A very sweet insight into the Queen's relationship with her younger sister Princess Margaret has been uncovered – revealing that Her Majesty would often take care of Margaret's children, Lady Sarah Chatto and David Armstrong-Jones, when she wanted to get away and take a holiday. Royal biographer Christopher Warwick told the documentary Princess Margaret: The Rebel Royal: "Margaret and Tony had no compunction about going off on holiday and leaving the children behind. Very often, they were left in the care of the Queen – the Queen had David and Sarah, you know - and they loved it."
The Queen with her niece Sarah in 1973
He added that Margaret didn't feel as maternal while her children were young. "Princess Margaret was a good mother, but more especially when the children were growing older. She wasn't really the most maternal of women, so she wasn't particularly interested in babies and toddlers," he said.
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The programme, which aired recently in two parts on BBC Two, gave a candid insight into Margaret's life – from her romances to her family and friendships. It even revealed the extent of public fascination towards the young Princess in her early life, revealing that fans were so keen to find out more about her that they once broke into her Italian hotel room.
Princess Margaret and her children Sarah and David
Fashion historian Beatrice Behlen said: "She became an icon. She went to Italy, and people were just totally hounding her. They actually broke into her hotel room to find out what nail varnish she was wearing, and that was recorded in the press. That wasn't expected. In England the press was always much more reverent."
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And in a 1949 issue of Life magazine that we uncovered, Margaret's beauty preferences were confirmed. "An Italian newspaper woman had managed to slip into the Princess' hotel suite and discovered that she was reading a book called Busman's Honeymoon, using Tweed perfume and Peggy Sage nail polish," it reads.
