Lord Snowdon falls for a countess

The Earl of Snowdon’s voracious sexual appetite has been amply revealed in a new autobiography, but anyone who thinks that, at the age of 78, he has eased up in that department would be very mistaken. His latest love Marjorie Wallace (pictured above with Snowdon), the founder of the mental healthcare charity SANE.

Wallace, 64, has been seeing Princess Margaret’s former husband for almost five years – they first met more than 30 years ago when they both worked at the Sunday Times, he as a photographer, she as an investigative reporter - but their affair has only just come to light. "I suppose I am his mistress," Wallace told the Daily Mail. "It’s wonderful, isn’t it?"

She adds: "There is something quite innocent about him and our relationship. I have no idea what he gets out of it. I hope he feels he is safe. He is an iconic figure, very affectionate, has lovely manners and old-fashioned courtesy. He has still got that little boyish twinkle in his eye."

Despite her affair, Marjorie continues to nurse her long-term partner, London Weekend Television founder Tom Margerison, in the home they share in Highgate, North London. And no one could accuse her of being a title-hunter. She is still married to Polish aristocrat Count Andrzej Skarbek, by whom she has three sons. She says: “I am still Countess.”