Inside Queen Elizabeth And Princess Margaret's Relationship

The royal family has long been known to keep a stiff upper lip, and Queen Elizabeth rarely lost her composure in public. While she was moved to tears a few times, such occasions were quite rare — "you can count the number of times the Queen has cried in public on the fingers of half of one hand," royal biographer Andrew Morton told Vogue. In the Channel 5 documentary "Elizabeth: Our Queen," Princess Margaret's friend Princess Josephine Loewenstein said that Margaret had told her: "I've only seen my sister cry once" (via Woman & Home).

One event that moved Queen Elizabeth to tears was the funeral of her little sister. Princess Margaret died on February 9, 2002, two decades before Elizabeth's own passing, and the queen was devastated by the loss. While the announcement of her death was quite formal, it expressed Elizabeth's emotions: "The Queen, with great sadness, has asked for the following announcement to be made immediately," opened the statement made by the queen's press secretary. "Her beloved sister, Princess Margaret, died peacefully in her sleep this morning ..."

Royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith wrote in "Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch" that Elizabeth was far from stoic at Margaret's funeral. She could be seen crying as Margaret's coffin was moved to a hearse. Smith quoted Margaret's friend, Reinaldo Herrera, as saying: "It was the saddest I have ever seen the Queen."