Inside the sordid past of Adelaide Cottage as Kate and William plan move
07.05.2022 - 11:35
/ ok.co.uk
If walls could talk, then Adelaide Cottage, rumoured future Windsor home of Kate, Will and their children, could have a tale to tell that is both shocking and heart breaking. As the one time home of handsome pilot Group Captain Peter Townsend, the cosy country retreat close to Windsor Castle is thought to be the place where the former equerry to the Royal family and The Queen’s younger sister, Princess Margaret, first fell in love.Their passionate romance led to one of the biggest scandals of the post-war 20th century, exactly 70 years ago, when the secret of the pair’s long-running affair became public in 1952 and they were refused permission to marry because Townsend was by then a divorced man.
The key part played by Adelaide Cottage in the ill-fated relationship dates back to the time when Townsend moved there with his wife, Rosemary, and their young son Giles. Peter was working as an officer on the staff of King George VI who was then resident at Windsor Castle with the Queen and their two daughters.The officer was granted the reportedly modest house as a grace and favour home nearby.
At that time it was described as an old-fashioned, “poky and unattractive” residence, hidden behind a 10ft tall privet hedge, with limited electricity supply, but the Townsends made do.The two families were evidently close, with the King becoming godfather to the couple’s second son Hugo, born at Winsdor in 1945, and all the Royals attending the christening tea at Adelaide Cottage. After that it seems the teenage Princess Margaret and her older sister, then Princess Elizabeth, were frequent visitors to the Townsend family at home, especially on Sundays.
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