Princess Margaret made a cheeky comment to the Queen while she was recovering from a stroke, a former lady-in-waiting has claimed.
Lady Anne Glenconner – who was one of Margaret’s close confidantes from 1971 – appears on the upcoming ITVX documentary The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor.
During the documentary, the socialite, 90, opened up about the last years of Princess Margaret’s life.
In 1998, the late royal suffered her first stroke and proceeded to have three more before her death at the age of 71 in 2002.
During this period of ill health, Lady Anne spent a great deal of time with Princess Margaret at her apartment in Kensington Palace.
Princess Margaret cheekily told her sister to ‘shush’ while she was recovering from a stroke and listening to The Archers, her former lady-in-waiting has claimed
In the upcoming show, which is available to stream from 20 April, Lady Anne recalls one of the occasions where the Queen came to visit her sister in the four years where she was unwell.
She explained: ‘I happened to be with Princess Margaret and so I went into the drawing room and could hear the Queen going upstairs to the bedroom.
‘About two minutes later, I heard these footsteps coming down the stairs.’
As Her Majesty had only just arrived, Lady Anne was stunned to see that she was leaving so soon and asked her if ‘anything was wrong’.
She continued: ‘[The Queen] said, “yes there is […]
‘”Margaret is listening to The Archers and every time I say something, she just says ‘shush!'”
Urging the Queen not to leave so soon, Lady Anne then went back upstairs and reminded Margaret that her sister had taken time out of her very busy schedule to be there.
After turning off the radio, the aristocrat remembered telling her: ‘The Queen has only got a short time.’
Lady Anne Glenconner was Princess Anne’s lady-in-waiting from 1971 until her death at the age of 71 in 2002
Undated photo of Lady Anne Glenconner and Princess Margaret during her 30 years as the royal’s lady-in-waiting
She then proceeded to pour the Queen and Princess Margaret both a cup of tea and leaving the sisters to catch up.
As well as acting as Princess Margaret’s lady-in-waiting for over thirty years, Lady Anne was also one of the Queen’s maids of honour at her 1953 coronation.
Earlier this year, Lady Anne said she was ‘mad with fury’ after watching The Crown.
Speaking to Oldie Magazine, she admitted she couldn’t believe the ‘rather awful’ portrayal of the late princess, having previously invited Helena Bonham Carter round for tea to advise the actress, 56, on the royal’s mannerisms.
The lady-in-waiting reveals she was so cross over the depiction of both Princess Margaret and herself (played by Nancy Carroll), she confronted Helena to express her dismay at series three.
Lady Anne Glenconner (second from left) with the five other maids of honour at The Queen’s coronation in 1953
‘I saw Helena Bonham Carter – she came to tea – about acting Princess Margaret: how she spoke and walked. I said I never saw her run,’ she says.
‘After seeing Helena in The Crown, I was very disappointed with the portrayal and told her, “It was rather awful, wasn’t it?” She said she had no choice other than to do what she was told.
Lady Anne added that the production ‘couldn’t afford to film The Crown at Glen’ [her family’s ancestral home].
She says: ‘When they filmed Princess Margaret first meeting Roddy Llewellyn, we were sitting by a pool at what looked like a ghastly country club, they had me pimping for her, with us both in bikinis — Princess Margaret never wore a bikini. So cheap.
‘They really should put a disclaimer at the beginning of The Crown, saying it isn’t true.’
The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor is available to stream exclusively on ITVX from Thursday 20 April
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