Margot Fonteyn

NAME Margot Fonteyn, born Margaret Evelyn Hookham. Her formal married name later became Margot Fonteyn de Arias, following Spanish naming customs. (1)

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Margot Fonteyn was an English ballerina, long associated with The Royal Ballet, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest classical dancers of the 20th century. She became world‑famous for her interpretations of Swan Lake, Giselle, and The Sleeping Beauty, and for her later partnership with Rudolf Nureyev, which turned them into an international ballet “super‑pair.” (2)

BIRTH Margaret Evelyn Hookham was born on May 18, 1919, in Reigate, Surrey, England.

FAMILY BACKGROUND Her father, Felix John Hookham, was a British engineer employed by a tobacco company and earlier by a British cigarette firm. 

Her mother, Hilda Ana María “Ninette” Fontes, was half Irish and half Brazilian, the daughter of Brazilian industrialist Antônio Fontes; Fonteyn later adapted “Fontes” into the more romantic‑sounding “Fonteyn” for the stage. 

She had an older brother, also called Felix, who likewise adopted the surname Fonteyn. (3)

CHILDHOOD Fonteyn spent her early childhood in the London suburb of Ealing, where her mother enrolled her and her brother in ballet classes when she was about four. 

At around eight, she moved with her parents to China, living first in Tianjin and then in Shanghai after her father took a job with a tobacco company. In China she studied with Russian émigré teacher George Goncharov, laying the foundations of her technique before returning to London in her mid‑teens to pursue a serious ballet career. (2)

EDUCATION Her schooling was a patchwork of local schools and private tutors, reflecting the family’s moves between England and China. Her real “education” was at the ballet barre: after returning to Britain she studied with Serafina Astafieva in London and then joined Ninette de Valois’s school linked to the Vic‑Wells/Sadler’s Wells company. She entered what became the Sadler’s Wells (later Royal Ballet) school in the early 1930s and quickly began performing with the associated company. (4)

CAREER RECORD 1934: She made her professional debut as a snowflake in the Vic-Wells Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker on January 1, 1934. Later that year, she landed her first solo role as the young Master Tregennis in Ninette de Valois’s The Haunted Ballroom. 

1935: Following the abrupt departure of the company's leading ballerina, Alicia Markova, Fonteyn was thrust into the spotlight. The legendary choreographer Frederick Ashton cast her as the lead in Le Baiser de la Fée, marking the beginning of a historic 25-year muse-and-choreographer relationship. 

1938: After conquering the notoriously difficult classical roles of Giselle, Swan Lake, and The Sleeping Beauty, she was officially promoted to principal dancer, cementing her place as the undisputed face of British ballet. 

1949: She led the Sadler’s Wells Ballet on its historic post-war tour of the United States. Her opening-night performance as Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty at New York's Metropolitan Opera House made her a massive international celebrity, prompting an unprecedented 48 curtain calls. 

1954: Appointed President of the Royal Academy of Dance, a leadership position she held for several decades, steering the pedagogical standards of dance across the British Commonwealth. 

1962: At the age of 42, when she was actively contemplating retirement, she partnered with the newly defected 23-year-old Russian superstar Rudolf Nureyev in a legendary performance of Giselle. The electric chemistry revived her career, extending her time on stage for nearly two additional decades. 

1979: On her 60th birthday, she officially retired from the stage. The Royal Ballet formally bestowed upon her the rare title of prima ballerina assoluta, an ultimate honor granted to only a handful of dancers in history.

