Princess Margaret ‘left with foetal alcohol syndrome from Queen Mother's drinking'
The syndrome is caused by a developing baby's exposure to alcohol in the womb, and can give the child distinctive facial features and cause difficulties with learning, impulse control and managing emotions.
Meryle Secrest, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated biographer, has re-examined the princess's personality and personal struggles in light of greater knowledge about the condition.
Princess Margaret and the Curse, Secrest's forthcoming unofficial biography, speculates that the princess, who died in 2002 aged 72, suffered from an 'invisible disability' brought on by foetal alcohol syndrome.
The book says that while Margaret lacked the syndrome's tell-tale smooth lip philtrum and small eyes, she did display characteristic mood ,swings, stunted growth, difficulties learning how to write, and painful migraines.
It cites accounts of the Queen Mother's drinking in later life, when it was claimed by a former equerry that during the day she would enjoy gin and Dubonnet: two parts pink vermouth to one part gin, as well as wine and port, until the 6pm 'magic hour' when martinis would be prepared.
Foetal alcohol syndrome was not well understood until the 1970s, the book states, and it is likely that the young Queen Mother would have not been advised to avoid alcohol during her pregnancy with Margaret.
But the book says that in the Queen Mother's letters from the time of her pregnancy with Elizabeth II, she writes that she could not bear the thought of wine, suggesting that she may have drunk less when expecting the future queen.
A 1925 letter to the future King George VI said: 'The sight of wine simply turns me up! Isn't it extraordinary! It will be a tragedy if I never recover my drinking powers.'
The book puts forward no claim that the late Queen suffered from any condition.
Secrest, who was awarded a medal for her work in 2006 by George W Bush, the former US president, has looked at Margaret's life and compared it to typical cases of foetal alcohol syndrome.
Now 95, the biographer notes that children with the syndrome may typically misbehave and have difficulty regulating their behaviour and emotions.
The biography claims that Margaret's family and her nurses found her to be 'naughty' and 'mischievous and provocative', at one point sinking a boat during a rowing lesson by removing the plug in the hull.
She was also impulsive and would 'blurt out the truth', it is claimed, as can be common among those with foetal alcohol syndrome. The Princess suffered a nervous breakdown in 1974.
Her later private life would also raise eyebrows. Her marriage to Lord Snowdon ended in divorce after both partners had extra-marital affairs.
The book notes that sufferers of foetal alcohol syndrome often have stunted growth. Margaret was recorded as being 5ft 1in.
Additionally, it is claimed she had a poor awareness of physical danger, another effect of the syndrome, citing her apparent indifference to setting her hair on fire during a family get-together.
Secrest has cited the work of Dr Kenneth Jones, a leading expert in foetal alcohol syndrome, who first properly identified the issue in 1973.
There is no firm evidence that Margaret suffered from an alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder, and the new biography has been written by comparing Margaret's life – as attested in pre-existing written sources – with those who have suffered from the condition.
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