The shocking reasons Princess Margaret took a dislike to American society hostess Elsa Maxwell
'The snooty B****!' squealed the showbiz celebrity when she discovered Princess Margaret had stolen her flowers. 'What a right royal pain in the ***!'
The celebrity was society hostess and TV star Elsa Maxwell, who had flown to London at her own expense to take part in a West End charity production which also starred Princess Diana's stepmother, Raine Spencer.
Alongside Elsa onstage were various members of British nobility including Margaret's ex-boyfriend Colin Tennant, another ex, Lord Porchester, gay courtier Lord Plunket and her current beau Billy Wallace.
Running for three nights only, the show was a flop. But that wasn't the reason Elsa was in a snit.
Princess Margaret, the play's co-producer, blamed her failure on the audience 'laughing in all the wrong places' – but she saved her special ire for the roly-poly Maxwell, who'd part-funded the production with a handsome cheque for £500 (£19,000 today).
Margaret - the pin-up princess of the day - hated Maxwell's brash laugh, ungainly figure, her lowly origins and the fact she was a lesbian.
Others felt more warmly towards her. 'On the opening night, banks of flowers crowded Elsa's dressing-room sent by well wishers of the London smart set,' wrote her biographer Sam Staggs enthusiastically.
Princess Margaret arrived with Billy Wallace, Colin Tennant and other members of the cast at Scala Theatre for a rehearsal of The Frog
Elsa Maxwell with Peter Ward during the full dress rehearsal for The Frog. Maxwell was known as the Dowager Queen of international high society and appeared in the charity performance of Edgar Wallace's thriller, performed in the Scala Theatre
Going over the script at a full rehearsal of The Frog are Viscountess Norwich, Lord Plunket (wearing glasses) and Fred Warner
'On the second night Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh, with other members of the royal family, sat in the front row of the balcony.
'When she entered her dressing room to change into her costume, Elsa found that all her flowers had gone – removed to the balcony to honour the royal visitors, without so much as a by-your-leave.'
The mouthy Iowa-born celebrity spat out her epithets about Margaret, then strode angrily on to the stage.
Later, calming down, she added, 'The princess was not nearly as charming or as nice as I'd imagined her. I realised that she was thoughtless and heedless. To top it off, she didn't even bother to thank me for coming to England at my own expense or giving up two weeks to devote myself to her charity, in the most idiotic and senseless performance of my life.'
The play was an adaptation of The Frog, a drama by Ian Hay based on a thriller by Edgar Wallace.
Others among the cast were the Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava playing a ladies' lavatory attendant, fabled socialite Lady Diana Cooper and the Hollywood star Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
But Noel Coward, sitting in the audience with British Hollywood goddess Vivien 'Gone With The Wind' Leigh, hated it.
'One of the most fascinating exhibitions of incompetence, conceit and bloody impertinence I have ever seen in my life,' he spluttered.
Society actress Elsa Maxwell arrives into Victoria Station to take part in The Frog in aid of charity
Elsa Maxwell with Queen Camilla's great-grandmother, the Hon. Mrs George Keppel, who was Edward VII's mistress
Elsa was also great friends with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor until there was a massive falling out over a famous Hollywood actress
'Elsa Maxwell appeared in a cabaret scene and made a complete ass of herself. These high-born people we watched mumbling and stumbling about on stage are the ones who come to our stage productions and criticise us!'
He thundered on, 'In the dressing room afterwards we found Princess Margaret eating foie gras sandwiches, sipping champagne and complaining about the audience.'
The Tory MP Henry 'Chips' Channon was just as dismissive.
'London society is obsessed by this production of The Frog,' he commented. 'One hears of nothing else.
'Princess Margaret – now known as "Maggot", "Princess Midget", "Lilliput" or "Her Royal Lowness" [she was going through an unpopular phase] – is the prime mover. She is obsessed by the production, attends all the rehearsals and bullies everyone.'
As the final curtain dropped, and bruised by the critical reaction, the 23-year-old princess gave up her ambitions to become a West End producer.
Meanwhile at the same time Elsa Maxwell was having a massive falling-out with another fabled royal - the Duchess of Windsor. Their subsequent feud made headlines around the world for the next three years.
Wallis Simpson's feud with Elsa Maxwell made headlines around the world for the years
Relations soured when Elsa invited Marilyn Monroe, then at the very peak of her fame, to a New York ball she'd organised. The Duchess of Windsor thought she was going to be the headline-grabber, but got pushed to one side for the actress
The Duchess of Windsor was quoted as dubbing Elsa 'an old oaken bucket in the Well of Loneliness' - a sly reference to the notorious lesbian novel by Radclyffe Hall
Until then Elsa and her lifelong partner, Scottish aristocrat Dorothy 'Dickie' Fellowes-Gordon, had been intimate friends of the Windsors, often staying with them in the South of France.
She'd made her name as a gossip columnist, author, songwriter, screenwriter, radio personality and professional hostess, and was renowned for her parties for royalty and high society figures. She knew everybody, even including Queen Camilla's great-grandmother Alice Keppel.
She was as famous as the people she wrote about - appearing as herself in the films Stage Door Canteen and Rhapsody in Blue, as well as co-starring in the film Hotel for Women. Film legends such as Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren and Marlene Dietrich begged to be invited to her parties.
And the Duke and Duchess of Windsor fell for her raffish charm.
But relations soured when Elsa invited Marilyn Monroe, then at the very peak of her fame, to a New York ball she'd organised. The Duchess thought she was going to be the headline-grabber, but got pushed to one side in the rush to get close to the Hollywood star.
The feud which followed kept gossip-columnists in business for the next three years, culminating in the Duchess being quoted as dubbing Elsa 'an old oaken bucket in the Well of Loneliness' - a sly reference to the notorious lesbian novel by Radclyffe Hall. Wallis particularly disapproved of Elsa's obsessive love for the opera singer Maria Callas, forty years her junior, who rejected her advances.
Eventually the duchess and the socialite made it up – but by then Elsa had had enough of the British royals.
She never invited them to her parties ever again.
