Although shattered by the death early Saturday of her younger daughter, the Queen Mother was said to be coping with the bereavement and has reportedly told aides she is determined to attend Princess Margaret’s funeral on Friday. Doctors are concerned the 101-year-old could be too frail to undertake the arduous journey from Sandringham, in Norfolk, to Windsor Castle where the service is due to be held. However, she has made it clear to courtiers that she wants to attend, despite battling to shake off a persistently chesty cold.
Margaret’s funeral will be a private affair for family and friends, in Windsor Castle’s St. George’s Chapel where the Princess's beloved father, King George VI, also lies. Further details are expected to be announced on Monday. Supported by her grandson Prince Charles, the Queen Mother said prayers for her 71-year-old daughter in the private chapel at Sandringham on Sunday. The Queen, who returned to Windsor on Saturday, drove herself to a private service at the Royal Lodge chapel in Windsor Great Park, near the castle where she and her sister spent so much of their youth. She is expected to return to London on Monday to pay her last respects to her sister.
The "beauty and creativity" of Princess Margaret was remembered at a church service at Sandringham on Sunday, attended by the Duke of Edinburgh and around 80 parishioners. Canon George Hall paid tribute to the Princess and her "love of life and all beautiful things" at the 13th Century St Mary Magdalene Church on the family’s Norfolk estate.
Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto, the Princess’s children, spent the day quietly at their mother’s Kensington Palace home. Speaking from Senegal, Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair praised the princess's "sense of service" and "enormous" commitment to charity work.
During the week, members of Margaret’s family and her closest friends are expected to visit the palace to pay their last respects. Her coffin will be moved to the Queen's chapel in St James' Palace on Thursday, where her body will be laid in state. Flags will fly at half mast at royal residences across the land during the five days of royal mourning leading up to the funeral – 50 years to the day after her father was laid to rest.
Members of the public have been paying tribute to Margaret at St James's Palace, where books of condolence have been set up. In a sign of a modernising monarchy, condolence e-mails can also be sent to the princess's memorial website at www.royal.gov.uk and will be passed to her family. Preparations will also begin for a public memorial service to be held in coming weeks, although Buckingham Palace said no date or details had yet been decided.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Looking solemn after the loss of her beloved younger sister, the Queen drove herself to the Royal Lodge Chapel in Windsor Great Park on Sunday
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Prince Charles supported his increasingly frail grandmother, the Queen Mother, at prayers at Sandringham
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Princess Margaret's children, Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto, spent Sunday in their mother's Kensington Palace home
Photo: © Alphapress.com
The Princess's coffin will remain at her Kensington Palace apartments until Thursday, for family and friends to pay their final respects