APPEARANCE Fonteyn was relatively small and fine‑boned, with delicate, classical features, dark hair, and large, expressive eyes that read clearly even from the back of the theatre. Critics repeatedly praised the purity of her line, the long, unbroken arabesques and lyrical port de bras that gave her dancing a “sculpted” quality. Even offstage she carried herself with a kind of understated, aristocratic poise. (5)

Publicity photo of Margot Fonteyn in the 1960s

FASHION Onstage she became synonymous with perfectly cut, traditional tutus and romantic white skirts in works such as Giselle and Swan Lake. Offstage, she tended to favor tailored suits, simple dresses, and neat coiffed hair rather than flamboyant haute couture, projecting a discreet, well‑bred elegance rather than showy celebrity style. In the 1960s she adapted gently to more contemporary fashions, but always with a conservative, ladylike restraint. (2)

CHARACTER Colleagues and biographers describe her as disciplined, punctual, and astonishingly loyal, both to the Royal Ballet and to the often‑difficult men in her life. She could be self‑effacing in public, preferring to talk about roles and partners rather than her own genius, but she was quietly strong‑willed about artistic choices. 

Her decision to keep dancing into her 50s and 60s, and to support her husband despite political scandal and paralysis, showed a stubborn, almost old‑fashioned sense of duty. (6)

SPEAKING VOICE In interviews Fonteyn spoke in a soft, carefully modulated English accent, with precise diction and a thoughtful, slightly hesitating manner. Commentators noted that her spoken voice, like her dancing, was controlled and musical rather than flamboyant. (7) 

SENSE OF HUMOUR Fonteyn did not trade on public wit, but she could be dryly amusing in private, especially about backstage mishaps and the hazards of touring. Nureyev and other colleagues recalled her capacity for affectionate teasing and for laughing at herself when performances went awry. Her humour tended to be understated and companionable rather than caustic. (4)

RELATIONSHIPS As a young woman Fonteyn had a long and emotionally intense affair with composer and conductor Constant Lambert, beginning when she was about 18 and he in his early 30s; it ended painfully when he left her and married someone else. 

She married Roberto Emilio Arias, a Panamanian lawyer, diplomat and politician, in 1955; he was the son of former Panamanian president Harmodio Arias and a member of a powerful political clan. Their marriage drew her into a network of Panamanian and international political figures, including friendships with Imelda Marcos, and later, contacts with Manuel Noriega and General Pinochet through Arias. 

When Arias was shot in 1964 and left quadriplegic, Fonteyn remained with him and devoted much of her income to his care, commuting between the world’s stages and a more precarious domestic life in Panama. (6)

MONEY AND FAME During her peak years with the Royal Ballet, Fonteyn enjoyed substantial success but was not lavishly paid by modern celebrity standards; the real financial windfall came with her international tours with Nureyev, which sold out large theatres across the world. Much of this income went into supporting Arias, financing his medical bills, political schemes, and their home in Panama, and she sometimes danced on while injured or exhausted to meet these obligations. 

Despite being one of the most famous ballerinas in the world, she ended her life more comfortable than wealthy, with her real “capital” residing in reputation and honours rather than a great fortune. (4)

FOOD AND DRINK Like most classical dancers of her generation, Fonteyn maintained a carefully controlled diet, balancing the need to remain light and agile with the demands of constant touring. Intimates recalled her as moderate rather than puritanical: she could enjoy good restaurant meals and social drinking in company, but discipline remained the default. 

In later life in Panama, her eating habits adapted to a simpler, rural routine. (3)

BALLERINA CAREER Margot Fonteyn appeared to take to ballet with the effortless ease that most of us reserve for misplacing our keys. She began lessons at around four years old as a perfectly ordinary suburban child, then spent part of her youth in Shanghai studying under the Russian teacher George Goncharov, where she absorbed enough of the Russian tradition to give her dancing a distinctive polish. Back in London, she came under the guidance of Ninette de Valois and Frederick Ashton, who set about transforming her into the embodiment of the English ballet ideal.

The transformation was remarkably successful. Fonteyn became the cornerstone of Britain's postwar ballet movement, creating leading roles in Ashton ballets such as Ondine, Cinderella and Marguerite and Armand, while making classics like Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and Giselle seem less like museum pieces and more like living works of art.

