Princess Margaret aged 19 by Cecil Beaton
(Picture: Cecil Beaton/Victoria and Albert Museum, London/PA)In 2002, rather than a grand procession carrying her coffin to its final resting place, Princess Margaret was instead cremated at Slough Crematorium.
A break with royal tradition, the Daily Mail reported that her decision to be cremated was driven by her wish to be laid with her father.
It was believed there was “no room” for a conventional burial, where he is interred.
No senior royal in living memory has been cremated except for Princess Margaret. They have either been buried or interred.
At the time of her death, The Scotsman also reported the late princess told her life-long friend, Lady Glenconner, she found the alternative royal burial ground “gloomy” and did not want to end up at Frogmore in Windsor Great Park, where Queen Victoria and Prince Albert are buried.
The funeral was kept very private and only attended by about 450 family and friends, which included 30 members of the Royal Family, such as the Queen, Margaret’s ex-husband Lord Snowdon, and her two children, Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto.
The Queen Mother died seven weeks after Princess Margaret. Her funeral at Westminster Abbey was attended by 2,000 people.
Princess Margaret’s ashes were returned to Windsor, where they now remain in the Royal Vault at St George’s Chapel, alongside her mother and father’s tomb.
Her Majesty’s state funeral, which took place today (September 19), was also attended by 2,000 people.
The coffin will enter St George’s Chapel for a committal service later, where the Queen will reunite with her parents and her sister when she is lowered into the Royal Vault.
Her marble slab will be engraved ELIZABETH II 1926-2022.
Prince Philip, who passed away last year, remained interred in Windsor, but he will be buried with The Queen at the King George VI memorial chapel, located inside St George’s Chapel.
