Princess Margaret and Princess Elizabeth with their pet chameleon in the grounds of Windsor Castle in 1941, photographed by Lisa Sheridan.
The Princesses were gifted the chameleon by their relative Lord Louis Mountbatten as their nanny, Marion Crawford, recalled: 'Princess Elizabeth was thrilled and quickly had a box made to keep the creature. Princess Margaret rushed off and got a copy of Debrett's [Peerage] on which we put him. He immediately changed to red.' 'Princess Elizabeth used to carry him on a hand to the big windows in the dining room where there were always a few bluebottles buzzing round. Here she would hold the creature in a convenient position so that its long black tongue could snake out and seize one of the unfortunate flies.' When the chameleon died Princess Elizabeth wanted to "bury him in a proper state." A small white coffin was made and a funeral was held: 'The three of us marched into the gardens to find a suitable cemetery. We had not yet gone far when Princess Elizabeth stopped with a look of horror on her fact. "But how do we know he's dead?" she asked. Then we had to undo the coffin and make sure. There was no doubt about it, so we buried him under a flowering shrub and Princess Elizabeth hummed a hymn tune.'
