Pulitzer Prize-nominated biographer Meryle Secrest claimed in her new book that Queen Elizabeth’s sister, Princess Margaret, showed some symptoms of foetal alcohol syndrome

The Queen Mother with Prince Charles and Princess Margaret(Image: INTERCONTINENTALE/AFP via Getty Images)

Princess Margaret had foetal alcohol syndrome as the Queen Mother drank while she was pregnant with her, a new book has claimed.

The condition develops when a baby is exposed to alcohol in the womb, which can damage their brain and body and stop them from developing normally. It can result in a loss of pregnancy, and babies who survive may be left with lifelong problems – including with movement, learning communication and hyperactivity.

The claims were made by Pulitzer Prize-nominated biographer Meryle Secrest in a new book in which she analysed Margaret’s personality and personal struggles in light of greater knowledge about the condition. It comes after Joanna Lumley said King Charles ‘really is ill’ as she shares rare health battle insight.

The Queen Mother with Princess Margaret and Queen Elizabeth II on the balcony of Buckingham Palace(Image: Jonathan Buckmaster/Daily Express)

In her book, Ms Secrest speculated that Queen Elizabeth’s younger sister, who died aged 71 in 2002, suffered from an “invisible disability” due to the condition, The Telegraph reports. The biographer’s claims about the princess have not been proven and there is no firm evidence that Margaret suffered from an alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder.

The book claims that while Margaret lacked the tell-tale symptoms of smooth lip philtrum and small eyes, she displayed characteristic mood swings, stunted growth, difficulties learning how to write, and painful migraines.

It also cites accounts of the Queen Mother’s drinking in later life – with claims from a former equerry that during the day she would enjoy gin and Dubonnet. Foetal alcohol syndrome wasn’t well understood until the 1970s, the book states, and it is likely that the young Queen Mother would not have been advised to avoid alcohol during her pregnancy with Margaret.

But it claims that in the Queen Mother’s letters from when she was pregnant with Elizabeth II, she wrote she could not bear the thought of wine, suggesting she may have drunk less when expecting the future queen. She wrote in a 1925 letter to the future King George VI: “The sight of wine simply turns me up! Isn’t it extraordinary! It will be a tragedy if I never recover my drinking powers.”

King George VI with his wife and their daughters at Royal Lodge in Windsor(Image: Getty Images)

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is a condition that develops in a foetus when a pregnant woman drinks alcohol during pregnancy, explains the Cleveland Clinic. A syndrome is a group of symptoms that happen together as the result of a particular disease or abnormal condition. When someone has foetal alcohol syndrome, they’re at the most severe end of what are known as foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs).

The condition is life-long and can’t be cured. It can be prevented if you don’t drink any alcohol during pregnancy, as even small amounts can damage your developing foetus.

The new biography, named Princess Margaret and the Curse: An Inquiry into a Royal Life, has been written by comparing Margaret’s life with those who have suffered from the condition. It will be released by the US house Skyhorse Publishing.