Tragic Details About Princess Margaret's Only Daughter Lady Sarah Chatto

Despite being born into royalty, Lady Sarah Chatto (née Armstrong-Jones) — the niece of Queen Elizabeth II and daughter of Princess Margaret – has never been one for the spotlight. Rather than partaking in the pomp and circumstance of royal life, Lady Chatto appears to be content focusing her attention on the arts. Chatto is an award-winning painter in her own right, having been a regular contributor to the Redfern Gallery in London since the mid-1990s (i.e. about half her life). She's also long been involved in the Royal Ballet, and ultimately followed in her mother's footsteps in by becoming president of the organization in 2024, taking over the role from first cousin King Charles III .

Additionally, Lady Chatto has spent much of her adult life building a family. She married actor Daniel Chatto in 1994, with the pair welcoming their children – Samuel and Arthur Chatto — into the world in 1996 and 1999. Samuel has chosen to follow in his own mother's footsteps and become an artist, while Arthur opted to enlist in the Royal Marines. But while Lady Chatto's household seems to exist on the outskirts of the larger royal family — and she herself is unlikely to ever be a working royal — Princess Margaret's one and only daughter certainly hasn't been immune to the family tragedies that have befallen the house of Windsor, nor did she always have the most stable family life during her own formative years.

By all accounts, Lady Sarah Chatto's parents — Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon — had anything but a storybook marriage. The pair wed in early May of 1960, with their son David Armstrong-Jones coming along a year and a half later. The future Lady Chatto was born another few years later in May of 1964. However, neither child was the Earl of Snowdon's first. In late May 1960, mere weeks after Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones' wedding, a girl named Polly was born to a woman named Camilla Fry. A DNA test conducted in 2004 confirmed that Armstrong-Jones was indeed Polly Fry's biological father.

Infidelity would prove to be a recurring theme in Princess Margaret's marriage to the Earl of Snowdon, with both individuals looking outside their marriage at various points during the late 1960s and early 1970s. This – combined with further marital problems – came to a head in 1976, when Princess Margaret and Armstrong-Jones formally announced their separation. They officially divorced in the summer of 1978, when their daughter was just 14 years old. Lady Chatto was reportedly quite shaken by her parents' split. Margaret never remarried, while Armstrong-Jones was married again just five months after his divorce from the princess was finalized. Armstrong-Jones then had two more children — a daughter with his second wife and a son from an affair.

The death of a parent is a sad but all too real thing many people must face in their lifetime. Lady Sarah Chatto is no exception, though she had to face this reality sooner than she might have expected. Princess Margaret passed away in February 2002 at the age of 71 — about three months before Lady Chatto turned 38. What's more, Chatto had to watch her mother's health deteriorate in those last few years. Princess Margaret had suffered a number of strokes prior to the one that ultimately ended her life. These strokes had hindered the princess' mobility and possibly even her eyesight. Because of this, Margaret — who once had a reputation for being the life of the party — had become something of a recluse in her twilight years.

According to a statement from the Royal Family, Lady Chatto and older brother David Armstrong-Jones were by Princess Margaret's side when she passed. In a statement of their own, Margaret's children offered their gratitude to "all those who have so thoughtfully sent messages of condolence and kindness, at this time of great sadness." The sadness continued just one month later, when Chatto and Armstrong-Jones' grandmother — Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother — passed away at the age of 101. The siblings would lose their father 15 years  later when Antony Armstrong-Jones passed away in early 2017 at the age of 86.

Of course, the passing of her mother and grandmother in 2002 were not the last high-profile royal deaths Lady Sarah Chatto would have to contend with. 20 years later, Lady Chatto's aunt Queen Elizabeth II would die at the age of 96. Though Chatto has largely kept her private life out of the public eye, it's fairly well known that she was rather close to her mother's sister. "The Queen adores Sarah and seeks out her company as often as possible. She is her absolute favourite younger Royal," a royal insider told the Daily Mail sometime prior to Queen Elizabeth's death. The outlet's sources also described the Elizabeth as being a "surrogate mother" to Chatto and her brother.

Lady Chatto was in attendance at Queen Elizabeth's funeral, though offered little in the way of a public statement. However, Emily Nash — the royal editor at Hello! — did offer some more insight into the nature of Chatto's bond with her aunt. "Sarah and Her Majesty the Queen had a very close and unique relationship," Nash said. "She will no doubt be grieving and processing this in private and we can expect to see her with the rest of the royal family in the coming days." But even while mourning her surrogate mother, Chatto continued to carry her birth mother with her. She was spotted wearing a brooch once owned by Princess Margaret at Elizabeth's funeral.