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American Morning

Britons Express Sympathy After Death of Princess Margaret

Aired February 11, 2002 - 07:50   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Over the weekend and while Britons are turning out to express their sympathy, it's hardly the outpouring we saw for Princess Diana. But as CNN's Hala Gorani reports, the two women, though each from a very different generation, were actually alike in some ways.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We commend to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the soul of her Royal Highness Princess Margaret.

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A brief mention in honor of Queen Elizabeth's younger sister at St. Paul's Cathedral in London during Sunday mass. Outside Kensington Palace, where Margaret's body lies, a subdued reaction to the Princess' death, which came as a surprise but not a shock to Britons aware of her ill health for several years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the last few years, it's such a shame that she lost her spirit relay.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: God will get me (UNINTELLIGIBLE) especially the younger ones, and I (UNINTELLIGIBLE) die.

GORANI: The response to the latest Royal passing, a far cry from the spontaneous outpouring of grief following Princess Diana's shocked death in 1997.

But if the reaction to Princess Margaret's death is rather subdued with only a few flowers laid here in front of Kensington Palace in London, in her heyday, Queen Elizabeth's younger sister was the center of London's social scene grabbing headlines not only for her party going, but also for her colorful love life.

Margaret had a notorious relationship with Peter Townsend, a man almost twice her age she could not marry because he was a divorcee. Followed an 18-year marriage and later a liaison with a man 17 years her junior. And Royal watchers say that unconventional lifestyle and her love of life and the arts is what she'll be remembered for.

PETER DEWAR, BURKE'S LANDED GENTRY: I think Princess Margaret will go down in the world history books as someone who is very glamorous, very edacious (ph), and indeed very hard working, especially in her earlier years, because she did undertake a great many Royal duties of one kind or another.

GORANI: Princess Margaret's funeral will be a small, private affair in St. George's chapel and palace sources say the Queen's Jubilee year celebrations marking 50 years of Elizabeth's reign are scheduled to go ahead as planned.

Hala Gorani, CNN, London.

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