Princess Margaret 'cut off' Princess Diana claims royal expert

The Queen and her younger sibling Princess Margaret used to be especially close as children. The sisters were treated as equals until their father unexpectedly ascended the throne in 1936, and Princess Elizabeth (the current Queen) was bumped up to prime position as his heir. While this meant the sister had a solid foundation of friendship, there were inevitable tensions as they grew up — and Elizabeth was prioritised.

Once the Queen ascended the throne herself, Margaret was still a figure of importance.

It was not until Prince Edward — the monarch’s youngest son — turned 21 and thus became a Counsellor State for the Queen.

The sovereign can only have five royals to represent her, meaning that Margaret was pushed out of her important role.

She did actually maintain some duties but, despite her dedication to the crown, was gradually pushed out of the limelight as she fell down the line of succession.

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Royal commentator Howard Hodgson told Express.co.uk that Margaret had wanted more responsibilities within royal life but that the Queen ended up being “pushed into betraying” her on the Palace’s orders.

He said: “I don’t think [the Queen] is a weak woman, but I think she talked herself into a position very early on, because of her mother, and because of the strain of her beloved father, whom she was extremely fond of.”

The Queen’s father, King George VI, struggled with royal duty and his wife, later the Queen Mother, used to claim that it was the stress of sovereignty which triggered his sudden death in 1952.

Mr Hodgson explained: “[The Queen] became absolutely obsessed — ‘I give my life to you’ — with the country, the Empire.”

Here he is referencing her pivotal speech delivered on her 21st birthday, in 1947, to the Commonwealth.

She said: “I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.”

Mr Hodgson continued: “That’s what she did, and yes, because of that she wasn’t a very good mother.

“Because of that, it is true that she did mislead Princess Margaret several times.

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“When the Palace bureaucracy wanted her to do something, in the end she did something that they wanted rather than support her sister.

“So all of that is quite accurate. And it did happen time and time again.”

The Queen also intervened when Margaret indicated that she wanted to marry Group Captain Peter Townsend, who was a divorcee and her father’s former equerry.

As marrying a divorced man could tarnish the image of the sovereign, who is also Head of the Church of England, the Queen was reluctant to allow such a marriage to go ahead.

Margaret was eventually forced to choose between her royal duties and her lover — and she chose to continue supporting the Queen and the monarchy.

Mr Hodgson also conceded that The Crown’s latest season’s portrayal of the Queen was accurate, “to a certain extent”.

In the Netflix drama, the Queen was seen as rather ineffective against the backdrop of the Palace machine and often put her duty and royal obligations before her family.

‘Charles — The Man Who Will Be King’ by Howard Hodgson was published by John Blake Publishing in 2007, and is available here.

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