Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon

Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon
Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, (7 March 1930 – 13 January 2017) was a British photographer and filmmaker. He is best known for his portraits of world notables, many of them published in Vogue, Vanity Fair, The Sunday Times Magazine, The Sunday Telegraph Magazine, and other major venues; more than 280 of his photographs are in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery.
He contracted polio as a teenager, which left him with a shortened leg and a limp. As a result, in adulthood, Snowdon was a fierce and tireless campaigner for disabled people, and over several decades achieved dozens of groundbreaking political, economic, structural, transportation, and educational reforms for persons with any type of disability.
From 1960 to 1978, he was married to Princess Margaret, the sister of Queen Elizabeth II.
Early life
Armstrong-Jones was born at Eaton Terrace in Belgravia, central London, the only son of the marriage of the Welsh barrister Ronald Armstrong-Jones (1899–1966) and his first wife, Anne Messel (later Countess of Rosse; 1902–1992). He was called "Tony" by his close relatives.
Armstrong-Jones's paternal grandfather was Sir Robert Armstrong-Jones, a Welsh psychiatrist. His paternal grandmother, Margaret Armstrong-Jones (née Roberts), was a graduate of Somerville College, Oxford, and was the daughter of Sir Owen Roberts, the Welsh educationalist. Armstrong-Jones's mother's family was of German-Jewish descent. A maternal uncle was the stage designer Oliver Messel (1904–1978); a maternal great-grandfather was the Punch cartoonist Linley Sambourne (1844–1910); and his great-great-uncle Alfred Messel was a Berlin architect. Additionally, his great-great-grandmother, Frances Linley, was a first cousin of Elizabeth Linley, wife of Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
Armstrong-Jones's parents divorced in early 1935, before his fifth birthday. His mother remarried later that year.
As a 16-year-old he contracted polio while on holiday in Wales; during the six months that he was in the Liverpool Royal Infirmary recuperating, the only visitor from his family was his sister Susan. The illness left him with a withered left leg, one inch shorter than the other, and a slight permanent limp.
Education
Armstrong-Jones was educated at two private boarding schools: first at Sandroyd School in Wiltshire from the autumn term of 1938 to 1943. After Sandroyd he attended Eton College, beginning in the autumn term ("Michaelmas half") of 1943. In March 1945, he qualified in the "extra special weight" class of the School Boxing Finals. He continued to box in 1946, gaining at least two flattering mentions in the Eton College Chronicle. In 1947, he was a coxswain in Eton's traditional "Fourth of June" Daylight Procession of Boats.
He then matriculated at the University of Cambridge, where he studied architecture at Jesus College but failed his second-year exams. He coxed the winning Cambridge boat in the 1950 Boat Race.
Career
After university, Armstrong-Jones began a career as a photographer in fashion, design and theatre. His stepmother had a friend who knew Baron the photographer; Baron visited Armstrong-Jones in his London flat, which doubled as his work studio. Baron, impressed, agreed to bring on Armstrong-Jones as an apprentice, first on a fee-paying basis but eventually, as his talent and skills became apparent to Baron, as a salaried associate.
Much of his early commissions were theatrical portraits, often with recommendations from his uncle Oliver Messel, and "society" portraits highly favoured in Tatler, which, in addition to buying many of his photographs, gave him byline credit for the captions. He later became known for his royal studies, among which were the official portraits of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh during their 1957 tour of Canada. He was also an early contributor to Queen magazine, the magazine owned by his friend Jocelyn Stevens.
As husband of Princess Margaret his first solo public engagement was to present the 1960 National Challenge Trophies for the trade organisation the Photographic Information Council's School Photography competition entries from 200 schools in Britain with active camera clubs, at the opening of an exhibition of the work on 7 December 1960, news of which event was covered in American and Australian newspapers as well as in England.
As the husband of a royal, he was granted the title Earl of Snowdon (Lord Snowdon) in October 1961.
