Wwii Pilot, Who Wooed Princess In Vain, Dies Dashing Captain Townsend Was Battle Of Britain Hero

Group Captain Peter Townsend, the dashing Battle of Britain pilot who won the heart of Princess Margaret but lost her in a “duty before love” controversy in the 1950s, has died in France at the age of 80.

He died Monday night of cancer, Buckingham Palace announced.

Townsend, a gallant hero who fought the Nazis in the skies over Britain in 1940, was equerry to King George VI from 1944 to 1952, and in that capacity met Princess Margaret, the King’s younger daughter. She was 13, and he was 29.

Over the years, their friendship ripened. But as a divorced man, Townsend was considered unacceptable as a royal husband to many members of the royal family, the Church of England and the political Establishment.

Townsend was exiled as military attache in Brussels to give the romance a cooling-off period, but when he returned he renewed his relationship with the princess. The media treated their romance as one of the century’s great love stories. Popular feeling seemed to side with the princess and the pilot.

Princess Margaret was expected to announce plans for their marriage in the fall of 1955, in what was anticipated as the most moving royal statement since her uncle, King dward VIII, announced his abdication to marry a divorced American.

Instead, she began: “I would like it to be known that I have decided not to marry Group Captain Townsend.”

In 1959, Townsend married a Belgian, Marie-Luce Jamagne, and settled in St.-Leger-en-Yvelines, west of Paris. She survives Townsend.

In his autobiography, Townsend maintained a discreet silence on the details of the romance with the princess.

But he said: “She could have married me only if she had been prepared to give up everything - her position, her prestige, her privy purse. I simply hadn’t the weight, I knew it, to counterbalance all she would have lost.”

In 1960, Princess Margaret married photographer Anthony ArmstrongJones, who was created the Earl of Snowden. They divorced 16 years later. She did not remarry.

Princess Margaret was sad to learn of Townsend’s death, Buckingham Palace said Tuesday.

Flying Spitfires and Hurricanes, Peter Townsend shot down 11 enemy planes in World War II, including the first German bomber to crash in England. He was decorated several times for valor.

He sold his 12 war medals for $35,200 in 1983 to set up a trust fund for children who have suffered in war.

In France, Townsend lived a quiet life as a United Nations adviser and author of six books.