They were the closest of sisters and the best of friends. But when, in a quixotic twist of fate, their uncle, King Edward Vlll, decided to abdicate the throne in 1936, the dynamic between Elizabeth and Margaret was dramatically altered. Margaret would have to curtsey to the sister she called Lillibet, and bow to her wishes.

Elizabeth would always look upon her younger sister's antics with a kind of stoical amusement, but Margaret's struggle to find a place and position inside the royal system—and her fraught relationship with its expectations—was often a source of tension. Famously, the Queen had to inform Margaret that the Church and government would not countenance her marrying divorcee Peter Townsend, forcing Margaret to choose between keeping her title and royal allowances or her divorcee lover.

Andrew Morton’s new book, Elizabeth and Margaret, explores their relationship from the idyll of their cloistered early life, through their hidden war-time lives, into the divergent paths they took following their father's death and Elizabeth's ascension to the throne. In conversation with Kate Bennett, a White House correspondent for CNN, Morton shares his unique insight into these two drastically different women—one resigned to duty and responsibility, the other resistant to it—and the lasting impact they have had on the Crown, the royal family, and the ways it adapted to the changing mores of the 20th century.

Elizabeth and Margaret (Grand Central Publishing) is available for purchase.

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• Purchase your copy of Elizabeth and Margaret by Andrew Morton here.
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