In the early 1960s, Snowdon became the artistic adviser of The Sunday Times Magazine, and by the 1970s had established himself as one of Britain's most respected photographers. Though his work included everything from fashion photography to documentary images of inner-city life and the mentally ill, he is best known for his portraits of world notables, many of them published in Vogue, Vanity Fair, The Sunday Times Magazine, and The Sunday Telegraph Magazine. His subjects included Marlene Dietrich, Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Leslie Caron, Lynn Fontanne, David Bowie, Elizabeth Taylor, Rupert Everett, Anthony Blunt, David Hockney, Princess Grace of Monaco, Diana, Princess of Wales, Barbara Cartland, Raine Spencer (when she was Lady Lewisham), Desmond Guinness, British prime minister Harold Macmillan, Iris Murdoch, Tom Stoppard, Vladimir Nabokov, and J. R. R. Tolkien. More than 280 of his photographs are in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery.
In 1968, he made his first documentary film, Don't Count the Candles, for the US television network CBS, on the subject of aging. It won seven awards, including two Emmys. This was followed by Love of a Kind (1969), about the British and animals, Born to Be Small (1971) about people of restricted growth and Happy Being Happy (1973).
In October 1981, a group portrait by Snowdon of the British rock band Queen was used on the cover of their Greatest Hits album. A Snowdon portrait of Freddie Mercury was used in 2000 on the cover of Mercury's compilation box set The Solo Collection.
In 2000, Snowdon was given a retrospective exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, Photographs by Snowdon: A Retrospective, which travelled to the Yale Center for British Art the following year. More than 180 of his photographs were displayed in an exhibition that honoured what the museums called "a rounded career with sharp edges".
Snowdon was an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society—he was awarded the Hood Medal of the Society in 1978 and the Progress Medal in 1985.
In 2006, Tomas Maier, creative director of the Italian fashion brand Bottega Veneta, brought in Snowdon to photograph his Autumn/Winter 2006 campaign.
Designs and inventions
Snowdon co-designed (in 1963, with Frank Newby and Cedric Price) the "Snowdon Aviary" of the London Zoo (which opened in 1964); he later said it was one of his creations of which he was most proud, and affectionately called it the "birdcage". He also had a major role in designing the physical arrangements for the 1969 investiture of his nephew Prince Charles as Prince of Wales.
He was granted a patent for a type of electric wheelchair in 1971.
Philanthropy and charity
During his royal marriage, he was patron of the National Youth Theatre, the Contemporary Art Society for Wales, the Welsh Theatre Company, and the Civic Trust for Wales. He was also President of the British Theatre Museum.
In the 1960s he served as a council member of the Polio Research Fund, later renamed the National Fund for Research into Crippling Diseases. He served as a trustee of the National Fund for Research into Crippling Diseases, since renamed Action Medical Research.
In June 1980, Snowdon started an award scheme for disabled students. This scheme, administered by the Snowdon Trust, provides grants and scholarships for students with disabilities. He was president for England of the International Year of Disabled Persons in 1981.
He was provost of the Royal College of Art from 1995 to 2003.
Personal life
Snowdon was married twice, first to Princess Margaret (1960 to 1978) and secondly to Lucy Mary Lindsay-Hogg (1978 to 2000).
First marriage
In February 1960, Snowdon, then known as Antony Armstrong-Jones, became engaged to the Queen's sister, Princess Margaret, and they married on 6 May 1960 at Westminster Abbey. The ceremony was the first royal wedding to be broadcast on television. Despite the enthusiasm of the public, some critics disapproved of a commoner marrying into the royal family. The couple made their home in apartments at Kensington Palace. He was created Earl of Snowdon and Viscount Linley, of Nymans in the County of Sussex, on 6 October 1961. The couple had two children: David, 2nd Earl of Snowdon, born 3 November 1961, and Lady Sarah, born 1 May 1964.
