The Queen’s cousin you’ve probably never heard of who worked for MI6 and lived at Buckingham Palace

Published date14 January 2022
Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother married Prince Albert later King George VI in 1923. Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, as she was then known, was not royalty herself but was a high-ranking member of the aristocracy

She was the ninth of ten children born to The Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, which means that there were several Bowes-Lyon cousins that the Queen was close to, as well as her royal ones.

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One of the Queen and Princess Margaret's Bowes-Lyon cousins lead an incredibly interesting life and remained very close with the Queen until her death in 2016.

Margaret Elphinstone was born in Westminster on June 9, 1925 to Lord Elphinstone and Lady Mary Bowes-Lyon.

As she was less than a year older than the Queen, she was a frequent playmate.

It is said that the cousins were so close that the Queen Mother referred to her niece as her "third daughter".

During World War Two, Margaret lived at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle with her royal cousins and took a secretarial job at MI6.

Margaret then acted as a bridesmaid at the wedding of the Queen and the late Duke of Edinburgh in 1947 alongside the likes of Princess Margaret, Lady Pamela Mountbatten and Lady Caroline Montague Douglas-Scott.

On July 31, 1950, Margaret married Denys Gravenor Rhodes and Princess Margaret served as one of her bridesmaids.

The pair had four children, Annabel...

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