![The Queen Mother is introduced to baby David Linley in 1961 by his parents Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/royal-family/2023/09/04/TELEMMGLPICT000347944048_16938465220220_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqC_LLCXkS_z-CZqgOMP7Be4NJOW97-4gC-TIHNP2xpBw.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Rumour that Earl Snowdon’s first spoken word was ‘chandelier’ confirmed by Gyles Brandreth
Broadcaster says Princess Margaret told the story about her son David Armstrong-Jones while visiting Laurence Olivier's family
![The Queen Mother is introduced to baby David Linley in 1961 by his parents Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/royal-family/2023/09/04/TELEMMGLPICT000347944048_16938465220220_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqC_LLCXkS_z-CZqgOMP7Be4NJOW97-4gC-TIHNP2xpBw.jpeg?imwidth=680)
The rumour that the Earl of Snowdon’s first word as a baby was “chandelier” is true, Gyles Brandreth has said.
David Armstrong-Jones, the son of Princess Margaret and the 2nd Earl of Snowdon, knew the word because that is what his nanny called the mobile hanging over his cot, the broadcaster said.
Mr Brandreth, a close friend of the Queen and a trustee of her Reading Room charity, said on his new podcast series, Rosebud, that it remains his “favourite” first word story.
Speaking on the first episode with Dame Judi Dench, Mr Brandreth, 75, said: “I have been told by the people involved that it is true.”
He told Dame Judi, 88, that the actress Joan Plowright and actor Laurence Olivier had a son, Richard Olivier, who was born the same year as Princess Margaret’s son.
Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong Jones, the late Earl of Snowdon, welcomed their son David, now 61, in 1961.
‘Larry is so happy’
Recounting the story, Mr Brandreth said: “The Snowdon’s visited the Oliviers in Brighton.
“And Lady Olivier said to Princess Margaret, ‘We are very excited because Richard has spoken his first word. And it’s such a relief because it was Dada and Larry is so happy’.
“And Princess Margaret said ‘Well as it happens, David has just spoken his first word too... David’s first word was chandelier’.”
Dame Judi tried to contain her laughter before quipping: “Chandelier, well it’s a very nice word to say.”
Mr Brandreth added: “The explanation is that there were nannies and things, and David was lying in a cot in Kensington Palace looking up.
“And the nanny was pointing at things, and there was a mobile in the ceiling, saying ‘it’s a chandelier’.
“So that was his first word, chandelier.”
Mr Brandreth and Dame Judi also touched on first smells and first moments of happiness during the 50-minute episode.
Dame Judi said she had a “charmed childhood” in York and added that “we laughed a lot in our family, and we sang”.
Brother recited Shakespeare
While she was unable to recall her first word she could recite the first thing that she committed to memory.
She said her brother Jeffery used to recite Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar Act I Scene 2 whenever a guest came to their home and she then launched into a fluent reading of the passage herself.
“I’ve never been in the play but there we are,” she said.
“So for you, Shakespeare instead of nursery rhymes,” Mr Brandreth added.
Dame Judi replied: “It’s because it’s Shakespeare and it’s the rhythm of your heart.”
Mr Brandreth, a former MP, launched his podcast to “talk to famous and fascinating people about their first memories and first experiences”.
The series aims to take guests back to their first formative moments to see how it has shaped their lives and careers.
New episodes of Rosebud are released every Friday.