The marriage began to collapse early and publicly; various causes may have been behind the failure. On Margaret's end there was her penchant for late-night partying, while on Snowdon's part there was his undisguised sexual addiction ("'If it moves, he'll have it', was the summing-up of one close friend"). Anne de Courcy, in her 2008 authorised biography, writes "'[T]o most of the girls who worked in the Pimlico Road studio, there seemed little doubt that Tony was gay'. To which Tony responds: 'I didn't fall in love with boys – but a few men have been in love with me.'" De Courcy reveals a series of affairs with women, including a 20-year relationship with his mistress Ann Hills, and that Snowdon did not deny that he was bisexual.
In his 2009 memoir, Redeeming Features, British interior designer Nicky Haslam claimed that he had an affair with Snowdon before the latter's marriage to Princess Margaret and that Snowdon had also been the lover of Tom Parr, another leading interior designer.
The couple remained married for eighteen years. "They were both pretty strong-willed and accustomed to having their own way, so there were bound to be collisions", according to de Courcy. His work also consumed a great deal of time. "She expected her husband to be with her more, but one of Tony's strongest motivations was work." The marriage was accompanied by drugs, alcohol, and bizarre behaviour by both parties, such as his leaving lists of "things I hate about you" for the princess to find between the pages of books she read. According to biographer Sarah Bradford, one note read: "You look like a Jewish manicurist and I hate you". According to biographer de Courcy, "Most people, including the Royal Family, took his side."
When high society palled for Snowdon, he would escape to a hideaway cottage with his lovers or on overseas photographic assignments. Among Snowdon's lovers in the late 1960s was Lady Jacqueline Rufus-Isaacs, daughter of the 3rd Marquess of Reading. In spite of her own affairs, Margaret was said to be particularly upset when hearing about this woman. They separated in 1976, and the marriage ended in divorce in 1978.
In 2004, The Sunday Telegraph reported that Snowdon had fathered an illegitimate daughter shortly before marrying Princess Margaret. Polly Fry, born on 28 May 1960 in the third week of Lord Snowdon's marriage to Princess Margaret, was brought up as a daughter of Jeremy Fry, inventor and member of the Fry's chocolate family, and his wife Camilla. Polly Fry asserted that a DNA test in 2004 proved Snowdon's paternity. Jeremy Fry rejected her claim, and Snowdon denied having taken a DNA test. However, four years later, after Fry had died, Snowdon admitted that this account was true.
Second marriage
After his divorce from Princess Margaret, Lord Snowdon married Lucy Mary Lindsay-Hogg (née Davies), the former wife of Sir Michael Lindsay-Hogg, 5th Baronet, in December 1978. In 1979 they had a daughter, Lady Frances Armstrong-Jones, who became a designer and board member of the Snowdon Trust. In 2006 Frances married Rodolphe von Hofmannsthal, the great-grandson of Hugo von Hofmannsthal.
From 1976 until 1996, Snowdon also had a mistress, journalist Ann Hills. She died by suicide on 31 December 1996.
Snowdon and Lucy Lindsay-Hogg separated in 2000 after the revelation that in 1998 Snowdon had fathered a son, Jasper William Oliver Cable-Alexander, by Melanie Cable-Alexander, an editor at Country Life magazine.
Death
Lord Snowdon died peacefully at his home in Kensington on 13 January 2017, aged 86. His funeral took place on 20 January at St Baglan's Church in the remote village of Llanfaglan near Caernarfon. He was buried in the family plot in the churchyard.
Publications
Snowdon authored and curated a book of his own photographs, entitled Snowdon: A Life in View. It was edited by his daughter Lady Frances von Hofmannsthal. Graydon Carter wrote the foreword and Patrick Kinmonth wrote the introduction. Tom Ford is listed as a contributor in the book's credentials. It was published by Rizzoli in 2017.
