Product Description

Once upon a time, in 1930s England, there were two little princesses named Elizabeth and Margaret Rose. Their father was the Duke of York, the second son of King George V, and their Uncle David was the future King of England.

We all know how the fairy tale ended: When King George died, “Uncle David” became King Edward VIII---who abdicated less than a year later to marry the scandalous Wallis Simpson. Suddenly the little princesses’ father was King. The family moved to Buckingham Palace, and ten-year-old Princess Elizabeth became the heir to the crown she would ultimately wear for over fifty years.

The Little Princesses shows us how it all began. In the early thirties, the Duke and Duchess of York were looking for someone to educate their daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, then five- and two-years-old. They already had a nanny---a family retainer who had looked after their mother when she was a child---but it was time to add someone younger and livelier to the household.

Enter Marion Crawford, a twenty-four-year-old from Scotland who was promptly dubbed “Crawfie” by the young Elizabeth and who would stay with the family for sixteen years. 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,” while attempting to show them a bit of the ordinary world of underground trains, Girl Guides, and swimming lessons.

The Little Princesses was first published in 1950 to a furor we cannot imagine today. It has been called the original “nanny diaries” because it was the first account of life with the Royals ever published. Although hers was a touching account of the childhood of the Queen and Princess Margaret, Crawfie was demonized by the press. 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.

Reading The Little Princesses now, with a poignant new introduction by BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond, offers fascinating insights into the changing lives and times of Britains royal family.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #374003 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In today's world of celebrity scandals and royal rumor, it's hard to believe that when this memoir was originally published in 1953 it caused such a stir. For 17 years, Crawford-"Crawfie"-was nanny to then-Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, and taken on its own, her account is innocuous in the extreme. But Crawford was shunned by the royal family after the book's publication, as BBC Royal correspondent Bond explains in the foreword: "She was cast adrift as if she had committed treason and neither the Queen nor the two Princesses ever spoke to her again." To the contemporary jaded eye, it's far more interesting to read the book in this context rather than for its own merits. What might seem mundane becomes poignant in light of Crawford's eventual fate, such as when she fusses over her charges, describing 13-year-old Elizabeth ("Lilibet") as "an enchanting child with the loveliest hair and skin and a long, slim figure." Crawford's story is particularly sad given her degree of personal sacrifice-she delayed her marriage for years so as not to, as she saw it, abandon the king and queen. But it is possible to find repressed traces of bitterness on Crawford's part if one is so inclined, such as when she tells the queen that she would finally like to marry, and relates the queen's response: "'You must see, Crawfie, that it would not be at all convenient just now.'" There certainly aren't a lot of juicy tidbits, at least not by modern standards, but the book is interesting as an historical document, if for nothing else than to remind us how innocent scandal used to be. B&w photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Marion Crawford, or “Crawfie,” as she was known to young Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, was born in the Scottish countryside and studied teaching at the Moray House Training College in Edinburgh. In the early 1930s, she became governess to the daughters of the Duke and Duchess of York, little suspecting that she would devote the next sixteen years to nurturing her future Queen. Her account of life as a royal governess originally appeared in American magazines, but soon became a front-page sensation on both sides of the Atlantic. The first edition of The Little Princesses was published in 1950, and although it created a scandal, it was nonetheless a valuable social history and the first inside account of life at Buckingham Palace. Crawford died in 1988, having never been forgiven by the royal family for writing her book.

Jennie Bond has been following the Royal Family as the BBC’s Royal correspondent for thirteen years. In that time, she has covered many momentous events---among them, three marriage breakdowns, Camillagate, the Queen’s annus horribilis, and the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Bond has written two other books: Elizabeth: Fifty Glorious Years and Reporting Royalty: Behind the Scenes with the BBC’s Royal Correspondent.

Customer Reviews

A must-read if you're interested in royalty
If you're fascinated by royalty, you need to read this classic book about the present Queen of England, Elizabeth II, and her late sister, Princess Margaret. Yes, it's an old book--but it's extremely well written, and everyone I know who's read it has been enchanted by it. Besides the intimate glimpses of the Windsors, it tells you a great deal about everyday life in Britain during World War II. The royal family suffered the same wartime privations that everyone else did. If you enjoyed "The 1940's House" series on PBS, you'll love this book. Incidentally, "The Little Princesses" was ghostwritten, and Marion Crawford was a governess, not a nanny.

A....C L A S S I C...A N D...A...R O Y A L...D E L I G H T !
This was the very FIRST book to present Royalty as human beings --and as such, it truly got its authoress, (to use the contemporary term), into much trouble with the English Royal family, whom she worked for in the capacity of Governess to the two Royal Princesses, Pss. Elizabeth and Pss. Margaret Rose, from the 1930s until they were grown young women -- and in Pss. Elizabeth's case, married.

