Queen heartbreak: Royal forced to give up relationship with relatives to protect monarchy
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The Queen was pushed forward in the order of succession at the age of ten after the unprecedented abdication of her uncle Edward VIII. Royal commentators suggested the duty facing the young princess contributed to strengthening her resolution to commit herself to a life focussed on upholding the relevancy of the Royal Family. Her determination to protect the Crown however forced Her Majesty to give up the close relationship she shared with sister Princess Margaret and other relatives.
According to historian Dr Kate Williams, the Queen was forced to accept her new role would require her to put the Crown above anything else in her life.
Speaking to Channel 5’s documentary ‘Elizabeth and Margaret: Love and Loyalty,’ Dr Williams said: “For Elizabeth, it’s different.
“She’s above all the Queen, she has the Crown and that takes precedence.
“And Elizabeth, who has always been the image of duty, now knows that if it comes between the Crown and her love for her sister, or her love for anyone else, the Crown has to come first.”
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Narrator Kate Fleetwood noted Her Majesty’s coronation marked an important change in Margaret’s position within the Royal Family.
Ms Fleetwood said: “Margaret was no longer just Elizabeth’s sister. She was also her subject.
“And on June 2, 1953, the nation was gripped as 27-year-old Elizabeth Windsor was crowned at Westminster Abbey.”
The Queen reportedly expressed her concern about Margaret’s future in a letter to a friend, discussing the “loneliness” facing her younger sister and the Queen Mother now she had taken over the mantel of the Royal Family from her father.
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“She absolutely adored him. And his death, bear in mind she was only 21, just absolutely floored her. She was devastated.
“But Margaret through this whole period was very much on her own, she was very much alone. And Princess Elizabeth, who had instantly become Queen, was very much aware of this.
“She wrote to a friend saying that, ‘I have a husband, I have children. I have a job to do but for my mother and sister, they will find it terribly lonely’.”
As the Queen and her family of four moved into Buckingham Palace ahead of the coronation, Princess Margaret moved into Clarence House with the Queen Mother.
Despite their at times fraugh relationship, Margaret shared the residence with her mother until she married Anthony Armstrong-Jones in 1960.
The pair carried out several engagements on behalf of the Queen in between their very active social life.
Following their divorce in 1978, Princess Margaret fully focussed on helping her sister by undertaking over 90 national and international tours as well as 1000s of engagements before she died in 2002.
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