Generally, Snowdon's publications have been attributed to Antony Armstrong-Jones. Occasionally, the byline includes Earl of Snowdon, and most of the titles at least contain Snowdon in the title.
London. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1958. (A later edition has .)
Private View: The Lively World of British Art (1965, with text by Bryan Robertson and John Russell)
Assignments. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1972. .
A View of Venice. [Ivrea]: Olivetti, c1972.
Snowdon: A Photographic Autobiography (Times Books, 1979)
Personal View. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1979. .
Snowdon Tasmania Essay. Hobart: Ronald Banks, 1981. . Text by Trevor Wilson.
Sittings, 1979–1983. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1983. .
Israel: A First View. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1986. .
Stills 1984–1987. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1987. .
Serendipity: A Light-hearted Look at People, Places and Things. Brighton: Royal Pavilion, Art Gallery & Museums, 1989. .
Pride of the Shires: The Story of the Whitbread Horses
Public Appearances 1987–1991. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1991. .
Hong Kong: Portraits of Power. Boston: Little, Brown, 1995. . Text by Evelyn Huang and Lawrence Jeffery.
Wild Flowers. London: Pavilion, 1995. .
Snowdon on Stage: With a Personal View of the British Theatre 1954–1996. London: Pavilion, 1996. .
Wild Fruit. London: Bloomsbury, 1997. . Text by Penny David.
London: Sight Unseen. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1999. . Text by Gwyn Headley.
Photographs by Snowdon: A Retrospective. London: National Portrait Gallery, 2000. .
Snowdon. London: Chris Beetles Gallery, 2006. .
Titles, honours and arms
Peerage
Following his wedding, Armstrong-Jones was granted an earldom and introduced to the House of Lords as the Earl of Snowdon on 28 February 1962. The awarding of the earldom was in line with the practice of granting titles upon marriage into the royal family. Snowdon was appointed Constable of Caernarfon Castle in 1963; as part of this role, he designed and organised the Investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1969.
He made his maiden speech in the House of Lords in April 1972 on the problems that disabled people suffered in everyday life. One of his last contributions to the Lords was in response to the Queen's Speech of 1992.
On 16 November 1999, Lord Snowdon was created Baron Armstrong-Jones, of Nymans in the County of West Sussex. This was a life peerage given to him so that he could keep his seat in the House of Lords after most hereditary peers had been excluded. An offer of a life peerage was made to all hereditary peers of the first creation (those for whom a peerage was originally created, as opposed to those who inherited a peerage from an ancestor) at that time. The government of the day had expected Lord Snowdon to follow the example of members of the royal family and turn down his right to a life peerage. At the time, Labour MP Fraser Kemp said he was "shocked and surprised that someone who achieved their position in the House of Lords by virtue of marriage should accept a seat in the reformed Lords".
Snowdon retired from the House of Lords on 31 March 2016, having seldom attended nor claimed any expenses for many years.
Awards and honours
GCVO: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, 7 July 1969
He was awarded the Royal Photographic Society's Progress Medal and an Honorary Fellowship in 1985.
In 1989, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) from the University of Bath.
Arms
Issue
In popular culture
Armstrong-Jones is portrayed in the Netflix series The Crown in season 2 by Matthew Goode and in season 3 by Ben Daniels.
See also
List of Cambridge University Boat Race crews
List of Old Etonians born in the 20th century
List of photographers
List of University of Cambridge members
Notes
References
External links
1930 births
2017 deaths
20th-century British photographers
Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge
Antony
British portrait photographers
Cambridge University Boat Club rowers
Chartered designers
Crossbench life peers
Earls created by Elizabeth II
Earls of Snowdon
English people of German-Jewish descent
English people of Welsh descent
Fashion photographers
Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
Life peers created by Elizabeth II
People educated at Eton College
People educated at Sandroyd School
People from Slaugham
Photographers from London
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
Snowdon
Peers retired under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014
English people with disabilities