Breakfast in bed, two hours to read the paper, an hour-long bath followed by a "vodka pick-me-up" and a four-course lunch - for many of us that sounds like the ultimate way to start the day.

And according to an extract from the book Ma'am Darling by Craig Brown that has recently become a hit on social media, that was the daily morning ritual of Princess Margaret in 1955.

Metro.co.uk reports that the book excerpt outlines the indulgent morning routine of Queen's younger sister, then aged 25, who was served breakfast in bed at 9am before spending the next couple of hours there listening to the radio, reading newspapers ("which she invariably left scattered over the floor") and chain-smoking.

After an hour in a bath drawn by her lady's maid, Margaret would have her hair and makeup done and dress in a freshly laundered outfit - "as one would imagine of a Princess, she never wore any of her clothes more than once without having them cleaned" - before heading downstairs for a vodka pick-me-up.

This was followed by a four-course lunch with her mother, served from silver dishes - "informal of course" - with half a bottle of wine per person.

All in all, bar the chain-smoking, not a bad way to spend a morning.