Margaret Rhodes

Margaret Rhodes (; 9 June 1925 – 25 November 2016) was a British aristocrat, niece of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon. From 1991 to 2002, she served as Woman of the Bedchamber to her aunt, the Queen Mother.

Early life and education Born The Honourable Margaret Elphinstone in Westminster, London, Rhodes was the youngest daughter of the 16th Lord Elphinstone and his wife, Lady Mary Bowes-Lyon, an elder sister of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Her uncle-in-law King George VI was her godfather. During the Second World War she lived at Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, and took a secretarial course. On 20 November 1947, she was a bridesmaid to Princess Elizabeth at her wedding to Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh.

Career During World War II, she worked as a secretary for MI6.

Her autobiography, The Final Curtsey, was published in 2011.

Rhodes appeared in seven documentaries about her first cousin Queen Elizabeth II.

On 27 November 2016, Buckingham Palace confirmed that Rhodes had died, aged 91, on 25 November following a short illness.

Personal life On 31 July 1950, she married the writer Denys Gravenor Rhodes (1919–1981), with Princess Margaret as one of the bridesmaids. The couple had four children and one grandson:

Annabel Margaret Rhodes (born 21 February 1952); she married Christopher James Downing Strickland-Skailes in 1978. They have one son. She remarried G. V. Charles Cope in 1986. Annabel was a goddaughter of the Duke of Edinburgh and served as a bridesmaid at the wedding of Princess Margaret. Andrew James Downing Strickland-Skailes (born 1980) Victoria Ann Rhodes (born 27 September 1953), a goddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II; married Nicholas Deans (b. 1950 - d. 1991) in 1974. She got remarried to John Michael Pryor in 1999. She has three children with her first husband. Jesse Deans (1977) Oliver Deans (1980) Sebastian Deans (1982) Simon John Gravenor Rhodes (born 22 February 1957), a godson of Princess Margaret; married Susan Simon in 1983. Susan was appointed as an extra lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth II in July 2017, and an Extra Lady-in-Waiting to the Princess Royal in January 2024. They have two children. Emma Rhodes (1985) Camilla Rhodes (1990) Michael Andrew Gravenor Rhodes (born 8 June 1960). He is married to Alison Parker and they have one child. Billie Rhodes (1991)