Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret (Brown) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers Talking Points to help start a discussion for NINETY-NINE GLIMPSES OF PRINCESS MARGARET … then take off on your own:

1. How does Craig Brown present Princess Margaret in this biography? Describe her: the kind of person was she in the public's eye … and the kind of person in private. Does she seem to change during the course of her life? Do you find her sympathetic?

2. In what way do you think Margaret's childhood, as the younger sister to then Princess Elizabeth, might have shaped her personality and how she lived her adult life?

3. Talk about Margaret's disappointments surrounding marriage, starting with Peter Townsend and later Anthony Armstrong-Jones. What do you think of her husband and the deterioration of their relationship?

4. Do you feel Ninety-Nine Glimpses is a fair assessment of Margaret—her life and character? Does the author present her in a balanced light, or do you feel his material is sensationalized, a little too "dishy"? Perhaps, it's both?

5. How does the author characterize the institution of royalty, as well as the people who occupy it (the Queen Mother, in particular)?

6. What do you make of the people the princess socialized with—the celebrities and 1960's "in crowd?" To what extent were they genuine in their friendship? Or were they primarily hangers-on, attracted to her status as royalty? (Consider how many of them recorded their comings and goings with the princess.) How did those friends/acquaintances treat her … and vice versa?

7. Follow-up to Question 6: She had a powerful affect on people who met and befriended her. Why do you you think? Was it her personality, her charm, her intelligence … or her status as royalty?

8. Do you envy—a lot, a little, or not at all—the life of Princess Margaret?

9. How familiar were you with Margaret's story before reading this book? Have you, for instance, watched the film series, The Queen? Has your view of her altered after reading Brown's Ninety-Nine Glimpses?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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