Queen Elizabeth’s Sister Princess Margaret May Have Had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome From Their Mother’s Drinking During Pregnancy
Queen Elizabeth’s Sister Princess Margaret May Have Had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome From Their Mother’s Drinking During Pregnancy
Rachel Burchfield, Ashleigh CarterMon, October 12, 2026 at 7:20 PM UTC
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Princess Margaret on August 22, 1962Credit: Getty ImagesMargaret, who died in 2002 at 72 years old, was said to have “painful migraines” and “stunted growth.”The Gist -
Princess Margaret may have had fetal alcohol syndrome, according to a biography entitled Princess Margaret and the Curse: An Inquiry Into a Royal Life.
The condition could have explained the late royal’s “mood swings” and “stunted growth,” the author claims.
The book does not suggest that Margaret’s older sister, Queen Elizabeth—born in 1926—also had this condition.
Princess Margaret reportedly lived with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) throughout her life after the Queen Mother drank during her pregnancy, a biography about Queen Elizabeth’s younger sister claims.
In a book entitled Princess Margaret and the Curse: An Inquiry Into a Royal Lifeby Pulitzer Prize-nominated biographer Meryle Secrest, the author takes a closer look at Margaret’s “invisible disability” possibly brought on by FAS. Secrest believes the condition would explain the late royal’s “characteristic mood swings, stunted growth, difficulties learning how to write, and painful migraines,” per The Telegraph.
The Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, and Queen ElizabethCredit: Getty
Margaret, who died in 2002 at the age of 72, did not have “the syndrome’s telltale smooth lip philtrum and small eyes,” Secret writes, but did have other characteristics and struggles that a person with FAS would typically display. The book doesn’t suggest that Elizabeth had the same syndrome.
The condition is known to result in children with “distinctive facial features and cause difficulties with learning, impulse control, and managing emotions.”
Princess Margaret in 1955Credit: Getty
The Queen Mother was famously a good time, particularly enjoying a gin and Dubonnet during the day, according to a former equerry. At 6 p.m., martinis would be prepared, The Telegraph reported.
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At the time of Margaret’s birth in 1930, the effects of alcohol on pregnancy were not fully studied. FAS was not well understood until the 1970s—when Elizabeth and Margaret would have been in their 40s—and “it is likely that the young Queen Mother would not have been advised to avoid alcohol during her pregnancy with Margaret,” The Telegraph reported.
Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother in 2000Credit: Getty
Interestingly, letters from the Queen Mother around the time of her pregnancy with Queen Elizabeth in 1925 share that she was turned off by wine in particular, suggesting that during that pregnancy, she may have had less alcohol (if any at all).
“It will be a tragedy if I never recover my drinking powers,” the Queen Mother wrote to her husband, the future King George VI, in 1925.
Princess Margaret, the Queen Mother, and Queen ElizabethCredit: Getty
Princess Margaret in 1970Credit: Getty
Though there is no firm evidence that the princess had FAS, signs that Margaret had the condition include a propensity to misbehave and difficulty, as a child, regulating behavior and emotions; the book also notes that the condition often stunts growth—and Margaret was 5’1’’.
In another book about Margaret’s personality, the late princess’s stark differences from her sister were clear: “Elizabeth was organized, Margaret artistic; Elizabeth discreet, Margaret attention-seeking; Elizabeth dutiful, Margaret disobedient; Elizabeth disciplined, Margaret wild,” Craig Brown recalled in his 2017 book Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret.
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
