Princess Margaret And The First Newspaper Horoscope…

Did you know it was the birth of Princess Margaret helped create modern horoscope columns?

Struggling to come up with a fresh angle on a new Royal baby, John Gordon–then editor of the Sunday Express–asked the most famous astrologer of the day to predict what life might have in store…

Princess Margaret Born Thursday August 21st, 1930, at 9.22 pm in Scotland…

“Cheiro” had given personal readings to Oscar Wilde, General Kitchener, Mark Twain and King Edward VII.

Now he was asked for a take on the newborn Princess.

However, it was his assistant, R.H. Naylor who ended up writing an article for the paper. “What the Stars Foretell for the New Princess” was published the following Sunday.

The First Newspaper Horoscope…

The word ‘horoscope’ had been around for several centuries, yet here it was to take on a life of its own.

The article proved a huge success, so that Gordon proceeded to commission Naylor to write forecasts for the month ahead, then a weekly column.

Here he made predictions for all Sunday Express readers according to each star sign, which resulted in the modern horoscope we know today. Then, every popular newspaper employed a resident astrologer!

As a horoscope columnist, I had to look at the chart for that Sunday in question…

Published in the British newspaper, the Sunday Express, on the 24th August 1930 we see a New Moon closely allied with Neptune in Virgo.

I have cast the chart for 8.00 am, a good time to go and buy the newspaper, though it surely went to print and hit stands before then.

However, I really like this chart – a Virgo Rising, with Mercury (the chart ruler in the first house), suggesting reading about oneself. 

The Sun and Moon in perceptive, detail oriented Virgo, and Neptune, all pointing towards personal observation, the planet of mysticism and the sensitive Moon teaming up to get a read…

A Venus-Uranus opposition could allude to the way the astrologer is looked to for guidance.

There’s a sense that one has their own purpose (a moment taking their coffee and morning croissant), with a jolt from another side – Uranus! An awakening from the astrologer’s toolkit…

Exalted Jupiter and Pluto in Cancer in the eleventh house, signal big trends and movements for the masses. And boy did this trend take off…

More than 80 years on, and many moons later, we still love this written form of divination!

Who Was Cheiro?

Born William John Warner (1866–1936), Cheiro also went by the name of Count Louis Hamon.

He combined his talent as a clairvoyant, numerologist and palmist with running a champagne business and chemical factory.