Then, just as she was contemplating retirement—a prospect that must have seemed as natural to a ballerina as it does to a professional footballer—along came Rudolf Nureyev. His dramatic defection from the Soviet Union in 1962 was one of the great cultural stories of the age, and his partnership with Fonteyn produced an immediate sensation. Their performances of Giselle at Covent Garden electrified audiences and critics alike. Fonteyn later said that dancing with Nureyev revealed "new resources" within herself. It certainly revealed something to audiences. Although he was nearly twenty years younger, the age difference quickly became part of their legend rather than an obstacle to it.

Fonteyn remained with the company for roughly forty-five years, an astonishingly long tenure in a profession where careers are often measured in aches, injuries and increasingly alarming conversations with physiotherapists. In the end she was named Prima Ballerina Assoluta of The Royal Ballet—the only dancer in the company's history to receive the title, which is rather like being declared not merely the best player on the team but the best player the team is ever likely to have.

MUSIC AND ARTS Fonteyn possessed an innate, deeply sophisticated understanding of classical music, allowing her to phrase her movements flawlessly with an orchestra. Throughout her life, she collaborated closely with the greatest artistic minds of her era, performing in stage sets designed by legendary artists like Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.

In 1965, Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev guested on the U.S. TV variety show The Hollywood Palace, hosted by Fred Astaire; they danced the Black Swan pas de deux while Astaire presented them.

Away from ballet she cultivated friendships with musicians, painters, and theatre people, and later served as a kind of ambassador for the arts in interviews, gala appearances, and her role as Chancellor of the University of Durham (a largely ceremonial post, but symbolically linking her to Britain’s cultural life). (7)

LITERATURE Fonteyn published her autobiography, Margot Fonteyn: Autobiography, in 1975, offering a controlled but revealing account of her childhood, career, and partnership with Nureyev. 

Biographers and historians have since used her memoir alongside released government files on the Panamanian coup to reconstruct the more secretive aspects of her life.

She also wrote, or lent her name to, books for younger readers about ballet, helping to demystify the art form and encouraging children to attend performances or take classes. 

Biographers and historians have since used her memoir alongside released government files on the Panamanian coup to reconstruct the more secretive aspects of her life. (4)

NATURE In Panama, Fonteyn lived on a cattle ranch for many years, exchanging the urban world of Covent Garden for a more rural existence of fields, animals, and tropical weather. Friends noted that she adapted surprisingly well to this environment, despite the contrast with her earlier life of London theatres and international hotels. Her later years were spent largely outdoors and by the sea when she was not traveling for work or medical treatment. (3)

PETS Living on a ranch in Panama meant she was surrounded by farm animals and local wildlife. Photographs from her later life sometimes show her with dogs on the property, suggesting she enjoyed their company in a quiet, unadvertised way. 

HOBBIES AND SPORTS During her dancing years, there was little time for formal hobbies beyond ballet itself, which consumed her days with class, rehearsal, and performance. Fonteyn did, however, enjoy swimming and simple outdoor pursuits when touring, using them as a way to unwind and maintain stamina. In retirement, running and overseeing aspects of the ranch in Panama provided a new, more practical “hobby,” a hands‑on contrast to the make‑believe of the stage. (8)

Image by Perplexity

SCIENCE AND MATHS While she had no formal background in science, she developed a highly practical, functional knowledge of veterinary science and livestock genetics during her second career as a cattle breeder in Panama, learning to manage the health of her herd.

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Fonteyn did not set out a formal philosophy, but her actions suggest a personal code based on loyalty, duty, and a belief in seeing commitments through, however inconvenient. She accepted pain, sacrifice, and the aging process as part of a dancer’s lot, and she stayed with Arias despite infidelity, scandal, and disability—choices that some observers interpreted as rooted in a somewhat traditional, almost Catholic sense of marital obligation, though she herself did not make ideological claims. (4)

Fonteyn came from a nominally Church of England / Protestant background. She converted to Roman Catholicism on her deathbed in 1991 so she could be buried in the same tomb as her late husband, Panamanian diplomat Roberto "Tito" Arias, near their home in Panama. (9)

