Peter Townsend was a British Royal Air Force officer, flying ace, courtier, and author. He was a senior attendant to King George VI from 1944 to 1952 and held the same position for Queen Elizabeth II from 1952 to 1953. Townsend was one of the most capable squadron leaders of the Battle of Britain, serving throughout the battle as commanding officer.
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Townsend notably had a romance with Princess Margaret, the Queen’s only sibling. In the Netflix series, Ben Miles portrayed the role of Townsend. Although the series is about Queen Elizabeth II as she took to the throne, Princess Margaret stole the show with her fun-loving nature.
Margaret played by British actress Vanessa Kirby was caught in a clash of loyalty when she was forced to choose between Royal duty and the man she loves who was a divorced royal equerry Peter Townsend.
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Long before they both fell in love, Peter had served in the Indian Civil Service, when he returned to Britain. It was Peter%u2019s divorced status that made it impossible for the Princess to marry him, as both the Church of England and parliament suggested they were firmly against the couple getting married.
Even though both Townsend and Margaret went on to marry others%u2014with Margaret%u2019s marriage to photographer Anthony Armstrong-Jones which ended in a scandalous divorce%u2014Townsend was always considered to be the great love of Princess Margaret%u2019s life.
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Townsend spent most of his later years writing non-fiction books. His books include Earth My Friend which is about driving/boating around the world alone in the mid-1950s, Duel of Eagles talks about the Battle of Britain to name a few.
