Fact or Fiction: Decoding The Crown Season 6
Elizabeth and Margaret’s VE Day Adventure
“Ritz,” which portrays the heartbreaking decline of Princess Margaret, also contains a moment of pure joy.
In a flashback, 15-year-old Margaret (Beau Gadsdon) convinces 19-year-old Elizabeth (Viola Prettejohn) to sneak out of Buckingham Palace with her on Victory in Europe Day, May 8, 1945. They make their way to the Ritz London, where the refined celebration in the ballroom is overshadowed by the lively party downstairs.
Elizabeth spends the night dancing and even shares a kiss with a soldier, a secret she confides in Margaret as they drunkenly return home the next morning. The future queen makes her sister promise to keep it quiet.
While there is no exact record of their escapade, they were permitted to join the festive crowd outside the palace, as documented in Ann Morrow’s The Queen. The girls sang, danced, and even joined conga lines with strangers.
In both versions of the story, Margaret’s future love Peter Townsend was there to look out for them.
This unforgettable evening in The Crown inspires a frail Margaret to celebrate her 70th birthday at the Ritz, which did happen in real life on Oct. 25, 2000. Despite enduring pain from severe burns on her legs and feet from a bathtub accident the year before, she arrived in a Rolls Royce and entered the hotel unassisted.