Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon
Encyclopedia
Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, GCVO
, RDI
(born 7 March 1930) is an English photographer and film maker. He was married to Princess Margaret
, younger daughter of King George VI and younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II.
He is known professionally, and credited, simply as Snowdon.
Ronald Armstrong-Jones
(1899–1966) and his first wife, Anne Messel (1902–1992, later Countess of Rosse
).
His maternal great-grandfather was the Punch
cartoonist Linley Sambourne
(1844–1910) and his great-great-uncle Alfred Messel
was a well-known Berlin architect.
His parents separated when he was young and as a schoolboy he contracted polio. For the entire six months that he was in Liverpool
Royal Infirmary recuperating, his only family visits were from his sister Susan.
Armstrong-Jones was educated at Eton
and Cambridge, where he studied architecture. While at Cambridge, he coxed
the winning Cambridge
boat in the 1950 Boat Race.
After university, he took up a career as a photographer in fashion, design and theatre. As his career as a portraitist began to flourish, he became known for his royal studies, among which were the official portraits of Queen Elizabeth II, and the Duke of Edinburgh
for their 1957 tour of Canada
.
In the early 1960s, he became the artistic adviser of the Sunday Times
magazine, and by the 1970s had gained a reputation as one of Britain's most respected photographers. Though his work includes everything from fashion photography to documentary images of inner city life and the mentally ill, he is best known for his portraits of world notables (the National Portrait Gallery has more than 100 Snowdon portraits in its collection), many of them published in Vogue
, Vanity Fair
, and The Daily Telegraph
magazine. His subjects have included Barbara Cartland
, Laurence Olivier
, Anthony Blunt
and J. R. R. Tolkien
.
In 2001, Snowdon was given a retrospective exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, Photographs by Snowdon: A Retrospective, which later travelled to the Yale Center for British Art
. More than 180 of his photographs were displayed in an exhibition that honoured what the museums called "a rounded career with sharp edges."
He also co-designed, in 1960–1963, with Frank Newby
and Cedric Price
, the aviary of the London Zoo
. He also had a major role in designing the physical arrangements for the 1969 investiture of his nephew Prince Charles as Prince of Wales
.
(1960 to 1978) and second to Lucy Mary Lindsay-Hogg (1978, separated 2000).
In February 1960, Snowdon, still known as Antony Armstrong-Jones, became engaged to the Queen's sister, Princess Margaret, and they married on 6 May 1960 at Westminster Abbey
. The couple made their home in apartments at Kensington Palace
. As he had been without title, he was created Earl of Snowdon and Viscount Linley of Nymans in the County of Sussex on 6 October 1961 due to concerns over the prospect of a British princess giving birth to a child without a title. The Snowdon title has centuries-old royal associations, since the name Snowdon was borne by the Welsh princes and the House of Gwynedd before 1282, though here it was granted as a nod to Armstrong-Jones's Welsh ancestry. A Barony of Snowdon (sometimes spelled Snaudon) was a subsidiary title of King George II's son Frederick, Prince of Wales
. The subsidiary Linley title honoured Lord Snowdon's great-grandfather Linley Sambourne as well as Nymans, the Messel family estate in West Sussex. David, Viscount Linley
, was born 3 November 1961, and a second child, Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones
, on 1 May 1964.
The marriage began to collapse very early and publicly. Various causes may have lain behind the failure. In 1953 Margaret had been dissuaded from accepting the proposal of Group Captain Peter Townsend. On her side there was a penchant for late-night partying, on Snowdon's, an undisguised sexual promiscuity. ("If it moves, he'll have it," was the summing up of one close friend.) To most of the girls who worked in his Pimlico Road studio, there seemed little doubt that Snowdon was gay; to which he himself responded, "I didn't fall in love with boys – but a few men have been in love with me." In his 2009 memoir, Redeeming Features, British interior decorator Nicholas Haslam
claims that he had an affair with Snowdon before the latter's marriage to Princess Margaret, and that Snowdon had also been the lover of another leading interior decorator, Tom Parr. Others have pointed out that both Snowdon and Margaret were stars in their own right, and were used to being the centre of attention, leading to clashes over primacy. Margaret was initially surprised that her husband had no intention of giving up his rising photographic career. Because Snowdon travelled around the world to complete assignments, he was often separated from his wife for many weeks.
Their break-up lasted sixteen years, accompanied by drugs, alcohol, and bizarre behaviour by both parties, such as Snowdon's leaving lists between the pages for her to find, of "things I hate about you". According to biographers Sarah Bradford and Anne de Courcy, one note read: "You look like a Jewish manicurist and I hate you". When high society palled, Snowdon would escape to a hideaway cottage with his lovers, or on overseas photographic assignments; most people, including the Royal Family, took his side.
