The Queen’s closest friend was always her sister. She loved the mercurial, whisky-drinking, cigarette-smoking beauty whose life held such promise. She would tolerate in Margo, as she called her, things she wouldn’t consider in anyone else and, together with the Queen Mother, they formed a tight, impenetrable trio. They sometimes conversed in French (the Queen’s French is better than Philip’s, despite his cosmopolitan background) and they had no need to leave their own enclosed, privileged circle. If they could, they lunched together, dined together, holidayed together and spoke to each other on the telephone at least once a day. If the Queen Mother thought anyone in the family was shirking, she would tell her daughter to remind them of their duty or ‘devoir’ as she called it. Sometimes in a loud stage whisper she would say ‘devoir’, and the Queen knew exactly what she meant.

Prince Philip was wary of the trio. The popular conception is that Margaret and Philip never particularly liked one another. That is not true, but when she was younger Margaret said she found him ‘cold’. He made a play of his disapproval of her and subjected her to his constant sarcastic teasing, but she became used to him and would not allow him to upset her. Eventually her wit triumphed over his and they became sparring equals, if not the closest friends, and her only comment on him was that she liked him. He was there for her when she needed him as an impassive and often wise counsellor, who was not swayed by the snobbery or restrictions of those rather pretentious times. Philip had been an outsider, Townsend was made an outsider and Margaret became an outsider by her own volition.

As far as the Townsend affair was concerned, Philip kept out of it as much as possible, only listening to what he was told and then trying to make light of it. He recognised that his duty lay with his wife and trying to keep her on an even keel when dealing with the dramas caused by her sister and Townsend’s love. In November 1952, Townsend had told both him and the Queen that he and Margaret were madly in love and wanted to marry, for which he had to obtain her consent. He had just obtained his divorce, but chose not to inform the Queen Mother of his intentions regarding her daughter for another three months. Philip’s advice to his wife was to keep as quiet as possible, unless there was something constructive they could do. Eventually she suggested that they wait while she went on her Commonwealth tour in 1953, perhaps hoping things would blow over and thus avoiding any sort of repetition of the scandal with Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson.