Zing!

The late James Barrie, a boy who never grew up, was much taken with the lady. He wrote:

"My most delicious memory of her is of the day when she was three years old and I had the glory of sitting beside her at her birthday tea party. Some of her presents were on the table .. . She was in a frenzy of glee about them, especially about one to which she had given the place of honor by her plate. I said to her as one astounded: 'Is that really your very own?' And she saw how I envied her and immediately placed it between us with the words: 'It is yours and mine.' "

The heroine of the episode was Princess Margaret. Growing up, she was not as gentle as her gentle friend Barrie pictured her. She became a terror to "Crawfie" (Miss Marion Crawford), her governess. At ten, she shocked her graver sister by noting that her nursery footman was "frightfully handsome." At 14, Margaret was caught sampling the King's champagne. At a recent party, the King told her not to drink any more sherry. "If you don't let me have another glass," said Margaret promptly, "I won't launch your old ships for you." The King gave in. Once when Elizabeth tried to discipline her she snapped: "You can go look after your Empire!"

Last week, over the granite towers of Balmoral Castle fluttered Princess Margaret's own new standard.* She was 18. Coming of age meant that she will have to attend more & more official functions (her first: Juliana's inauguration as queen next month). She will also have more freedom from family control on such matters as staying out late, wearing makeup, dressing smartly. Margaret dislikes her royal duties, though she enjoys the prerogatives of her station. When she was down with measles last May she remembered a young Highland officer of her acquaintance who had had measles in his youth. Forthwith she sent a telegram: "Come at once." The young man's commanding officer gave him leave, and the laddie hastened to the ailing Princess.

The young lordlings who take her dancing are enthusiastic about her. One appraisal: "She's a hell of a girl--real zing!" Speculation on her possible marriage is widespread in Britain. Current favorite: the Marquess of Blandford ("Sonny"), eldest son of the Duke of Marlborough; Sonny wears a tophat with as much eclat as his father brings to catching raspberries in his mouth (TIME, Aug. 9).

At Balmoral last week the birthday party was quieter than Margaret would have liked. It stopped at midnight Saturday to avoid criticism by strict Scottish Sabbatarians, who had been ruffled recently when Princess Elizabeth took in the races, theater and a nightclub in Paris on a Sunday. The King toasted his daughter in champagne. A helicopter brought thousands of birthday greetings. Britain wondered (and doubted) whether Margaret would settle down. Said an East End docker last week: "I bet she's a handful to her mum and dad!"

*The Royal Standard with the addition of a label of three points argent, the center point charged with a thistle slipped and leaved proper, and each of the other points with a Tudor rose.

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