The marriage ended in divorce in 1978, when Roddy Llewellyn
briefly entered Princess Margaret's life and Snowdon played the outraged husband.
In 2004 it was claimed that Snowdon fathered a daughter shortly before marrying Princess Margaret. Anne de Courcy reports the claim by Polly Fry, born in 1960, in the third week of Lord Snowdon's marriage to Princess Margaret, and brought up as a daughter of Jeremy Fry
, inventor and member of the Fry's chocolate family, and his first wife, Camilla, that she was in fact Snowdon's daughter. Fry asserted that a DNA
test in 2004 proved Snowdon's paternity. Jeremy Fry rejected her claim, and Snowdon denied having taken a DNA test.
, on 15 December 1978. Their only child, Frances Armstrong-Jones, was born seven months later, on 17 July 1979.
Lord and Lady Snowdon separated in 2000 after the revelation that Snowdon, then aged 67, had fathered a son, Jasper William Oliver Cable-Alexander (born 30 April 1998), with Melanie Cable-Alexander, an editor at Country Life
magazine.
age given him so that he could keep his seat in the House of Lords
after the hereditary peers had been excluded
. An offer of a life peerage was made to all hereditary peers of the first creation (i.e., those for whom a peerage was originally created, as opposed to those who inherited a peerage from an ancestor) at that time.
Royal Victorian Order
The Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...
, RDI
Royal Designers for Industry
Royal Designer for Industry is a distinction established by the British Royal Society of Arts in 1936, to encourage a high standard of industrial design and enhance the status of designers. It is awarded to people who have achieved "sustained excellence in aesthetic and efficient design for...
(born 7 March 1930) is an English photographer and film maker. He was married to Princess Margaret
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon was the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II and the younger daughter of King George VI....
, younger daughter of King George VI and younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II.
He is known professionally, and credited, simply as Snowdon.
Early life and career
Armstrong-Jones was born the only son from the marriage of the barristerBarrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
Ronald Armstrong-Jones
Ronald Armstrong-Jones
Major Ronald Owen Lloyd Armstrong-Jones, MBE, QC was a British soldier and the father of Antony Armstrong-Jones, the 1st Earl of Snowdon....
(1899–1966) and his first wife, Anne Messel (1902–1992, later Countess of Rosse
Earl of Rosse
Earl of Rosse is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of Ireland, both times for members of the Parsons family. It is not to be confused with the Scottish title of Earl of Ross. The Parsons family were originally an English family of which five brothers settled in Ireland during the...
).
His maternal great-grandfather was the Punch
Punch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
cartoonist Linley Sambourne
Edward Linley Sambourne
Edward Linley Sambourne was a cartoonist for Punch. He was born in Pentonville, London, the son of Edward Moot Sambourne....
(1844–1910) and his great-great-uncle Alfred Messel
Alfred Messel
Alfred Messel was one of the most well-known German architects at the turning point to the 20th century, creating a new style for buildings which bridged the transition from historicism to modernism...
was a well-known Berlin architect.
His parents separated when he was young and as a schoolboy he contracted polio. For the entire six months that he was in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
Royal Infirmary recuperating, his only family visits were from his sister Susan.
Armstrong-Jones was educated at Eton
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and Cambridge, where he studied architecture. While at Cambridge, he coxed
Coxswain (rowing)
In a crew, the coxswain is the member who sits in the stern facing the bow, steers the boat, and coordinates the power and rhythm of the rowers.- Role :The role of a coxswain within a crew is to:...
the winning Cambridge
Cambridge University Boat Club
The Cambridge University Boat Club is the rowing club of the University of Cambridge, England, located on the River Cam at Cambridge, although training primarily takes place on the River Great Ouse at Ely. The club was founded in 1828...
boat in the 1950 Boat Race.
After university, he took up a career as a photographer in fashion, design and theatre. As his career as a portraitist began to flourish, he became known for his royal studies, among which were the official portraits of Queen Elizabeth II, and the Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
for their 1957 tour of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
In the early 1960s, he became the artistic adviser of the Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
magazine, and by the 1970s had gained a reputation as one of Britain's most respected photographers. Though his work includes everything from fashion photography to documentary images of inner city life and the mentally ill, he is best known for his portraits of world notables (the National Portrait Gallery has more than 100 Snowdon portraits in its collection), many of them published in Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
, Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
, and The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
magazine. His subjects have included Barbara Cartland
Barbara Cartland
Dame Barbara Hamilton Cartland, DBE, CStJ , was an English author, one of the most prolific authors of the 20th century...
, Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
, Anthony Blunt
Anthony Blunt
Anthony Frederick Blunt , was a British art historian who was exposed as a Soviet spy late in his life.Blunt was Professor of the History of Art at the University of London, director of the Courtauld Institute of Art, Surveyor of the King's Pictures and London...
and J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
.
In 2001, Snowdon was given a retrospective exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, Photographs by Snowdon: A Retrospective, which later travelled to the Yale Center for British Art
Yale Center for British Art
The Yale Center for British Art is an art museum in New Haven, Connecticut at Yale University which houses the most comprehensive collection of British Art outside the United Kingdom...
. More than 180 of his photographs were displayed in an exhibition that honoured what the museums called "a rounded career with sharp edges."
He also co-designed, in 1960–1963, with Frank Newby
Frank Newby
Frank Newby was one of the leading structural engineers of the 20th Century, working with such architects as Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, Eero Saarinen, Cedric Price, James Stirling, and the practice of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill , and such engineers as Ove Arup and Felix Samuely.-Early life...
and Cedric Price
Cedric Price
Cedric Price was an English architect and influential teacher and writer on architecture.The son of an architect, Price was born in Stone, Staffordshire and studied architecture at Cambridge University Cedric Price (11 September 1934 – 10 August 2003) was an English architect and influential...
, the aviary of the London Zoo
London Zoo
London Zoo is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection for scientific study. It was eventually opened to the public in 1847...
. He also had a major role in designing the physical arrangements for the 1969 investiture of his nephew Prince Charles as Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
.
Personal life
He has been married twice. He was married first to Princess MargaretPrincess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon was the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II and the younger daughter of King George VI....
(1960 to 1978) and second to Lucy Mary Lindsay-Hogg (1978, separated 2000).
First marriage
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
. The couple made their home in apartments at Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace is a royal residence set in Kensington Gardens in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has been a residence of the British Royal Family since the 17th century and is the official London residence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke and...
. As he had been without title, he was created Earl of Snowdon and Viscount Linley of Nymans in the County of Sussex on 6 October 1961 due to concerns over the prospect of a British princess giving birth to a child without a title. The Snowdon title has centuries-old royal associations, since the name Snowdon was borne by the Welsh princes and the House of Gwynedd before 1282, though here it was granted as a nod to Armstrong-Jones's Welsh ancestry. A Barony of Snowdon (sometimes spelled Snaudon) was a subsidiary title of King George II's son Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales was a member of the House of Hanover and therefore of the Hanoverian and later British Royal Family, the eldest son of George II and father of George III, as well as the great-grandfather of Queen Victoria...
. The subsidiary Linley title honoured Lord Snowdon's great-grandfather Linley Sambourne as well as Nymans, the Messel family estate in West Sussex. David, Viscount Linley
David Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley
-Ancestry:-External links:* * * *...
, was born 3 November 1961, and a second child, Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones
Lady Sarah Chatto
The Lady Sarah Frances Elizabeth Chatto, née Armstrong-Jones , is the only daughter of the 1st Earl of Snowdon and Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, the second daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. She is 17th in line of succession to the thrones of each of the Commonwealth Realms;...
, on 1 May 1964.
The marriage began to collapse very early and publicly. Various causes may have lain behind the failure. In 1953 Margaret had been dissuaded from accepting the proposal of Group Captain Peter Townsend. On her side there was a penchant for late-night partying, on Snowdon's, an undisguised sexual promiscuity. ("If it moves, he'll have it," was the summing up of one close friend.) To most of the girls who worked in his Pimlico Road studio, there seemed little doubt that Snowdon was gay; to which he himself responded, "I didn't fall in love with boys – but a few men have been in love with me." In his 2009 memoir, Redeeming Features, British interior decorator Nicholas Haslam
Nicholas Haslam
Nicholas Ponsonby 'Nicky' Haslam is a British interior designer and socialite and founder of the London-based interior design firm NH Design Inc.-Background:...
claims that he had an affair with Snowdon before the latter's marriage to Princess Margaret, and that Snowdon had also been the lover of another leading interior decorator, Tom Parr. Others have pointed out that both Snowdon and Margaret were stars in their own right, and were used to being the centre of attention, leading to clashes over primacy. Margaret was initially surprised that her husband had no intention of giving up his rising photographic career. Because Snowdon travelled around the world to complete assignments, he was often separated from his wife for many weeks.
Their break-up lasted sixteen years, accompanied by drugs, alcohol, and bizarre behaviour by both parties, such as Snowdon's leaving lists between the pages for her to find, of "things I hate about you". According to biographers Sarah Bradford and Anne de Courcy, one note read: "You look like a Jewish manicurist and I hate you". When high society palled, Snowdon would escape to a hideaway cottage with his lovers, or on overseas photographic assignments; most people, including the Royal Family, took his side.
