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American Morning

Britain's Princess Margaret Being Remembered

Aired February 11, 2002 - 09:42   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: This morning, Britain's Princess Margaret is being remembered by her nephew, Prince Charles, as someone who "loved life and lived it to the full." Margaret died Saturday of a stroke at age 71. In her heyday, Margaret was at the center of London's social scene, making headlines for her party-going and her colorful love life. But more recently, Princess Margaret's health had been failing for several years. And the death of Queen Elizabeth's younger sister did not come as a shock to her countrymen.

Joining us now from London is royals watcher Robert Lacey.

Good of you to join us. Welcome.

So, Robert, how is Britain responding to her death?

ROBERT LACEY, AUTHOR, "ROYAL: HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II": It's low-key, definitely muted, perhaps even a little confused. Everyone understands it's the queen's sister, who meant a great dean to the queen personally. But as you've suggested, she really didn't, by the end, play a great role in the national life. And one can't begin to pretend it's anything like the massive display of grief that greeted the death of the last princess, Diana, princess of Wales.

ZAHN: How controversial was Princess Margaret?

LACEY: Well, in her day, she was a diamathic (ph). You know, there were two great controversies in her life. Her love for Captain Peter Towsend, the dashing, but divorced war hero in the 1950s. When several years, the couple wanted to marry, and in the end, were prevented by the government of the day that wasn't prepared to keep on the civil list, that is to say pay a government pension.

And then of course there was what seemed another love match when she fell in love with the photographer Anthony Armstrong Jones, who become, after his marriage Lord Snowden. That seemed the epitome of the swinging '60s. She seemed very happy. She was the one who wore the mini skirts, drove the funny little mini cars with Union Jacks on them, and that crumbled rather memorably, and in the eyes of many lovers of the royal family rather disgracefully, with her love affair with a much younger man, her toy boy Roddy Llewelyn (ph).

When the news of her illness was first made clear a year or so ago, there was even suggestion that in some way she brought all her troubles and her illness on herself with her drinking and smoking, but today and this weekend, the tone has been much more forgiving, and compassionate and sad.

ZAHN: If she -- I know some of the material I read she was known as a chain smoker. She smoked 60 cigarettes a day. Is there anytime in her life when her doctor said, hey, this is hurting you? You got to quit?

LACEY: Well, they did by the end, and she had some -- a lung removed. But smoking has been the curse of the British royal family. Four sovereigns, George V, George VI and Edward VIII -- I've lost count of them there, but there was one other Edward II, right at the beginning of the reign, all brought down cigarettes. So she had a very clear example in her family. And -- but that of course part of her character. She had a recklessness. She wanted to live dangerously, and that has been part of her appeal, and that is part of the ambivalence that people are feeling now.

ZAHN: I understand Princess Margaret and Queen Elizabeth were very close when they grew up. Once Elizabeth become queen, how did that effect their relationship? And in the end, how close were they?

LACEY: Well, to go right back to the very beginning, Margaret was expected to be a boy. They didn't have a girl's name ready when she appeared. And of course, if she had been a boy, she would have occupied the throne and it would have been her sister who was number two. And in a sense in which all her life, she was struggling with this confusion of identity. She used to use the English slang word "the spare," the reserve. But she never got beyond that to actually have an identity for herself. She was a great supporter of the girl guides. She did a lot of charity work with dance and that sort of thing. But really, I think sad, though it is to say, there is sense today of a life wasted and a potential that was unfulfilled.

ZAHN: This represents huge loss to the queen, doesn't it?

LACEY: It does. I mean, they were emotionally very close. And for all Margaret's unconventionality, the two sisters, right from days when they were little princesses, were in a way joined at the hip. Princess Margaret used to say my job in life was to support my sister. When it came to the troubles with Diana and Fergie in the 1990s, it was Princess Margaret who actually took up the cajoles and actually expressed to these young women the way in way the elder members of the family thought they were letting down the show.

So in a way, we've got a very old-fashioned royal who's gone into history, and one other very important and very worrying consequence of her death is the impact on her mother, the queen mother, who this month in February has been remembering her husband's death, but now has to cope and is trying at the moment to gather her strength to go to private funeral, but will be in Windsor on Friday. It's still not entirely sure that Queen Elizabeth, the queen mother, will be strong enough to make it in person.

ZAHN: Robert Lacey, we really appreciate your joining us and sharing with us your thoughts about Princess Margaret and her life.

Thank you for your time today. LACEY: Thank you.

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