Princess Margaret in Angkor, November 1969

The British television film documented the visit of Princess Margaret of Great Britain and then-husband Lord Snowdon in Camdodia from 30 September until 4 October 1969, focusing on their touring of Angkor Wat and Bayon before returning to Phnom Penh and the farewell gala dinner. 

“The Khmer temples were built around the time when the Normands conquered England”, noted the voice-over comment in typical British fashion. Head of State Prince Norodom Sihanouk and spouse Princess Norodom Monineath accompanied the British royals, while Bernard-Philippe Groslier, the last Conservateur en chef d’Angkor, provided scientific and historic background. The future Queen Mother and ​“mother of the Khmer nation” had married Norodom Sihanouk in 1955 as the ​“secondary consort” — the same year that the ​“King Father” had also married his official wife, Norodom Thavet Norleak — and had become the official spouse of the Cambodian later only one year before the visit, after Sihanouk and Norleak divorced in 1968.

This was the last prestigious visit to Cambodia and stately reception before March 1970 Lon Nol’s coup, with only Niger President Hamani Diori​’s visit (3−5 November 1969) mentioned after Princess Margaret’s in the voluminous Sangkat Reastr Niyum: Le prestige international du Cambodge photo-album published in 1990. See the corresponding photos in the chapter ទស្សនកិច្ច នៃព្រះអង្គម្ចាស់ក្សត្រី ម៉ាហ្គារេត និងភួងត៍ ស្លូវដន នៅប្រទេសកម្ពុជា ​“Visit of Princess Margaret and Earl Snowdon to Cambodia” (p 404 – 440).

Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, the Duke and Duchess of York. She was the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II. At first second in line to the throne, her position in the line of succession diminished over the following decades as Elizabeth’s children and grandchildren were born. 

The couple had two children, David and Sarah. Margaret’s marriage to Lord Snowdon became strained, with both of them engaging in extramarital affairs. They separated in 1976 and divorced in 1978. Margaret did not remarry.

Margaret was a controversial member of the British royal family. Her divorce received much negative publicity, and her private life was for many years the subject of speculation by media and royal watchers. Her health deteriorated in the last twenty years of her life. She was a heavy smoker for most of her adult life, and had a lung operation in 1985 and a bout of pneumonia in 1993, as well as three strokes between 1998 and 2001. Margaret died in 2002 aged 71, after suffering her fourth stroke.

Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, 1^st Earl of Snowdon (7 March 1930 – 13 January 2017) was a British photographer and filmmaker. He is best known internationally for his portraits of world notables, many of them published in Vogue, Vanity Fair, The Sunday Times Magazine, The Sunday Telegraph Magazine, and other major venues; more than 280 of his photographs are in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery.[2]

Snowdon was also a relentless and successful campaigner for disabled people, achieving dozens of groundbreaking political, economic, structural, transportation, and educational reforms for persons with disabilities during his adult life.

In 1968, he made his first documentary film, Don’t Count the Candles,[40] for the US television network CBS, on the subject of aging. It won seven awards,[30] including two Emmys.[41][42] This was followed by Love of a Kind (1969), about the British and animals,[43] Born to Be Small (1971) about people of restricted growth[44] and Happy Being Happy (1973).[45]