Beyond being one of the most important painters, different biographers say that Pablo Picasso had an inexplicable charm to seduce women. It may have been his physique or his artistic genius, but even being the iconic person he was, he was never able to obtain the affection of Princess Margaret, with whom he was madly obsessed. This obsession became unhealthy, and much to his regret, the princess never wanted to meet him and even repudiated him.
Margaret’s charm
Despite being royalty, Margaret’s attitude was so far removed from English etiquette making the eyes of the world always pointing towards her. Rebellious, irreverent, and unapproachable, while she proved to be a headache for her relatives, in the eyes of the public, including Pablo Picasso, the princess was a charmer.
It is impossible to list all the disobediences and adventures that the princess lived, such as her lifestyle. For example, it was mentioned that her daily routine consisted of having breakfast in her bed at 9 a.m., then spending two hours smoking, reading the newspaper, and listening to music, until noon, the time for vodka.
In addition, the princess cared little about the rules and protocols of the royal family, arriving late for every dinner or breaking dress codes.
Pablo Picasso and Princess Margaret
Margaret’s rebelliousness, sooner or later, reached Pablo Picasso’s ears. According to the painter, Margaret was his type of woman because she had “beautiful skin and healthy and strong teeth.”
John Richardson, one of Picasso’s biographers, tells how in 1955 he shared some time with the artists at Villa La Californie, where he explained in detail how his hypothetical proposal to the princess would be. He even claimed she could be the only woman to inhabit the villa by his side.
For her part, Margaret had no intention of meeting him. In fact, on one occasion, Richardson told the princess about Picasso’s ‘plan’ to propose to her, and she was horrified. From then on, any mention of the painter was met with disgust by Margaret.
Fantasies and disgusting letters
The princess’s contempt for the painter did not stop him from writing her letters which, fortunately, never reached her hands. This correspondence was exchanged between Picasso and British artist Roland Penrose, and was recently recovered in the book Ma’am Darling 99: Glimpses of Princess Margaret by Graig Brown.
The letters were filled with sexual fantasies and Picasso’s confession about the erotic dreams he had about the princess: “If you knew what I do in my dreams with the ladies of your royal family and your monarchy, they would surely take me to the Tower of London to cut off my head.”
But this was not the most unpleasant part of the letters. In them, Picasso even dared to confess that in his erotic dreams, there was also room for Queen Elizabeth and that he was able to paint the color of the pubic hairs of both of them.
Crude, sick, and completely reprehensible, were Picasso’s obsession with the princess. It is to be expected that Margaret never fell for the painter’s disenchantments. He may have been an artistic genius, but his way of expressing himself about the royal sisters was utterly gross, to say the least.
Translated by María Isabel Carrasco Cara Chards
Photos from Wikimedia Commons
