02-08-2025
This royal biography is clutching at straws
She points out that the late Queen's sister, who died in 2002 aged 72, had stunted growth, struggled to learn how to write and suffered mood swings as well as painful migraines.
But isn't this yet another case of trying to medicalise everyday problems? Margaret had none of the more obvious symptoms of FAS, such as smooth lip philtrum, small eyes, and a flattened mid she was small, at 5 ft 1, but her mother was only an inch taller.
FAS sufferers have difficulties with social skills, but the princess was the life and soul of any party. They also have difficulty with fine motor skills and yet Margaret was an accomplished pianist.
Sure, she was impulsive and would 'blurt out the truth' – but the same can probably be said of most royals and aristocrats of her era!
While the Queen Mother did enjoy 'a tipple' later in life, as attested by her official biographer William Shawcross, there is no evidence she was an alcoholic – least of all when she gave birth to her daughters in 1926 and 1930.
Indeed, in a 1925 letter to her husband, cited by Secrest, she reveals that she has lost her appetite for wine in pregnancy, joking: 'It will be a tragedy if I never recover my drinking powers.' Despite enjoying gin and Dubonnet, wine, port and martinis, she lived to 101. Very heavy drinkers don't tend to become centenarians!
