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CNN Live Saturday

Britain Mourns Loss of Princess Margaret

Aired February 09, 2002 - 14:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Britain is mourning the death today of Princess Margaret. Palace officials say the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth died peacefully in her sleep after suffering a stroke yesterday. She was 71.

CNN's Richard Quest is in London measuring reaction to the royal passing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A day of sadness for a generation that will remember the party princess.

(voice-over): That's how many people are viewing the death of Princess Margaret here in Britain. A woman who saw many scandals during her life in the last century; when, for instance, she wasn't allowed to marry the man of her dreams because he was divorced. A woman who took up with a younger man in her holiday home of Mustique.

She drank heavily and smoked heavily; lived life to the full. But all of this, of course, tinged with the knowledge that she also performed royal duty. She put the royal family at the forefront of her life, never saying a word against the queen or other members of her family.

Princess Margaret's funeral will be held in the next week or so, when final arrangements have been made as to whether it will be a private or semi-private event. For the meantime, she will lie in state in her apartment at Kensington Palace. She'll be visited by friends and family before being taken to the queen's chapel and then on to Windsor.

(on camera): Princess Margaret will be buried with other members of the royal family at Frogmore.

Richard Quest, CNN, Buckingham Palace, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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