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Lord Snowdon, former husband of Princess Margaret, dies aged 86

Lord Snowdon, the former husband of Princess Margaret, has died aged 86.

The photographic agency he worked with - Camera Press - confirmed he "died peacefully at home on 13 January 2017".

The Earl of Snowdon, who was born Anthony Armstrong-Jones, was married to Princess Margaret - the Queen's only sibling - for 18 years.

Buckingham Palace said the Queen had been informed of the death of her former brother-in-law, but made no further comment.

The royal photographer married Princess Margaret on 6 May 1960 and they had two children - Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto.

However the couple separated after 16 years of marriage and the divorce was finalised in 1978.

Dubbed the "first royal rebel" for his dislike of convention, the respected photographer often hit the headlines for matters relating to his love life.

With no title by birth, divorced parents and a penchant for riding a motorbike, he was considered to be the first real "commoner" to wed a king's daughter for 450 years.

Suffering from polio as a teenager, he overcame his disability by devising his own exercise routine, and went on to tirelessly campaign for the rights of disabled people.

After studying first natural history and then architecture at Cambridge University he quit to become a photographer.

Lord Snowdon began his photography career in 1952 as a society photographer for Tatler magazine, and his skill at taking portraits saw him commissioned to capture the official pictures of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh for their 1957 tour of Canada.

He met Margaret through his work and they got married in 1960.

They epitomised the Swinging Sixties, mixing with celebrities and enjoying a lifestyle afforded by the Princess' position, but their marriage broke down amid reports of personal problems and speculation about affairs.

He was in demand with the rich and famous and also took extensive pictures of the Royal Family.

When the then Lady Diana Spencer got engaged to the Prince of Wales he took the pictures to mark the occasion, and also captured official images for the Queen's 80th birthday.

Lord Snowdon also photographed Prince Harry as a teenager, a young Princess Royal, Diana with her sons when they were babies, the Queen Mother and numerous other royal portraits.

He married his second wife, Lucy Lindsay-Hogg, in 1978, before splitting in 2000. The couple had one daughter, Lady Frances Armstrong-Jones.

Lord Snowdon also had a son, Jasper, with the journalist Melanie Cable-Alexander.