The marriage ended in divorce in 1978, when Roddy Llewellyn
Roddy Llewellyn
Sir Roderic Victor Llewellyn, 5th Baronet is a British baronet, landscape gardener, gardening journalist, author and television presenter...
briefly entered Princess Margaret's life and Snowdon played the outraged husband.
In 2004 it was claimed that Snowdon fathered a daughter shortly before marrying Princess Margaret. Anne de Courcy reports the claim by Polly Fry, born in 1960, in the third week of Lord Snowdon's marriage to Princess Margaret, and brought up as a daughter of Jeremy Fry
Jeremy Fry
Jeremy Joseph Fry was a British inventor, engineer, entrepreneur, adventurer and arts patron.-Early life:Born into the Fry family on May 19, 1924 in Bristol, he was the second son of Cecil Roderick Fry who as the last chairman of the J. S. Fry & Sons chocolate concern arranged for the sale of the...
, inventor and member of the Fry's chocolate family, and his first wife, Camilla, that she was in fact Snowdon's daughter. Fry asserted that a DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
test in 2004 proved Snowdon's paternity. Jeremy Fry rejected her claim, and Snowdon denied having taken a DNA test.
Second marriage
After his divorce from Princess Margaret, Lord Snowdon married Lucy Mary Lindsay-Hogg (née Davies), the former wife of film director Michael Lindsay-HoggMichael Lindsay-Hogg
Sir Michael Edward Lindsay-Hogg, 5th Baronet is a British television and stage director and an occasional writer and actor.-Background and early work:...
, on 15 December 1978. Their only child, Frances Armstrong-Jones, was born seven months later, on 17 July 1979.
Lord and Lady Snowdon separated in 2000 after the revelation that Snowdon, then aged 67, had fathered a son, Jasper William Oliver Cable-Alexander (born 30 April 1998), with Melanie Cable-Alexander, an editor at Country Life
Country Life (magazine)
Country Life is a British weekly magazine, based in London at 110 Southwark Street, and owned by IPC Media, a Time Warner subsidiary.- Topics :The magazine covers the pleasures and joys of rural life, as well as the concerns of rural people...
magazine.
Titles
- 7 March 1930 – 6 October 1961: Antony Armstrong-Jones, Esq.
- 6 October 1961 – 7 July 1969: The Rt Hon. The Earl of Snowdon
- 7 July 1969 - present: The Rt Hon. The Earl of Snowdon GCVO
Life peerage
On 16 November 1999 Lord Snowdon was created Baron Armstrong-Jones, of Nymans in the County of West Sussex. This was a life peerLife peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
age given him so that he could keep his seat in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
after the hereditary peers had been excluded
House of Lords Act 1999
The House of Lords Act 1999 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. The Act reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. For centuries, the House of Lords had included several hundred members who inherited their seats;...
. An offer of a life peerage was made to all hereditary peers of the first creation (i.e., those for whom a peerage was originally created, as opposed to those who inherited a peerage from an ancestor) at that time.
Honours
- GCVO: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian OrderRoyal Victorian OrderThe Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...
, 7 July 1969
Publications
- London. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1958. (A later edition has ISBN 0297167634.)
- Assignments. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1972. ISBN 0297995820.
- A View of Venice. [Ivrea]: Olivetti, c1972.
- Personal View. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1979. ISBN 0297777157.
- Snowdon Tasmania Essay. Hobart: Ronald Banks, 1981. ISBN 0858280078. Text by Trevor Wilson.
- Sittings, 1979–1983. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1983. ISBN 0297783149.
- Israel: A First View. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1986. ISBN 0297788604.
- Stills 1984–1987. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1987. ISBN 0297791850.
- Serendipity: A Light-hearted Look at People, Places and Things. Brighton: Royal Pavilion, Art Gallery & Museums, 1989. ISBN 0948723106.
- Public Appearances 1987–1991. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1991. ISBN 0297831224.
- Hong Kong: Portraits of Power. Boston: Little, Brown, 1995. ISBN 0316220523. Text by Evelyn Huang and Lawrence Jeffery.
- Wild Flowers. London: Pavilion, 1995. ISBN 185793783X.
- Snowdon on Stage: With a Personal View of the British Theatre 1954–1996. London: Pavilion, 1996. ISBN 1857939190.
- Wild Fruit. London: Bloomsbury, 1997. ISBN 0747537003. Text by Penny David.
- London: Sight Unseen. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1999. ISBN 0297824902. Text by Gwyn Headley.
- Photographs by Snowdon: A Retrospective. London: National Portrait Gallery, 2000. ISBN 1855142724.
- Snowdon. London: Chris Beetles Gallery, 2006. ISBN 1871136997.
External links
- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0811375/Earl of Snowdon at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
]