Britain Mourns Its Princess Margaret

By Stephen M. Silverman

02/11/2002 at 01:40 AM EST

As of Monday, Britain's Royal Family enters a week of mourning for Princess Margaret, who died in a London hospital Saturday. The queen's sister, who was 71, was remembered on Sunday in a modest display of public mourning, according to news reports from London. Final preparations are under way for a funeral at the end of this week. Buckingham Palace said in a statement that the ceremony will be private, and will be held St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, the final resting place of Margaret's beloved father, King George VI. Friday's funeral marks the 50th anniversary of George's funeral, to the day. On Sunday, reports Reuters, Queen Elizabeth attended a private service at the Royal Lodge chapel in the Great Park close to Windsor Castle. Prince Charles prayed for his "darling aunt," said the palace. His grandmother, the Queen Mother, 101, joined him in his prayers at the queen's Sandringham estate in eastern England. Margaret died peacefully in her sleep at London's King Edward VII Hospital at 6:30 a.m. after having suffered a stroke on Friday afternoon and developing cardiac problems during the night, according to a separate statement from Buckingham Palace. Her children, Lord Linley and Lady Sarah, were with her. Margaret, a heavy smoker who had to have a lung removed in 1985, had suffered a mild stroke exactly three years ago. When last seen in public, at a pre-Christmas royal birthday party, Margaret was confined to a wheelchair and wore heavy dark glasses. It was a sad fate for the spirited onetime playgirl, who was four years younger than her more serious sister.