The dashing war hero who acted like a gentleman or the 30-year-old married rogue who took advantage of a 15-year-old girl?

It is unknown when the pair's romance formally began, but the late Queen's lady-in-waiting Lady Anne Glenconner's verdict on Townsend was not flattering.
Lady Anne, then 91, said in 2023: 'I once asked her about it, actually. He was a war hero, very attractive.
'She was very, very young. She was only 15 [sic] when he first arrived and he was a married man. I think he encouraged her, which he shouldn't have done.'
Asked on the Rosebud podcast if she thinks Townsend, 15 years Margaret's senior, was taking advantage of his proximity to her, Lady Anne says she did.

'That isn't something that has been brought out very much, but I couldn't agree more,' she adds.
More clues to when their relationship began were revealed by Daily Mail columnist Craig Brown in 2017 when he wrote that when Townsend accompanied the princess on a trip to Belfast a request was made for them to have adjoining bedrooms.