7 August 2025
How the Queen’s sister found paradise, passion and freedom in the heart of the Caribbean
By Ray Carmen | Publisher, Caribbean World Magazine
In the sultry 1970s breeze of the Grenadines, where bougainvillea spills over coral-stone walls and rum flows smoother than state secrets, one woman stood apart from all others. She wasn’t a movie star, though she had the drama. She wasn’t a queen, though she held court.
She was Princess Margaret — and on the private island of Mustique, she lived a life as scandalous as it was intoxicating.
A Paradise Fit for a Princess
The Caribbean was more than a holiday for Princess Margaret — it was a full-bodied escape. Far from Buckingham Palace and the rigid duties of royal life, Mustique offered her something she had never truly known: freedom.
The island, a whisper of green tucked in the blue of the Eastern Caribbean, was gifted in part to her by close friend and eccentric aristocrat Lord Glenconner. He saw in Margaret a fellow rule-breaker, a woman too wild for the world she was born into.
In the early 1970s, she commissioned the now-iconic villa Les Jolies Eaux — a secluded hilltop retreat with sweeping sea views, cool marble floors, and just enough distance from reality. It became her private sanctuary, her escape route from palace protocol.
Love, Scandal, and Sunburn
It was on Mustique where Margaret began a headline-grabbing love affair with Roddy Llewellyn, a tousle-haired, sun-bronzed landscape gardener 17 years her junior. Their relationship caused ripples in royal waters and sparked outrage in the British press. But on Mustique, no one raised an eyebrow.
“Roddy was the gardener,” one islander quipped. “And the Princess? She certainly had a thing for watering wild roots.”
Photos of the couple — splashing in the sea, clinking glasses on the beach — sent Fleet Street into a frenzy. But Margaret, ever the royal rebel, didn’t care. On Mustique, she could be herself: sensual, scandalous, and sovereign over her own desires.
The Original Island It-Girl
She wasn’t alone in her island affair with decadence. Mustique in the ‘70s became a heady swirl of aristocrats, rock stars, and bohemians. Mick Jagger bought a home. David Bowie followed. Princess Margaret led the charge — in kaftans, jewels, and clouds of cigarette smoke.
Her days began with a gin and tonic on the veranda and often ended in barefoot dancing beneath the stars. She was witty, wickedly sharp, and intoxicating to be around.
Islanders still tell stories of her legendary charm, her sudden temper, and her unforgettable presence. For all her royal trappings, it was the Caribbean sun that warmed her spirit.
A Sunset Legacy
Today, Les Jolies Eaux remains a relic of royal glamour, perched high above the sea. And though the Princess now rests in Windsor, her memory lingers across the island — in the laughter of staff who served her, in the whispers of waves along Gelliceaux Bay, and in the air of freedom she once so fiercely claimed.
“Margaret didn’t visit the Caribbean,” a longtime resident once said. “She belonged to it.”
PRINCESS MARGARET’S MUSTIQUE
LIFE – AT A GLANCE
Villa: Les Jolies Eaux
Signature cocktail: Gin & Tonic (two ice cubes, never one)
Companion: Roddy Llewellyn
Favourite pastime: Reading, sunbathing, late-night gossip
Biggest scandal: Paparazzi photos with Roddy, 1976
Fashion vibe: Regal Boho , all silk kaftans and pearls with attitude
Publisher’s Note
By Publisher Ray Carmen | Caribbean World Magazine
“In the cool shadows of Mustique’s palm trees, Princess Margaret wrote a new chapter of royalty , one not governed by crowns, but by character. Her Caribbean years were bold, brilliant, and utterly unforgettable. She was a royal who dared to live — and Mustique was her kingdom.”
For more on the Royals in the Caribbean, exclusive island interviews, and unforgettable villas , stay with us here at Caribbean World Magazine.
To the barefoot Princess of Paradise…
