Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, was married to King George VI and she was mother to Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret. Margaret and her mother both passed away in 2002, within two months of each other. Their deaths left QEII reeling for a time, she was extremely close to both of them. Margaret suffered so many health issues in her final years, whereas the Queen Mum simply died of old age (she was 101). During the Queen Mum’s life and afterwards, it was always known that she was a complete boozehound. She had something of a hollow leg, especially after her husband died. But was she also drinking heavily in her 20s and 30s? Was she drinking heavily during her second pregnancy? A new biography says she was. It’s a biography of Princess Margaret, and biographer Meryle Secrest theorizes that Margaret had fetal alcohol syndrome.
Princess Margaret suffered from foetal alcohol syndrome brought on by the Queen Mother’s drinking during pregnancy, a biography has claimed. The syndrome is caused by a developing baby’s exposure to alcohol in the womb, and can give the child distinctive facial features and cause difficulties with learning, impulse control and managing emotions.
Meryle Secrest, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated biographer, has re-examined the princess’s personality and personal struggles in light of greater knowledge about the condition.
Princess Margaret and the Curse, Secrest’s forthcoming unofficial biography, speculates that the princess, who died in 2002 aged 72, suffered from an “invisible disability” brought on by foetal alcohol syndrome. The book says that while Margaret lacked the syndrome’s tell-tale smooth lip philtrum and small eyes, she did display characteristic mood ,swings, stunted growth, difficulties learning how to write, and painful migraines.
It cites accounts of the Queen Mother’s drinking in later life, when it was claimed by a former equerry that during the day she would enjoy gin and Dubonnet: two parts pink vermouth to one part gin, as well as wine and port, until the 6pm “magic hour” when martinis would be prepared.
Foetal alcohol syndrome was not well understood until the 1970s, the book states, and it is likely that the young Queen Mother would have not been advised to avoid alcohol during her pregnancy with Margaret.
But the book says that in the Queen Mother’s letters from the time of her pregnancy with Elizabeth II, she writes that she could not bear the thought of wine, suggesting that she may have drunk less when expecting the future queen. A 1925 letter to the future King George VI said: “The sight of wine simply turns me up! Isn’t it extraordinary! It will be a tragedy if I never recover my drinking powers.” The book puts forward no claim that the late Queen suffered from any condition.
I’m loath to diagnose people decades after their passing, but I don’t think this theory holds up whatsoever. The “evidence” is that the Queen Mum was a lush, and so was Margaret. The evidence is that Margaret had headaches, tantrums and mood swings – but isn’t that more indicative of Margaret’s inherited alcoholism and the way she was raised? Didn’t Margaret also have some savant-like abilities? She could play a piece of music after hearing it once and she was a gifted pianist. While I think we’re due for a historical account of the Windsors and their drinking problems, I find this biographical leap of FAS rather distasteful. Also: I’m pretty sure doctors knew before the 1970s that pregnant women shouldn’t drink.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
