A tale of two princesses

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Q.� Why was the Dutch princess's love story so much happier than that of the UK's Margaret asked Seeker.< xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

A.� They're two different families, I suppose - although there are some blood ties. And remember - the two stories were told in different ages.

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Q.� Let's have some background.

A.� OK - first the Dutch wedding. The bridegroom - Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of Orange - was a playboy. The bride - investment banker Maxima Zorreguieta - is daughter of a former minister in Argentina's cruel military dictatorship.

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That didn't go down well in the famously liberal Netherlands. Jorge Zorreguieta was agriculture minister for two years during Jorge Videla's military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983, when up to 30,000 people - 'the disappeared' - were murdered. That shocked the famously liberal Dutch people. At the time the engagement was announced, there were calls for Willem-Alexander, 34, to renounce his right to the throne.

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Q.� How was that overcome

A.� Maxima, 30, quickly denounced the regime her father had served and said he would not be attending the Amsterdam wedding. Things were made more complicated because she is a Catholic and married into one of the most famous Protestant families.

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Q.� So the wedding passed peacefully

A.� No. Afterwards the ceremony - attended by Prince Charles, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan and Nelson Mandela - the couple toured the narrow streets and bridges in their golden carriage amid cheering crowds. A paint bomb was thrown, but footmen quickly wiped the smears from the coach window. At a gala concert for 50,000 people the night before the wedding, protesters handed out photographs of 'the disappeared'.

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And after the civil ceremony, the marriage was blessed at the 15th-century Nieuwe Kerk, on Dam Square, which was decorated with 30,000 flowers. 'There are 30,000 flowers in the church, almost one for each of the disappeared,' said one protester. Jan van Walsem, a Dutch MP, said: 'This marriage has brought shame not only on the Dutch royal family but also on the nation. Do Kofi Annan and Nelson Mandela, world symbols for human rights and democracy, know who they are really shaking hands with '

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Q.� And are the omens good

A.� Yes. Despite fears of a constitutional crisis and demands that the prince should choose between his love and the throne, Maxima almost single-handedly won over the Netherlands and is now being called 'the Dutch Diana'. Let's hope she's happier than that princess.

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Q.� What about poor old Margaret

A.� Poor That's not an adjective everyone would use. Margaret died after a third stroke and a life filled with parties. She was a chain-smoker - up to 60 cigarettes a day, smoked through an elegant holder - loved her whisky, her men - and wouldn't allow anyone to leave a party before her. Her health suffered as a result.

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Q.� And her reputation

A.� Yes - but that didn't bother her. The only time she was offended by press tittle-tattle was when it was suggested she didn't earn her money from the Civil List. Outrageous, she said. Her public duties were exceeded only by her big sister (or Her Majesty The Queen, as she insisted upon her being called).

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Q.� How did her romances go so bad

A.� Her first love was Group Captain Peter Townsend, an equerry to King George VI. She was 14 when they met. He was married, but soon to divorce his unfaithful wife. The romance was kept secret - until the press noticed her pick a thread off his jacket at the Coronation in 1953. Such an intimate moment revealed the romance. But he was divorced: this was high scandal and Margaret was told in no uncertain terms that if she married him, she would have to give up everything and become a commoner. She decided to stay royal.

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Q.� Her marriage

A.� To the rather racy Old Etonian photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1960. They seemed well-suited. Both were bohemian and party animals. He was awarded the title Lord Snowdon. They had two children but soon began to argue in public. The separation was announced on the same day as Prime Minister Harold Wilson's resignation in 1976. This was the first royal marriage failure of the 20th Century.

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Q.� Where does Roddy come in

A.� Roddy Llewellyn had already been on the scene for a couple of years. The society gardener often accompanied Margaret on holiday to the Caribbean island of Mustique. They had split up by 1980, although they apparently remained friends. Llewellyn married a fashion designer in 1981. Snowdon married his mistress, Mrs Lucy Lindsay-Hogg, in December 1978.

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Q.� So what next for Margaret

A.� The troubled princess entered a more tranquil period of life. She took on many more royal engagements, but in 1985 was taken to hospital to have part of her lung removed. She also suffered hepatitis and gastro-enteritis, both results of her drinking.

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There were a succession of men friends and she retained a hope of falling in love and marrying again, although that would have required an Act of Parliament. She told a biographer: 'Remarriage would be a devil of a problem and one would not want to be a bind to one's family. But if one did find somebody nice...'

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But it was not to be. All that followed was ill-health ... and no fairytale ending for this beautiful princess.

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Steve Cunningham