The publication of The Little Princesses in 1950 marked a watershed
as far as the Royal Family were concerned. For the first time a
trusted insider had written a book about their daily lives,
routines and relationships. Unlike much that came later, the tales
told by Marion Crawford, the princesses' governess, are free of
scandal and malice; she presents an affectionate and respectful
picture of a close and loving family during a highly eventful
period of their lives, from the early Thirties through the
Abdication and Second World War to the late Forties, the marriage
of Elizabeth and Philip and the birth of Prince Charles. However,
as well as portraying unquestioningly lives full of privilege and
duty, she reveals many details that the Royal Family regarded as an
invasion of their privacy. She is, for example, particularly
concerned about Princess Margaret's health and her wilful nature,
quoting Princess Elizabeth's comment when her father has become
King: 'I really don't know what we are going to do with Margaret.'
Princess Elizabeth herself can be obsessively neat and tidy: 'We
soon laughed her out of this', Crawfie remarks. Life in Buckingham
Palace and Windsor Castle, holidays in Balmoral and Sandringham are
all described here charmingly and often perceptively, and Crawfie's
sense of obligation and service led her to postpone her own
marriage and so delay a chance of a personal life for herself.
Whatever her intentions, Marion Crawford paid a high price in
writing what she did. Although her achievement was to provide a
very down-to-earth and normal upbringing for the two girls, and
tame as her revelations may now seem, after the publication of this
book the Royal Family never spoke to her again. This edition
includes photographs and a foreword by Jennie Bond, long-time royal
correspondent for the BBC. (Kirkus UK)
'A unique insight into the isolated childhood of the future queen
and her sister' YOU MAGAZINE, THE DAILY MAIL ~ The touching and
ground-breaking stories of the Queen and Princess Margaret's
childhoods told by their nanny, Marion Crawford. With a foreword by
former BBC Royal Correspondent Jennie Bond, Marion reveals the
royal family's life before The Crown. Now, more than ever, the
Royal Family's private lives are the stuff of soap opera and it
seems anyone who comes into contact with them sells their story to
the magazines or to the newspapers. Marion Crawford, 'Crawfie', as
she was known to the Queen and Princess Margaret, became governess
to the children of the Duke and Duchess of York in the early 1930s,
little suspecting she was nurturing her future Queen. Beginning at
the quiet family home in Piccadilly and ending with the birth of
Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace in 1948, Crawfie tells how she
brought the princesses up to be 'Royal' whilst also exposing them
to the ordinary world of underground trains, buses and swimming
lessons. THE LITTLE PRINCESSES was published in 1950 to a furore we
cannot imagine today. Crawfie was demonised by the press, and the
Queen Mother - who had been a great friend and who had, Crawfie
maintained, given her permission to write the account - never spoke
to her again.
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