Who Is Lucy Lindsay-Hogg, Lord Snowdon's Girlfriend and, Later, Wife?

Spoilers for The Crown ahead. One of the most salacious historical events covered in season 3 of The Crown is the dissolution of the marriage between Lord Tony Snowdon and Princess Margaret. One of the key parts of their breakup was Lucy Lindsay-Hogg, who had been dating Snowdon for years before he got divorced, and married him shortly thereafter.

Not much is known about this shy and quiet woman who was born in Ireland and who also had an ex-husband by the time she met Snowdon, but because of her connection with Snowdon and the events that led to their marriage, she's an important historical figure. What do we know about her? 

She had been married before.

Lucy was an associate producer on several films. In fact, between 1967 and 1971, Lucy had been married to, and then got divorced from, well-known British director Michael Lindsay-Hogg (he worked with The Beatles and Rolling Stones). He later went on to date Mary Tyler Moore.

Lucy's film background was what eventually allowed her and Snowdon to meet: in 1972, at a party, allegedly, wherein Snowdon was apparently looking for an assistant and gave her the job. They started seeing each other romantically not long after.

She and Snowdon dated before Snowdon's divorce.

Margaret apparently knew about the relationship and was extremely unhappy about it. But ironically it was pictures of Margaret with her young lover, Roddy Llewellyn, that ended up torpedoing the marriage.

Very quickly after Snowdon's divorce in 1978, he and Lucy officially got married—to the excitement of the crowd gathered outside.

And she and Snowdon also got divorced.

Lindsay and Snowdon had one child, Lady Frances Armstrong-Jones, who now works as an editor-in-chief and is very occasionally seen at public events.

Unfortunately, the couple got divorced in 2000; Snowdon had fathered a child out of wedlock with Melanie Cable-Alexander (his second; he also had a child with someone who wasn't Margaret while the two were still dating). Oh, and he also allegedly had a many years-long affair with another journalist, Anne Hill. Oops. But, unlike he and Margaret, Snowdon and Lucy remained friendly with each other even after they parted. He died in 2017.

Spoilers for The Crown season three. In The Crown, Lindsay is played by Jessica De Gouw, an actress from Australia (you'd never have guessed, right?) who starred in Arrow and Dracula. She doesn't get much screen time, but she does appear in a long scene with Ben Daniels (Lord Snowdon) in which her character is depicted as the antithesis of Margaret—young and playful, a woman with a gentle demeanor who doesn't demand too much of Snowdon. Her counterpart as the "other" in the Snowdon/Margaret marriage is Roddy Llewellyn, played by Harry Treadaway, who gets a little more character development than Lindsay and, in a similar vein, is depicted as the polar opposite of Lord Snowdon (and Margaret, for that matter).

Snowdon and Lindsay's romance, as with real life, is depicted as more of a full-blown relationship than a passing fling. The two comfortably take up residence in Snowdon's country home in Wales, with Snowdon mentioning that Margaret would never stop by because she "hates" the place. (That's not exactly true—she was apparently there often enough to have been given a nickname by the locals.) Although it's an affair, the relationship is portrayed as significantly less complicated than the one between Snowdon and Margaret, which is passionate and intense and, ultimately, doomed.

For more stories like this, including celebrity news, beauty and fashion advice, savvy political commentary, and fascinating features, sign up for the Marie Claire newsletter.

SUBSCRIBE HERE