IT is disingenuous to compare the mass outpouring of grief over the death of Princess Diana to the muted response to Princess Margaret's passing. Had the Queen's sister died violently when young, the reaction would have been more "buttoned-up" but the sense of shock and loss is no less profound.

For Margaret was the Diana of her time. Her glamour was all the more dazzling set against the drab backdrop of post-war Britain.

Princess Margaret remained loyal to the Queen, to her friends and to the causes she supported. Her troubled love life was once a source of scandal, but now divorce has become the royal norm. She came from another age, and part of that age has gone with her.

Updated: 10:43 Monday, February 11, 2002