Was Roman Holiday inspired by Princess Margaret? Tatler investigates as Audrey Hepburn’s breakout film turns 70

By Jasmine Parker

Audrey Hepburn as Princess Ann and Gregory Peck as Joe Bradley on the Spanish Steps in Roman Holiday

A young woman zips through the streets of Rome on the back of a Vespa. Past the Colosseum, past the Altare della Patria. On black-and-white film her face looks fresh, and her vintage skirt is accented by a silk scarf that adorns her neck. Roman Holiday is the film that propelled Audrey Hepburn to super-stardom upon its release 70 years ago today.

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By Ollie Macnaughton

She plays Princess Ann, who longs for respite from her royal duties and escapes into the Eternal City, meeting and falling in love with an American journalist. The film won Audrey Hepburn her first Oscar, but rumours have long swirled that it may in fact be a British royal we have to thank for the heaven-sent romance.

It’s a tale as old as time – the princess falls in love with a commoner – but when Roman Holiday was released, there was only one princess on people’s minds.

Audrey Hepburn in her breakout role, 70 years ago

By Isaac Bickerstaff

By Ollie Macnaughton

By Annabel Sampson

That summer, the world was set ablaze with rumours of a relationship between Princess Margaret and Group Captain Peter Townsend. On 14 June 1953, The People became the first to break news of the relationship in the UK, with the headline ‘They must deny it NOW’ plastered on newsstands, cautioning that ‘scandalous rumours about Princess Margaret are racing around the world’. That was all that was needed to set the public’s imagination alight.

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And just two months later, the story of Princess Ann and Joe Bradley hit the big screen. The parallels were obvious, speculation of an engagement rife, and the public desperate for scintillating details about the real-life royals.

Captain Peter Townsend and Princess Margaret who are thought to have inspired the protagonists in Roman Holiday

While Paramount was disappointed by their box office takings in the US, Brits flocked in. ‘No film studio could have bought such publicity,’ wrote critic Alexander Walker. The British imagination had been utterly captivated by Princess Margaret’s love affair.

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By Ollie Macnaughton

But the public weren’t the only ones who spotted the similarities. Was Princess Ann really a fictionalised version of Princess Margaret? Well, the government certainly seemed to think so. Their concern about the association was so great that Paramount was made to record an extra scene to establish that Audrey Hepburn’s character was not a member of our Royal Family – although her country goes unnamed in the film.

By Isaac Bickerstaff

By Ollie Macnaughton

By Annabel Sampson

Old world royalty plays actual royalty in Roman Holiday: Audrey Hepburn with Princess Ruspoli (played by Princess RuspolI) and Princess Cataneo (played by Princess Cataneo)

Gregory Peck, Eddie Albert and Audrey Hepburn in a scene from Roman Holiday

By Isaac Bickerstaff

By Ollie Macnaughton

By Annabel Sampson

A smoking gun? It’s not so simple.

The story goes that the Roman Holiday script had been searching for backing for a decade before it was made – long before Princess Margaret’s relationship was made public. Initially set for production in 1948, the film would have starred a 16-year-old Elizabeth Taylor opposite a 44-year old Carey Grant. With Princess Margaret having told friends that she fell in love with Townsend during her tour of South Africa in 1947, is it possible rumours had made their way to screenwriters John Dighton and Dalton Trumbo?

Princess Margaret and Captain Peter Townsend

Roman Holiday did, after all, have real royal connections. Numerous aristos appear in the film’s opening embassy ball scene, including Princess Alma Cattaneo (playing a lady in waiting), Sri Lankan heiress Princess Lilamani (playing the Raikuuari of Khanipur) and Sir Hari Singh, the last ruling Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, appearing as himself.

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We’ll never know whether or not the film’s similarities were deliberate, but it’s not the first time a British royal may have inspired a character in a romance. Indeed, Tatler asks how similar Red, White & Royal Blue’s Prince Henry is to Prince Harry in the new September issue.

By Isaac Bickerstaff

By Ollie Macnaughton

By Annabel Sampson

The poster for Roman Holiday (Paramount, 1953)