Princess Margaret’s 1958 visit recalled fondly
It is a major thoroughfare on the north side of Belize City, and while most residents could readily identify it as Princess Margaret Drive, few will recall the woman whose 1958 visit gave the road its name. Princess Margaret died over the weekend and News 5’s Ann-Marie Williams takes a brief look back at her life.
Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting
The British Royal Family has lost a daughter and sister. Princess Margaret, the youngest sister of Queen Elizabeth II, suffered a stroke on Friday and died on Saturday at age seventy-one. She was born Princess Margaret Rose in Scotland, the second daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York, six years before her father became King George VI.
Princess Margaret was known as a fun-loving free spirit, having enjoyed a somewhat controversial love life. She eventually married photographer Anthony Armstrong-Jones in May 1960. The marriage, which eventually ended in divorce, produced two children.
A woman who put her private life ahead of her public duties, Margaret dreaded public appearances and ribbon cuttings. One woman who’s thankful for the princess’ appearance in Belize while on a West Indian tour back in 1958, is retired Wesley School teacher and pianist Victoria Cunningham. She met the princess when she was only eight years old.
Victoria Cunningham, Met Princess Margaret
“I represented Wesley Methodist School, and I had a partner here with me from the Catholic School, who gave her a box. I don’t know what was in the box, of course a gift, and I gave a bouquet. With her here is one of our old governors. His name was Sir Colin Farnley. I don’t know the priest name here for the Catholic Church.”
And how does Cunningham fell to have kept a snapshot of the princess and herself for forty-four years?
Victoria Cunningham
“Well of course, I can show them to my children and grandchildren, and I think they are proud of that.”
Ann-Marie Williams for News 5.
In case you didn’t recognise the music, it is “The Princess and the Cameraman” sung by the Mighty Sparrow.
