Peter Townsend

Peter Townsend was born in Rangoon, Burma, in 1914. He trained at the Royal Air Force College Cranwell from 1933 to 1935. He served with No 1 and No 43 Squadron and in May 1940 took command of No 85 Squadron leading it into the Battle of Britain with outstanding skill and determination. Townsend enjoyed an equally distinguished peacetime career, serving as Equerry to King George VI, from 1944 until his death in 1952. Following his ill-fated relationship with Princess Margaret, Townsend began a new life in France where he turned to writing and settled happily with his family until 1995 when he died at the age of eighty.