Antony Armstrong-Jones

British photographer who gained the title of Lord Snowdon when he married Princess Margaret in 1960. The marriage lasted for 15 years and produced two kids. He continued to work as a photographer after the marriage. While on a BBC documentary assignment in 1974, Armstrong-Jones met Lucy Lindsay-Hogg, age 33; they married in December 1978.

His parents, Ronald and Anne, were considered prominent commoners. His dad was descended from landed gentry form North Wales. His folks divorced in 1934 but his mom strengthened his connection to the aristocracy by marrying an Irish peer, the Sixth Earl of Rosse. At 8 he was sent away to school, and at 13 entered Eton. He was a poor student but as a teenager, while recovering from polio, he discovered photography to pass the time. The disease left the slight 5 ft. 5 in. photographer with just a trace of a limp.

In 1948 he enrolled at Cambridge University to study architecture but was expelled after barely two years for failing his exams. Photography won out over studying. Moving to London, he used his family connections to get an apprenticeship with the renowned court photographer Baron Bahum. In less than a year he had his own studio where he specialized in shooting lighthearted portraits of society types that delighted the public. Energetic, imaginative and charming, Armstrong-Jones quickly became the favorite photographer of London's elite. In 1958 he was appointed as official court photographer. While shooting London's elite, he was taking shots of what he really loved to shoot - candid snaps of neighborhood life. Such pictures were published to critical praise in 1958 and 15 or so more books would follow over the years, including "Private View," 1965, "Sittings," 1983 and "Stills," 1987.

Armstrong-Jones may have first met Princess Margaret in his role as court photographer, but their first recorded social meeting was at a formal dinner party in early 1958.