Peter Townsend
Captain Peter Wooldridge Townsend, CVO, DSO, DFC and Helm, RAF (November 22, 1914 - June 19, 1995) was equerry to King George VI 1944-1952 and held the same position for Queen Elizabeth II 1952-1953.
He was born in 1914 in Rangoon, Burma and was educated at Haileybury School. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1933, and trained at Cranwell. He served in training command, and as a flight instructor at RAF Montrose. He was posted to RAF Tangmere in 1937. By 1940, now a squadron leader, he was attached to 43 Squadron. He was a wing commander on night operations, at RAF Hunsdon from 1941 , and became commanding officer that the RAF drew and 611 Squadron, a Spitfire unit.
On July 17, 1941 he married (Cecil) Rosemary Pawle (1921-2004) with whom he had two sons, Giles (b. 1942) and Hugo (b. 1945). They divorced in 1952 and Rosemary later married John de László (son of the painter Philip de László) and became the third wife of the 5th Marquess Camden in 1978.
Townsend was one of the notable pilots of Britain serving battle by battle as Co Sans. 85 Squadron that flew Hawker Hurricanes, continuing to lead the unit even after being rolled into action.
Townsend was a later leader of 605 Squadron, a night fighter unit, and attended the Staff College from October 1942. In January 1943 he was appointed Officer Commanding of RAF Western Malling . He was promoted to group captain in 1948.
In 1944 he was appointed Provisional Equerry to His Majesty the King. In the same year the appointment was made permanent, and he served until 1953, when he became an additional equerry, an honorary office he held until his death. In August 1950 he was made Deputy Master of the Household, and was moved to Controller at the Queen's Mother in 1952. He retired from the Royal Household in the following year, and was Air Attaché in Brussels 1953 1956 .
Group Captain Townsend is best known for his ill-fated romance with Princess Margaret. Despite his distinguished career, as a divorced man, there was no chance of marriage to the Princess, and their relationship caused enormous controversy in the early 1950s. He later married a Belgian woman, Marie -Luce Jamagne.
He was one of several military advisers to the 1968 film Battle of Britain.
Peter Townsend spent many of his later years writing non-fiction books. Books by Peter Townsend include "Land My Friend" [about him driving/boating around the world alone in the mid-1950s] "Eagles," [about the Battle of Britain], "The Luck Against Us (also known as Duel in Darkness) [about fighting Luftwaffe night bombers in 1940-1941], "The Last Emperor" [A biography of King George VI] , the Girl in the White Boat [about a young refugee from Vietnam in the late 70s who was the sole survivor of his refugee boat] and the Nagasaki Postman [about the atomic bombing of Nagasaki], and "Time and Chance," [an autobiography]. They also write many small articles and contribute to other books.
He was CVO (1947), DSO (1941), and DFC (1940 and bar). Townsend died 1995 in Rambouillet, France.
His son Giles Townsend is president of the "Cambridge Bomber and Fighter Society"; his son Hugo Townsend is married to Yolande, Princess of Ligne.