Smoking and heady lifestyle took its toll

From her teens, Princess Margaret was the party girl with a long tortoiseshell cigarette holder.

While other Royals, notably her sister Elizabeth, chose the sporty, outdoor pursuits of their class, Margaret preferred the cocktail-bar and party circuit when she would dance late into the night.

Her addiction to strong Chesterfield cigarettes was rivalled only by her partiality to Famous Grouse whisky at home and gin in hot climates.

But her lifestyle took its toll and Margaret's health suffered as she became the victim of bronchitis, laryngitis and pneumonia.

In 1985, she suffered a cancer scare but was given the all-clear after tissue taken from her left lung proved to be benign.

And she carried on smoking.

Party-goers had become used to seeing Margaret with her trademark cigarette holder when she was only 17 or 18.

In 1952, at the age of 22, she increased her smoking habit after the trauma of her father George VI's death.

Her dependence on cigarettes was further heightened when she stopped drinking alcohol for a time after suffering from hepatitis in 1984.

The Princess puffed her way through up to 60 a day, frequently chain-smoking during each course of a meal.

She lived in the shadow of a family history of smoking-related diseases.

Her father contracted lung cancer and died the following year of a coronary thrombosis, probably precipitated by his operation.

The deaths of three other monarchs - Edward VII, George V and Edward VIII - were also smoking-related.

Other members of the Royal Family and well-wishers among the public implored her to give up.

Royal insiders insisted that by 1998, when she suffered a stroke, the Princess had eventually heeded good advice and had given up cigarettes.

But late into her life, she retained ash trays around her Kensington Palace apartment and servants spoke of sometimes smelling cigarette smoke.

Her close aide Lord Napier and Ettrick said the Princess gave up smoking in January 1993 and "never smoked again".