This is the GENUINE article -- a first-person reminisence, the
REAL story of what went on behind the palace walls in the 1930s, 1940s, and early 1950s. It is great reading for royal-watchers, as one can almost feel oneself actually there, a "fly on the wall" as it were, to these auspicious royal happenings. And seeing the royal personages themselves, through Ms. Crawford's eyes: the dilligent and almost too-dutiful Pss. Elizabeth, the rather diffident, but still very brave Duke of York who became George VI, the artistic, rebellious, and elfin Pss. Margaret, the warm, friendly, yet very, very Royal Queen Elizabeth, the King's Consort, and the extremely regal, yet still very human
Queen Mary.

I got this book out of the school library when I was in college....but was so excited to have found it, that I just skimmed it. However, I have recently bought a copy, and am forcing myself to read it all the way through! So far I am only up to the Abdication of King Edward VIII -- but I realize this is a true turning point, and am loathe to go futher, though I know I must. Never, (believe it or not), was there ever such a reluctant couple to mount the throne of England as George
VI and Elizabeth -- the responsibilites, and separation from their children, were great burdens to them. The "fairy-tale" existance they had as the very private Duke and Duchess of York was no more.....

Later on, of course, WWII intruded even more into the Royal lives, changing royal routine even more.....forever.

It is interesting to see, even in the professed "simplicity" of the Princesses pre-war, (and post-war), lives, that little luxuries were taken for granted, even so. As a small child, Princess Elizabeth plays with imaginary ponies before going to bed, later graduating to toy ponies, and stil later, to real horses. Large grounds, many servants, and many homes complete the picture.....and even though Ms. Crawford does give some middle-class amazement at some of the priviledges, others are just taken as natural for her royal employers. I find myself wondering how the Princesses would have reacted, had they suddenly found themselves, "Twilight-Zone"-like, waking up to suddenly find themselves, instead, as Ruby and Margaret McDonald -- the Princesses' real-life sister-maids. (Probably,
the Dutiful Elizabeth would have taken it as a matter of course....but the independent and talented Margaret Rose would have definitely rebelled!)

Still, this is truly a book to cherish and delight in...especially if one wishes, secretly or not so secretly, to imagine oneself one (or both) of the Royal Sisters. There are
many royal secrets in this book too -- such as Queen Mary's
recommended "royal pick-me-up receipie", and the fact that the secret of the perfectly coiffed hairdos of the royal ladies, even after hours in a car, lay in the fact that the Royal cars were, in fact, hermetically sealed!

I can understand why the Royal Family were so upset that this book -- which doesn't critize them, but merely shows all their human strengths, and some of their all-too-human weaknesses. Royals are supposed to be 100% perfet. This book shows them to be 100% Human. Secrets are shared. And -- contrary to Baghot's
admonition -- light is, indeed, shed on the magic.

In the end, however, Ms. Crawford, (who had married just before
Princess Elizabeth herself did), left all of her papers and
diaries, etc. to her royal employers -- the very ones she had once been so close to, but who had cut her off, completely, from their lives, once "The Little Princesses" was published. It is a sad thing for curious commoners, such as myself -- for no matter how many authors write about the Royal Family of England, none, I feel, will have as intimacy with their royal material as Miss Crawford did. (With the possible exception of Paul Burrell, and Stephen Birmingham, valets to Princess Diana and the pre-married Prince Charles, respectively.) For English -- and perhaps other royals -- now reqire a signed statement from their possible servants, before employment, not to disclose anything of their employment in future books. This is another reason why "The Little Princesses" is such a true classic: the reality of the book was recorded without any constraint or even thought of constraint.
This alone makes the "fairy-tale become reality" sense of this book even more genuine -- and to royal-watchers, even more precious.

So this book -- and the others written by Marion Crawford -- are the true and genuine articlesw -- 24-karat gold, amongst all the other books on the royals, no matter how well written, or how engrossing.

"The Little Princesses" is thus not only a wonderful, involving, exciting, and easily-read book.... It is a piece of history, in and of itself.

Charming, but in no way saccharine
A lovely portrait of royalty as it used to be, painted in the words of a woman who devoted years of her life to royalty's service. "Crawfie," as a very young Princess Elizabeth nicknamed her new governess, had no idea when she accepted the post that she would be staying for more than a short time. She'd come to help the Duke and Duchess of York begin their little girls' education, after which Miss Crawford fully intended to take up the classroom teaching career of which she had always dreamed. She wasn't planning on growing to love Elizabeth and Margaret as she did. Nor had she any clue that one of her charges would someday sit on England's throne.

The interlude Miss Crawford planned to spend with the Yorks lasted until after Princess Elizabeth's marriage. As a member of their household, she experienced history first hand when the abdication of King Edward VIII - otherwise known as "Uncle David" - forced her employers to give up their private, comfortable, family-centered life. She kept their daughters out of harm's way during the frightening war years that soon followed; and after the war's end, helped the family that by now considered her indispensible in guiding its "little princesses" from adolescence into womanhood.

Charming, but in no way saccharine, this recently re-released book provides invaluable insight into the character of the woman who has reigned for more than half a century as Queen Elizabeth II. Not by any means just for "royal watchers"!