Back on Topic, In my very humble opinion, Princess Margaret when alive certainly qualified as 'lazy' in some respects. She had a repeated history of rushing through enagements well ahead of schedule and leaving early. I had personal experience of this on more than one occasion.
Please may I be permitted to give a little information by way of background? I used to attend royal occasions quite regularly and know that usual schedules for the BRF at engagements are timed to the minute: for example, if a Royal is to visit a hospital, the time of arrival might be 11.00am; the schedule will then read (for example) '11.03am Received by the Chief Executive' 11.07. Unveil Plaque. 11.13am 'Proceed to new Spring Dale ward' etc etc.
Although Royal Aides and Ladies in Waiting do their best to keep the 'Royal' 'on Schedule', sometimes things don't always go to plan: for example, when the Duchess of Kent [when she undertook Royal duties] paid a visit to Helen House [a Children's hospice], she stayed at some bedsides for as long as she considered necessary, which meant that she fell behind her schedule [and for reasons that everyone understood, as she 'got later and later']. As she later explained when she was late at her next appointment ' Please forgive me, but I was doing something that one cannot fit into a schedule'.
Prince Phillip also sometimes fell behind schedule because he found something very intersting and got sidetracked. I watched him visit a factory once; at one stage he made an impromptu forray deep on to the factory floor. [I literally heard the Managing Director groan and say to his Deputy [Oh No! The Duke is not meant to go there - for a start we haven't cleaned it]. Actually Prince Philip was always doing unexpected things at Royal Enagements - at a Reception for Army wives, I once [to my astonishment] saw the Duke pick up a plate of canapes and start handing them round himself!! That certainly wasn't expected.
The point I am making is that Royals of the BRF who perform their duties contscieniously tend to stay until the end of the timetabled visit or even extend it. This to me is actually a good indicator in many cases as to whether a Royal is lazy or not.
Princess Margaret was notorious though for just 'sweeping in and out', often leaving people - and sometimes children - waiting in vain for her to appear: I know of one visit to a primary school where PM had been expected to visit several classes and see a little recital of a nursery rhyme etc - instead she simply swept in and out, well ahead of her timetable.
Princess Alexandra used to be reckonned to be a 'bad timekeeper' in that she tended to get behind engagements, but again, it wasn't because she was lazy but exactly the opposite - i.e. because she was interested. When he was alive, she was often accompanied by Sir Angus ['two-for-the-price-of-one' as my old boss used to say] and one of the consequences of this was that Princess Alexandra often used to stop and discuss things with her husband, thereby lenghtening the engagement. On more than one occasion I heard her say ' Do come and look at this' when Sir Angus was 'working the other side of the room'.
It probably won't surprise people here when I say that the Queen is regarded as the 'best timekeeper' [Nothing fazes her either - I remember that during an Investiture, part of the ceiling suddenly fell down, with a bit of falling plaster unfortunately injuring one one of the family members watching the honours being presented: despite all the chaos, the Queen kept on with 'pinning the medals' and didn' even look up.
Secondly, if there is a long programme for the Royal or perhaps several visits in one day, a [private] break for ''lunch'' may be scheduled, although in practice the purpose is not so much to allow for lengthy refreshment but to give an opportunity to 'catch up' any lost time. In other words, if the Royal is 'running half an hour late' on his/her morning schedule, if there is a lunch break of 50 minutes scheduled, the break can be cut to 20 minutes in practice, enabling the Royal to begin part 2 of the day's Engagments 'on time'. Finally: Bathroom visits are also scheduled; the official 'Royal Term' for this though is 'Opportunity to Tidy'. The real reason for these though is that a visit to the bathroom is rarely necessary [Royals are 'well trained'] but again, it gives a window of opportunity to 'catch up and put the programme back on schedule. A hard working Royal will be glad of such an opportunity; a lazy royal won't actually need this at all.
In view of what I have said above, it probably will not surprise Royal watchers to hear that Princess Margaret rarely undertook engagements where breaks to 'catch up' were needed, simply because she was so 'uninterested' in what she was doing that she simply 'swept in and out'. Princess Margaret was also notorious for cancelling engagements, usually on the pretext that she was 'indisposed' [i.e. ill] only for her to be photographed by tabloids 'out on the town'. There were exceptions to this though - if the engagement was one that the Princess actively enjoyed - e.g a visit to the ballet - she generally fulfilled it. Secondly, if she was fulfilling an enagement for a friend [e.g Jeremy Fry] she generally fulfilled the engagement and stayed the correct time. Otherwise though, it was very much a case of 'hit-and-miss'.
Hope some of this is of interest
Alex
