Lost Princess Margaret portrait goes on show

Viscount Linley caused dismay in 2006 when he auctioned off 800 treasures belonging to his mother, Princess Margaret, to foot a £3m inheritance tax bill. But he had second thoughts about one item, a 1957 portrait of the princess by the Italian artist Pietro Annigoni. Bidding anonymously, Linley bought it back  for £680,000 - more than three times its original estimate.

Now the painting, which once hung on the wall of Princess Margaret’s apartment in Kensington Palace, has been handed over by Linley for the National Portrait Gallery to put on display.

Annigoni, who died in 1988, famously painted two portraits of the Queen. The best known, from 1954, showing her in the robes of the Order of the British Empire, was commissioned by the Fishmongers Company. Another, from 1969, was for the National Portrait Gallery.

The artist and Princess spoke French during the 33 sittings needed for the portrait. The sittings began in 1956, a year after Princess Margaret abandoned her plans to marry Group Captain Peter Townshend. She is depicted in an English garden, and was described by the artist as being "enveloped in an aura of sensuality". ·