Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon

Born in 1930 as the second daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York, Margaret became second in line to the throne when her father unexpectedly became King George VI in 1936. She spent the war years at Windsor Castle and watched her sister take on public duties while she continued her education. Her father's death in 1952 coincided with her relationship with RAF officer Peter Townsend - a romance that drew intense public attention in the 1950s before she ended it under pressure from government and church. In 1960 she married photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, later Earl of Snowdon, and had two children, David and Sarah, before divorcing in 1978. Her private life and social circle remained constant tabloid material, and her divorce marked her as both a symbol of royal modernity and scandal. A heavy smoker, she suffered a series of strokes from 1998 and died in 2002 at 71.