Queen's sister offended major Hollywood stars and was 'barred' from US

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Princess Margaret created quite the storm with her 1965 visit to the U.S (Image: Getty)
Princess Margaret created quite the storm with her 1965 visit to the U.S (Image: Getty)

The late Queen's beloved sister was well-known for her party-loving antics and frequently attracted a media storm as a result.

One famous example came during Princess Margaret and the Earl of Snowdon's 1965 tour of the United States. The visit was the subject of much attention back home as it cost an eye-watering £30,000 (£743,000 today).

As well as this, the party-loving couple travelled with a 16-person entourage, 75 pieces of luggage, were said to have offended a number of Hollywood stars and were ultimately "barred" from travelling to the U.S in the 1970s.

The decision to not repeat Princess Margaret's visit to the US was taken by Lord Cromer, the British ambassador to America, who did not want the Princess in the country as he was worried it would generate harmful publicity for the Royal Family.

Queen's sister offended major Hollywood stars and was 'barred' from US eiqrriqxiqtdinvThe Earl and Countess of Snowdon's tour attracted huge attention (Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho)

Lord Cromer had based his concerns on reports of the 1965 tour that were given to him by Sir Patrick Dean, the British ambassador to America at the time.

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His views were revealed in a memo from Lees Mayall, the Vice-Marshal of the Diplomatic Service, who was responding to her private secretary's desire to organise a foreign tour for the Princess.

His fears were founded on what had happened during a visit to Los Angeles back in the 1960s where the couple had met - and managed to offend - several film stars, including Paul Newman, Judy Garland, Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor.

Queen's sister offended major Hollywood stars and was 'barred' from USJudy Garland was said to have been offended by the Princess's comment (Getty)
Queen's sister offended major Hollywood stars and was 'barred' from USGrace Kelly (then Princess Grace of Monaco) was also offended by a comment (Getty)

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Judy Garland took exception to a message given to her at a party in Beverly Hills. An aide told Ms Garland that the Princess would like to hear her sing and the actress reportedly called her a "nasty, rude little princess", and said: "Tell her I'll sing if she christens a ship first."

Grace Kelly (then Princess Grace of Monaco) was also said to have objected to the Princess's comment: "You don't look like a movie star." The actress is said to have replied: "Well, I wasn't born a movie star."

Queen's sister offended major Hollywood stars and was 'barred' from USPrincess Margaret met President Lyndon B Johnson on her visit (Bettmann)

During their whirlwind tour of the United States in 1965, The Earl and Countess of Snowdon visited a number of cities across the country and concluded their trip with a black-tie dinner at the White House.

It was here that the royal couple and President and First Lady Johnson enjoyed a state dinner and a rather raucous celebration afterwards.

Fans of Netflix's The Crown will remember the meeting featured in series three of the hit show and showed the two parties danced, sang and had a rude limerick competition - but what really happened?

According to reports from the event at the time, the President and Princess danced to 'Everything's Coming Up Roses.' Meanwhile, Lord Snowdon grooved to "rock 'n' roll numbers" with "enormous gusto and expertise throughout the evening".

As a journalist for the New York Times observed at the time: "There was laughter and chatting; Margaret smoked a cigarette on a long holder and everyone looked totally at ease."

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No published articles from the time mentioned anything about the rude limerick contest which featured in the Netflix series, but they do explain how the party went on until late in the night, with the Johnsons reportedly going to bed at 2am.

Rebecca Russell

Princess Grace of Monaco, Judy Garland, The Queen, Royal Family, 1st Earl of Snowdon, Antony Armstrong-Jones, Princess Margaret

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