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Britain remembers Margaret

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Britain's royal family have opened a condolence book at St. James's Palace in London for Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth II's younger sister, who has died at 71.

Members of the public also were encouraged to leave messages on the royal family's Web site for an enigmatic royal figure who, in the words of her nephew Prince Charles, "loved life and lived it to the full."

The princess died in hospital on Saturday after suffering a stroke. She had been in failing health for some time.

Led by the royal family, churchgoers throughout Britain were remembering Margaret at Sunday services across the country.

The Queen Mother, supported by Prince Charles, said private prayers for her daughter at a private chapel at Sandringham, the royal estate in eastern England.

The 101-year-old royal matriarch, who has been unwell with a cold, was said to be spending a day of personal reflection.

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The Queen was at Windsor, where prayers were also being said for the Princess. The Duke of Edinburgh was at St Mary Magdalene Church on the Sandringham estate.

Princess Margaret's children, Lord Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto, were thought to be at Kensington Palace, their mother's London residence, where her coffin is resting.

CNN's Hala Gorani reported from Kensington Palace that small groups of people had gathered there on Sunday to pay personal tribute.

Family and close friends were expected to pay their private respects before the coffin is moved, early in the week, to the Queen's Chapel at St James's Palace, where it will remain until Thursday.

A private, rather than state, funeral is being held at St. George's Chapel at Windsor, 20 miles west of London, on Friday. A memorial service involving the public will be held at a later date.

A steady trickle of people queued outside St. James's Palace to be the first to sign the book of condolences at 9 a.m. (4 a.m. ET).

Some said the princess's death marked an end of an era of royal history as they recalled her colourful, once-vivacious jet-setting character with great affection. Barbara Girelli-Kent, one of the first to pay her respects, told the UK Press Association, "Princess Margaret was of my era in the 1960s.

"She was symbolic of correctness, strength of character, and she had a mind of her own but great respect for her majesty the queen and the royal institution. She was a trooper."

Anthea Mander Lahr, 57, from London said, "She was a colourful character and added a bit of spice to life with her scandals."

"Its such a nationalistic thing to say, but it gives you pride of being British."

Elsewhere Margaret's death was marked by moments of silence and flags flown at half-mast, but there was little of the dramatic outpouring of national grief which followed the death of Princess Diana in 1997.

Once a glamorous fast-lane figure, Margaret had been dogged by medical problems in recent years and was little seen in public. Her last appearance was in a wheelchair.

But UK Sunday newspapers did treat her death event as a major event in British life, all publishing photographs showing her at her most glamorous in her 20s.

Most published special pull-out sections paying tribute -- typically focussed on Margaret's trouble finding love after she chose as a young woman not to marry an Air Force officer, Group Capt. Peter Townsend, in 1955 because he was a divorcee.

"Death of a troubled princess," read a banner headline in The Sunday Times. "The Tragic Princess," said the Sunday Mirror's front page. "Love, lust, scandal and honour," was the title of the News of the World's special supplement.

The royal family began a period official mourning and canceled social engagements, but the queen is expected to go ahead with official duties before Margaret's funeral on Friday.

"Princess Margaret was a great support to the queen and the monarchy and would have wanted her to carry on with official engagements," a palace source told PA.

Visits by the queen to Jamaica, New Zealand and Australia later this month are scheduled to go ahead as planned.

Princess Margaret's death comes amid her sister's Golden Jubilee, the 50th anniversary of her accession to Britain's throne.

A leading socialite in the 1950s, Princess Margaret had many friends in the arts and show business, including Peter Sellers.

In 1960 Margaret married photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, who became the Earl of Snowdown. The couple had two children, David, Viscount Linley, and Lady Sarah Chatto.

Prince Charles led the tributes to Princess Margaret with a revealing TV interview recalling his "darling aunt" and her penchant for singing at the piano and smoking through a long cigarette holder. "She loved life and lived it to the full," said Prince Charles. "We shall all miss her dreadfully."

"My darling aunt had such a dreadful time the last few years with her awful illness and it was hard for ... her to bear it ... particularly as she had such a wonderfully free spirit," he added.

Charles left the Sandringham Estate, eastern England, on Sunday after spending a night in the company of the Queen Mother, who at 101 has also been in poor health recently.

"I think a troubled princess is a sad way to describe her," said Margaret's cousin and friend, Lady Elizabeth Shakerley.

"She lived life to the full, and she was such a fun person. She had a great capacity for making people laugh and making a situation wonderful."



 
 
 
 


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