Margaret Rhodes

From Hubert Parry to Fred Astaire.

First cousin to the Queen, Margaret Rhodes LVO shares her castaway choices with Kirsty Young

The former MI6 worker has a unique insight into the life of the royal family. She used to spend her summer holidays at Balmoral with the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret while, during the war, she worked for MI6 and lodged at Buckingham Palace. She attended the Queen's wedding and coronation and, in later life, worked as an assistant to the Queen Mother.

Remembering the Queen's coronation in 1953, she says:

"We had only just recovered from six or seven years of deprivation and blackouts and rationing - it was like the sun suddenly coming out behind a lot of very dark clouds and I think everybody felt that with a new young Queen, a whole new era was opening up. It was somehow exciting."

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2012.