Royal tears at funeral for Princess Margaret

The British Queen has said a tearful farewell to her younger sister Princess Margaret, who has been cremated after a funeral service at Windsor.

The 101-year-old Queen Mother, wearing a half-veil, was at the historic St George's Chapel in a wheelchair to say goodbye to her beloved daughter who died on Saturday, aged 71.

As the coffin, draped in the Princess's personal standard, was placed in a hearse and driven away for private cremation at Slough Crematorium, the Queen wiped a tear from her eye.

The Princess's son, Viscount Linley, gripped a Bible as he watched his mother's body on its final journey to the crematorium.

Lady Sarah, clearly devastated by her mother's death after a third stroke and heart problems, turned to the Queen for support. The Queen took her niece's arm and helped her down the steps of the chapel.

A simple wreath of pink tulips and white roses was placed on the Princess's coffin from her mother. A piper played a lament as eight soldiers, from the Princess's own regiment, carried her coffin from the chapel.

Chosen by Margaret's daughter, Lady Sarah Chatto, it was a sweet and melancholy lament with a bitter-sweet title, The Desperate Struggle of the Bird - perhaps, in some way, representing the Princess's spirit and verve.

A prayer for the Princess gave thanks "for her loyalty and sense of duty; for her faithfulness towards her family and her friends; for her energy and enthusiasm; for her quick wit and sound advice; for her depth of knowledge and her love of life ..."

More than 30 members of the Royal Family attended the 45-minute service, including 19-year-old Prince William and his younger brother Prince Harry, 17. Some 400 of the Princess's friends and staff were there, notably her former boyfriend Roddy Llewellyn, who sat at the back of the chapel and looked sombre.

Celebrities present from the world of the theatre, so loved by the Princess, included Dame Judy Dench, Bryan Forbes and his wife Nanette Newman, Dame Cleo Laine and her husband John Dankworth and Felicity Kendall.