Insight into the Queen's endearing relationship with her younger sister Princess Margaret has been revealed by The Reality of Monarchy author Andrew Duncan, who wrote about some of the sweet things she said about the monarch in the Radio Times. Ahead of Sunday night's The Queen's Big Night Out on ITV, find out what the Princess had to say about her royal sister...
The Queen and her sister Princess Margaret
According to Andrew, she said: "My sister has an aura. I'm enormously impressed when she walks into a room. It's a kind of magic." Margaret, who was interviewed by author in the late 1960s, added: "In my own humble way I've always tried to take some of the burden off my sister." She continued: "She can't do it all... and I leap at the opportunity to help. Sometimes it can be very formal and boring, but I've got a reflex against that now. It's very much up to one not to be bored." Duncan also told how the Princess, who was just 39 at the time, said she had mellowed with age and was less inclined to subject people to withering looks.
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"My friends used to tease me and call it my 'acid-drop' expression... I'm much nicer in old age," Margaret said. She also suggested that the future success of the monarchy depended on the royal family producing "nicely brought up young people". Princess Margaret died in the Queen's Golden Jubilee year of 2002 at the age of 71 after a period of ill health.
Margaret was known for her glamorous lifestyle and sharp tongue
Her obituary in the New York Times read: "Attractive and fun-loving, Princess Margaret earned a reputation in her youth as a free spirit. But her 20s were clouded by an unlucky romance with Group Capt. Peter Townsend of the Royal Air Force, a Battle of Britain hero with whom she fell in love when he served as an equerry to her father, King George VI." Her tumultuous love life has been portrayed in Netflix's The Crown series - rekindling public interest in the princess, who was known for her glamorous lifestyle and whip-smart tongue.
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