Princess Margaret and the gangster

One of the most intriguing royal secrets – the exact nature of Princess Margaret's relationship with South London criminal and sometime actor John Bindon – is to be examined in a new Channel 4 documentary. The unlikely couple met on the Caribbean island of Mustique in the 1970s, and for decades rumours have circulated that they had a short-lived affair there, although no proof of this has ever been produced.

The makers of the documentary, entitled The Gangster And The Princess, purports to have come up with evidence that Bindon, who died of cancer 15 years ago aged 50, did have a sexual relationship with the Queen's sister, a claim backed up with interviews with Princess Margaret's (unofficial) biographer Noel Botham and Bindon's long-time girlfriend Vicky Hodge.

Botham told the Daily Mail: "I have no doubt they were lovers. The
Princess would telephone Vicki Hodge's villa on Mustique, where Bindon was staying, and would ask him over to her house. This occurred more or less on a nightly basis. Bindon told me he gave her nine out of 10 for technique in bed and 15 out of 10 for enthusiasm. He said she was insatiable."

Clearly warming to his theme, he adds: "Margaret loved partying in
Mustique and loved people stripping off. According to Bindon, she used
to take photographs of naked limbo dancers."

However, a royal biographer of a more conservative persuasion, Kenneth Rose, pooh-poohs Botham's claims. "I can tell you the Princess would not have had anything to do with someone so vulgar. I am not saying she didn't have lovers, but her companions were all very agreeable and
civilised."