Radiantly beautiful, egregiously bad-mannered with an alpine sense of entitlement, Princess Margaret could not have been more different from her sister, the dutiful Queen Elizabeth. She was drawn to high-camp, bohemians from the art, music and literary world, many of whom were avid diary-keepers. They tolerated her grandiosity and bitched about her behind her back. Craig Brown has brought together their reminiscences in ‘Ma’am Darling’. He remarks ‘her rudeness knew no bounds. It was almost as though, early in life, she had contracted a peculiarly royal strain of Tourette syndrome, causing the sufferer to be seized by the unstoppable urge to say the first thing that came into her head, just so long as it was sufficiently unpleasant.’ Cecil Beaton referred to her as “a little pocket monster”. Sir Roy Strong called her “a tiresome, spoilt, idle and irritating, capricious, arrogant and thoughtless woman”. She gave up Group Captain Townsend, Brown concludes, because in marrying a divorced man she would have lost her trappings of wealth and title. And when push came to shove, she valued them more than the love of the group captain. Her marriage to Anthony Armstrong-Jones was a disaster though it produced two admirable children; she had a string of affairs and flings. Heavy smoking and alcohol consumption finally took its toll and she died aged 72 after a sad, wasted life.
Born 21 August 1930 9.22pm Glamis, Scotland, she had a 6th house Sun conjunct Neptune, which would point to delicate health though it could have made her hard-working which it clearly didn’t. Her sharply-outspoken 3rd house Mars was square Mercury in Virgo as well as sextile her Sun, and that also suggests an element of competitiveness with siblings. She had a rebellious 1st house Uranus just below her Aries Ascendant which opposed Venus in her 7th in Libra squaring on to Jupiter in the 4th opposition Saturn in her 10th – so a restless Cardinal Grand Cross, accompanying a life of revolving crises, and a constantly disrupted emotional life. A Venus Saturn square often goes with promiscuity or sex addiction as it is now called, never mind the Uranus. Jupiter Venus is frivolous, indulgent and extravagant. Saturn Uranus is autocratic.
What also stands out is her 5th house performing and attention-demanding Pluto Moon in Cancer, which would prompt her to insist on centre-stage and clearly lent her an air of contemptuous superiority.
What is odd about her chart is that she could have walked a completely different path. Venus in the 7th is diplomatic and charming; a 6th house Sun can be conscientious especially with a dutiful 10th house Saturn; Neptune in the 6th can work in the caring professions. Pluto in the 5th can be creative. Yet she threw away her potential on an endless round of parties.
Two thoughts might be: the Saturn opposition Jupiter which would make her fearful of failure, so she never tried. For some it makes them push themselves harder, but for others they never attempt anything at all. The other is her 3rd house sibling-rivalry Mars – her life was a reaction against her sister’s executive role and steady temperament. Rather than finding herself, she was driven to be the opposite.
It was often said the tragedy of Princess Margaret’s life was she always had to walk behind the Queen. Hardly a life of penury even if she did on occasion. Otherwise she had it all handed to her on a gilded plate. She had talent, drive, money and opportunity and could have become anything she wanted.
She never had to earn a buck, so what incentive did she have to do anything?
I got Mars in Gemini but I dont tempt to scatter energy though i must say, it takes tonnes of hard work to make my brain rest . The prominent thing is my tongue..it is vitriolic..worse than any weapon for opponents
And Boris Johnson, UK Foreign Secy has an emphasised Mars in Gemini which certainly has him going in all directions but hasn’t noticeably held him back. Know what you mean about Mars in an Air sign – mine’s in Libra and diplomatic it is not when I get irked.
Mine’s in Libra too but I’m a terrible swearer – I can blaspheme like I’m in the barracks! I hate the habit and can’t seem to break it because it makes me come across a lot more vulgar and uneducated than I actually am. I picked it up in my first job aged 17 when I was the only female among 25 other guys where swearing and misogyny were the culture. It made me so uncomfortable that the only way to guard myself was to reflect their language back to them in order to become ‘invisible’. Oddly enough, I got their respect, which was the last thing I was bothered about because people like that aren’t worth the crud on the bottom of one’s shoe! Also, I prefer intelligent, communicative company too – Just not too sure what they think of me! Holding it in is like having a Tourette’s twitch 😀
Even ordinary folk allow possibilities to go down the drain because of…a lack of initiative. I’ve met a few bluebloods over here – there does seem to be a distainful aloofness to their quality.
I’ve not met any bluebloods but the next best thing; the bankrolled offspring of rich parents and I’m surprised by how many arrogant, the-world-owes-me-a-living mentalities I’ve come across amongst them. Awful bunch. I briefly lived in an affluent area of the North where they lived/attended uni and I just hated their snooty, bitchy self-entitled overtures that they were only too glad to air at dirty, unwashed paupers, like myself, obviously. Yet, I’ve also had the privilege of meeting one or two who don’t fit that character at all and who have been lovely.
Mars as lord of Aries ascendant is an extremely important factor, and Mars in Gemini can be quite energy-scattering. Note also that Mars is in same degree (sextile/trine) as nodal axis — another indication that the path of scattering would be quite tempting.