London, Feb. 9 :    London, Feb. 9:  Princess Margaret, 71, Queen Elizabeth's younger sister by four years, died today in London. She will be remembered mostly as the beautiful princess who could not marry Group Captain Peter Townsend, the divorced man twice her age whom she loved. She was 'the Diana of her day', capricious, glamorous, spoilt and wilful. But in the end, she died an unfulfilled woman who was not prepared to sacrifice money and her royal privileges for love. A statement from Buckingham Palace said: 'The Queen, with great sadness, has asked for the following announcement to be made immediately. Her beloved sister, Princess Margaret, died peacefully in her sleep this morning at 6.30 am in the King Edward VII Hospital. 'Her children, Lord Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto, were at her side,' the statement continued. 'Princess Margaret suffered a further stroke yesterday afternoon. She developed cardiac problems during the night and was taken from Kensington Palace to the King Edward VII Hospital at 2.30 am.' The funloving sister of the monarch died at dawn after the latest in a series of strokes. Her body was being moved to her private apartments at Kensington Palace this afternoon to allow family and close friends to pay their last respects. Hers is likely to be a relatively low key funeral at St George's Chapel, Windsor, where her father, King George VI, is buried. Lord Snowdon, Princess Margaret's former husband, whom she married in 1960 when he was the photographer, Antony AmstrongJones, said: 'We are all extremely saddened.' They were married for 16 years. She also had an eight year relationship with Roddy Llewellyn, a landscape gardener 17 years her junior with whom she shared holidays at her favourite holiday resort - the Caribbean island of Mustique. Prince Charles said today he was 'deeply saddened' by the news, as were his sons Princes William and Harry. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who is 101 and in 'extremely frail health' at Sandringham House, the royal family's country residence in Norfolk, and has been told of her daughter's death. It is thought unlikely she will be able to attend the funeral. The Queen (she is celebrating the 50th anniversary of her reign) has returned from Sandringham to Windsor Castle, where the union flag is flying at halfmast as it is at Buckingham Palace, only for the second time, the first being when Diana was killed.The Princess loved ballet, mingling with actors - Peter Sellers was in love with her - and also read voraciously. Lord St John of Fawsley said: 'One's heart goes out immediately to Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother - it is a terrible burden for her to see a loved daughter die - and then to the Queen, because they were very close.' I never in all my life heard Princess Margaret say a harsh or critical word about the Queen. She was totally devoted to her and the Queen will miss her very much.' He acknowledged that the Princess 'had a turbulent life, of course, but at the close of her life had somehow 'come into port' ' Margaret Rose, the daughter of one monarch and the sister of another, never found a meaningful role in life. She was born on August 21, 1930, at Glamis Castle, her mother's family home. The death of King George VI on February 6, 1952, affected the 22 year old Princess deeply. It was at this time that she fell in love with Group Captain Peter Townsend, who had been her father's equerry, and subsequently Comptroller of the Queen Mother's Household. He was twice her age, divorced with two children. Her love for him was obvious on Coronation Day, June 2, 1953. The Princess, waiting in the porch of Westminster Abbey for her carriage back to Buckingham Palace, was seen to flick a piece of fluff off Townsend's uniform. When the Princess turned 25 in August,1955, she could either renounce all these rights and privileges and become Mrs Peter Townsend, or she could give up all ideas of this marriage. She issued this statement: 'I have been aware that, subject to my renouncing my rights of succession, it might have been possible for me to contract a civil marriage. But, mindful of the Church's teaching that Christian marriage is indissoluble, and conscious of my duty to the Commonwealth, I have decided to put these considerations before any others. 'I have reached this decision entirely alone, and in doing so have been strengthened by the unfailing support and devotion of Group Captain Townsend. I am deeply grateful for the concern of all those who have constantly prayed for my happiness.' Happiness was something she never found again.