Vanessa Kirby credited as playing...
Princess Margaret
- Princess Margaret: Goodness! What have I done to deserve this?
- Queen Elizabeth II: The brief was simple. Perform minor ceremonial tasks with a minimum of fuss. Not end up all over the newspapers.
- Princess Margaret: I can't help it if they want to write about me.
- Queen Elizabeth II: Well, it would help if you didn't give them what they crave.
- Princess Margaret: Character and excitement.
- Queen Elizabeth II: Instability and drama.
- Princess Margaret: Well, at least I give them something. You give them nothing.
- Queen Elizabeth II: I give them silence.
- Princess Margaret: Silence is nothing.
- Queen Elizabeth II: It's the absence of noise.
- Princess Margaret: Emptiness. Blank page.
- Queen Elizabeth II: Which allows others to shine.
- Princess Margaret: But the monarchy should shine.
- Queen Elizabeth II: The monarchy, yes. Not the monarch. Reparations will need to be made.
- Princess Margaret: To whom?
- Queen Elizabeth II: To the people you offended. A general, to whom, when asked if you'd like to dance, you replied, "Yes, but not with you." I believe there was also a debutante you managed to make cry, and the dancers of Sadler's Wells, whom you refused to meet after arriving late for the performance. You showed individuality. And that made people panic. They don't want individuality. The last person who showed "character" almost took the ship down.
- Princess Margaret: You are enjoying this.
- Queen Elizabeth II: Not a bit.
- Princess Margaret: Yes, you are. Admonishing your unruly young sister. Have you ever thought how it must be for me?
- Queen Elizabeth II: Many times. At great length. Wistfully.
- Princess Margaret: You have a role, a clear set of rules. All you have to do is follow them.
- Queen Elizabeth II: Margaret, you have freedom. All you have to do is enjoy it.
- Princess Margaret: You think that I am free? To be constantly in your shadow. Constantly the overlooked one.
- Queen Elizabeth II: It looks like heaven to me.
- Princess Margaret: What you have looks like heaven to me. Two sisters who envy one another.
- Queen Elizabeth II: We wouldn't be the first.
- Princess Margaret: Pride and Joy. Remember? What Papa called us.
- Queen Elizabeth II: Yes. "Elizabeth is my pride and Margaret is my joy."
- Princess Margaret: "But Margaret is my joy." I'm sorry. I have to claim the few victories I'm left with.
- Queen Elizabeth II: So how is he?
- Princess Margaret: Peter? He's getting on with it. Uncomplainingly. Because that's what strong men do. But it's a lonely existence in Brussels. No real job, stuck in a small flat, followed by photographers, having to steer clear of all the parties, steer clear of all the traps.
- Queen Elizabeth II: What traps?
- Princess Margaret: Traps being set for him. Those who would wish to lead him astray. Catch him in a compromising position. Those who would cheer the dissolution of our friendship.
- Queen Elizabeth II: Margaret, you're imagining things.
- Princess Margaret: Am I?
- Queen Elizabeth II: Yes. And anyway, it's not for much longer.
- Princess Margaret: Two years?
- Queen Elizabeth II: Yes, but the first three or four months will fly by while you're kindly filling in for me.
- Princess Margaret: I'll try not to upstage you.
- Queen Elizabeth II: How kind.
- Princess Margaret: I can't promise I won't bring my own character to it.
- Queen Elizabeth II: Well, I never expected anything less.
- Princess Margaret: That's the advantage of having a character to bring.
- Queen Elizabeth II: Too much character, an excess of character.
- Princess Margaret: Now, look at me and tell me you didn't say that without a little bit of envy.
- Queen Elizabeth II: Just remember who you're standing in for when I'm gone.
- Princess Margaret: My characterless sister.
- Queen Elizabeth II: Your Queen. Not a showgirl.
- Princess Margaret: But the monarchy should shine.
- Queen Elizabeth II: The monarchy, yes; not the monarch.