry) and Viscount Linley in the following year. They had two children: David Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley (1961) and Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones (1964), and the family lived in apartments at Kensington Palace.

     However, the marriage got into trouble within a few years in part because of the demands of royal duties that often conflicted with Earl Snowdon's photography career, which he refused to give up. Indeed, his marriage into the Royal family burnished his standing as a society photographer. He became one Britain's most respected photographers as an artistic adviser for the Sunday Times and a portriat-maker of VIP's, life on the streets, fashion engagements, and more - with his work published in major newspapers and magazine's across the world. In 1969, he also helped to organize the investiture of his nephew Prince Charles as Prince of Wales.

     Nevertheless, marriage life became more fractured as both he and Margaret asserted separate identities independent of each other and engaged in extramarital affairs. In 1978, Margaret's relationship with Roddy Llewellyn (who was 18 years her junior) was revealed, and she and Snowdon divorced.

    Later that year, Snowdon married Lucy Mary Lindsay-Hogg, with whom he had one daughter, Lady Frances Armstrong-Jones. They divorced in 2000 after it was revealed that he had fathered a son with another woman.

     In 2001, Photographs by Snowdon: A Retrospective was opened at the National Portrait Gallery, and went on tour - displaying 180 photographs taken by Lord Snowdon throughout his career, which was described by museums as "rounded...with sharp edges."