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Among Tony's neighbours at his country retreat, Old House, were the Marquis and Marchioness of Reading. He took to dropping in and joining them for meals, and quickly became an intimate, charming the family with all his charismatic personality.
'He was like a firework bursting into our lives,' one of them said.
There were endless jokes, including practical ones. A favourite, when there were grand or pompous visitors, was to make an imitation dog-mess out of crumbled ginger biscuits moulded with water, pretend to spot it, then - saying: 'Oh, look what the dog's done' - scoop it up and eat it.
Debutante Lady Jacqueline Rufus Isaacs, daughter of the Marquess of Reading had a steamy affair with Lord Snowdon
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ShareAfter a while, it was noticeable that Tony was especially attentive to the Readings' daughter, Lady Jacqueline. He first met her as a girl of 14.
By 1968, at the age of 21, she was a favourite of the gossip columns - slim, blonde, sexy, well-educated and sharp-witted, a model and an acknowledged beauty. What no one, including her family, knew was that she and Tony were having an affair.
There was an early 'near-miss' when Princess Margaret unexpectedly decided to call in on Old House on her way back from staying with friends.
Larkin, her chauffeur, who knew much more about Tony's activities than did his employer, guessed what they might find and frantically flashed the headlights of the car as they drove along the track to the house.
Tony emerged to meet them. He greeted Margaret affectionately, then turned to Larkin and said, with a meaningful look unseen by the Princess: 'The Aston Martin wants some petrol in it - you'll get some in the village.'
Larkin knew the Aston Martin's tank was full, but drove to nearby Staplefield Green and opened the boot to find Jackie curled up inside. She was then able to climb out and walk back to her parents' house openly and innocently.
Jackie often had dinner with Tony in London. When he wanted to pick her up from the Yves St Laurent boutique in Bond Street where she worked, he would resort to subterfuge.
The shop's telephone would ring and Tony, a master at disclosing his voice, would say: 'Can I speak to Lady Jacqueline? It's Dr Ricketts.' If the coast was clear, his black-leatherclad figure would roar up on his motorbike and spirit her away.
Gradually, the circle round Margaret became aware of Jackie; then Margaret found out.
When Tony went into the London Clinic for an operation for piles, Jackie was at his bedside. Margaret felt humiliated. 'I could nurse him, you know,' she told a friend plaintively. 'When I was a Girl Guide I got a badge for nursing.'
But she had no idea how to counter this threat. Reproaches had no effect, nor did sweet talk. Once - perhaps to frighten Jackie off, perhaps to show that as the wife she was still preeminent - she went down to Old House with her lady-in-waiting.
This did not stop Tony asking Jackie over to lunch. 'I'm so worried Princess Margaret won't be nice to her,' he told the outraged lady-in-waiting. 'Will you be there and smooth it over?'
There were times when Margaret was so unhappy that she would sob on the shoulder of the devoted Larkin. Once or twice, although aware of the rule that no one must touch royalty, the chauffeur gave the weeping Princess a hug.
'It'll be all right,' he would tell her comfortingly. 'He's just messing about.'
But Tony wasn't. He felt trapped. In his life he had always 'moved on' - to use one of his favourite phrases - when the spirit took him.
With Jackie, apart from the flattery implicit in the adoration of a beautiful young woman, there was a return to the carefree days before he had become enmeshed in Palace life.
With Jackie, he had torn round the Isle of Wight one sunny day in a speedboat, both of them smoking joints. With Jackie, he laughed constantly. He began seriously to consider the idea of divorce and of marriage to her.
A New York paper changed all that. It ran a story linking them. Forewarned, the Readings sent her away to friends in Switzerland, while Lord Reading issued a statement angrily denying that there was anything in it, which is what he believed at the time.
There were also denials from Jackie, Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace. But, pressed by her father, Jackie broke down and eventually admitted the truth.
The Readings were furious. They felt that their trust and hospitality had been abused. There were threats of horsewhipping and Tony was banned from their home.
To end the rumours, Tony and Margaret met in Barbados and were photographed embracing and looking affectionately at each other. The Jackie affair was effectively over.
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