PAST TIMES: PRINCESS MARGARET

Royalty is, or once was, the height of privilege. Money helps, but it’s no substitute for blue blood. With privilege comes an attitude of what the Italians call menefreghismo: the act of simply not giving a damn. When, as with HRH The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, one also believes one’s self to be superior by dint of title, such behaviour is easy to adopt, even if it is not encouraged.

Unlike her sister Queen Elizabeth II, who is a paradigm of propriety, Margaret – knowing she was unlikely to sit on the throne – chose from an early age to enjoy herself at