POLITICS Fonteyn’s direct political statements were rare, but her marriage placed her squarely inside Panamanian power struggles. Arias, the nephew and son of Panamanian presidents, involved her in schemes to influence the direction of the country; declassified British documents indicate that she helped in limited ways with a 1959 attempt to overthrow the government, including raising money and transporting arms before being picked up and quietly deported. Through Arias she socialized with figures linked to authoritarian regimes and Cold War politics, illustrating how a ballerina’s life could intersect unexpectedly with coups, strongmen, and diplomatic intrigue. (6)

SCANDAL The most notable scandal of her life surrounds the 1959 coup attempt in Panama, in which she was more than the innocent bystander her public statements suggested; British files released decades later confirmed she had some knowledge of the plan and participated in preliminary efforts. Arias’s subsequent shooting in 1964—possibly politically motivated, possibly related to an affair—added a further layer of notoriety to their marriage, although public sympathy generally rested with her. 

Earlier, her long affair with Constant Lambert, and his dramatic abandonment of her to marry someone else, had been a quieter, more private scandal within London artistic circles. (3)

MILITARY RECORD Fonteyn contributed notably on the home front during World War II. As a star of the Sadler's Wells Ballet, she danced throughout the Blitz — refusing to evacuate and performing repeatedly even as bombs fell. In May 1940 she narrowly escaped the Netherlands with her company, fleeing just ahead of the invading German forces.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Like all top‑rank dancers, she lived with a high level of physical strain, injuries, and chronic pain, but she maintained the fitness to dance leading roles into her 50s and to give a farewell performance at 60. Her discipline in daily class and rehearsal was legendary, and she carefully managed her body weight and conditioning to meet the technical demands of the classical repertory. In later life she developed cancer, for which she received treatment in the United States and Panama before her death. (4)

HOMES In London she lived in various flats and houses convenient for Covent Garden, including an address in Long Acre that is now commemorated with an English Heritage blue plaque. After her marriage, she and Arias also maintained a residence at the Panamanian embassy building in London, which her earnings helped to purchase. In retirement she moved permanently to Panama, living on a cattle ranch and later in accommodation closer to medical facilities in Panama City. (5)

TRAVEL Fonteyn’s career made her a perpetual traveler: she toured North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia with the Royal Ballet and later with Nureyev in joint galas and guest appearances. Long‑haul flights, quick hotel stays, and rehearsals in unfamiliar theatres became routine, and she was one of the first ballerinas to become a truly global celebrity through the combination of touring, film, and television. 

Her later journeys were more often to hospitals and clinics, especially in the United States, but travel remained woven through her life until the final years. (4)

DEATH Dame Margot Fonteyn died on February 21, 1991, in a hospital in Panama City, Panama, reportedly from cancer, at the age of 71. 

She was buried in Panama, the country she had adopted through her marriage and where she had spent her retirement years. Her death prompted tributes from dancers, critics, and institutions worldwide, cementing her image as the quintessential British ballerina. 

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Fonteyn appeared in several filmed and televised ballets, including productions of Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, and Swan Lake, which helped introduce ballet to new audiences in the television age. 

She was also the subject of documentaries and gave numerous interviews in which she discussed technique, partnering, and the life of a dancer. 

Her image circulated in newsreels, magazines, and later on recordings with Nureyev, ensuring that even those who never saw her live could experience something of her style. 

ACHIEVEMENTS 1951: Appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her monumental contributions to British dance. 

1956: Created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE), officially becoming Dame Margot Fonteyn. 

1979: Officially named Prima Ballerina Assoluta of The Royal Ballet, a supreme title shared by only three other western dancers in the entire twentieth century. 

1990: The Royal Opera House established a unique, permanent pension fund for her to ensure she was financially supported in her final days of illness in Panama. 

Her partnership with Rudolf Nureyev is still cited as one of the greatest in ballet history, and she remains a touchstone for classical performance—an embodiment of musicality, line, and dramatic truth in dance.