Princess Margaret was well known for liking to have a good time, and she is alleged to have been involved with all sorts of men, and now one of those possible romances looks likes it set for the silver screen. Louis Mellis, the man who wrote Sexy Beast and 44-Inch Chest, is set to mix his penchant for gangster tales with the more refined world of royalty, with The Princess Gangster.
THR reports that the film concerns the true story of Princess Margaret’s alleged affair with the gangster-turned-movie-tough-guy John Bindon in the late 60s. There’s no news on exactly what the film will suggest Margaret got up to, as she denied ever even meeting him, despite his claims to the contrary.
Although Bindon started out a wide boy and spent time in a Borstal, he almost accidentally fell into acting, which led to a string of high society affairs, with the posh ladies enjoying his rough charms.
However despite appearing as a tough guy in movies by Ken Loach and others, there were contstant rumours of protection rackets and links to organised crime, and in 1978 he was charged with shooting someone in the head. He’d certainly be an interesting subject for a documentary (he also, for example, worked security for Led Zeppelin and ended up getting so violent he knocked out one of the band members). Presumably the Princess Margaret connection is there to get possible investors interested, unless Mellis is planning to go the fictional route and say the Queen’s sister was literally a gangster.