1 Marion Crawford Was the Governess for Future Queen and Her Sister, Says the Source
Marion Crawford worked as the governess for Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret. She was so close to the family that the girls called her “Crawfie.” She was such a beloved member of the family that when she got married and retired in 1947, she was allowed to live in Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace.
2 Crawford Was Offered an Opportunity to Write About the Royals, Says the Source
After retiring, Crawford was given the opportunity to write for Ladies Home Journal. Elizabeth, who was now Queen Mother of England, wrote her a letter asking her to refrain. “I do feel, most definitely, that you should not write and sign articles about the children, as people in positions of confidence with us must be utterly oyster. If you, the moment you finished teaching Margaret, started writing about her and Lilibet, well, we should never feel confidence in anyone again,” she said. Later it was agreed that she would write the articles, but refrain from using her own name, and would not leak any information that was not agreed upon.
3 The Mother Queen Was Not Happy About What She Wrote, Says the Source
However, when the articles were published, the Mother Queen was horrified at the information that had been leaked. A new Channel 4 documentary, The Real Windsors, details the aftermath of the “betrayal” – which included Crawford going on to publish the book The Little Princesses, writing a regular column, and writing stories about the Mother Queen, Queen Elizabeth, and Margaret. “To us, it all seems perfectly innocuous stuff, even rather bland. But that didn’t matter to Princess Elizabeth, and [Queen] Elizabeth II as she became, Crawfie had betrayed her,” royal historian Robert Lacey says in the documentary. ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb
4 Crawford Was Cut Off From the Family, Says the Source
The family “cut ties” with Crawford, and the former governess being forced to move back to her native Scotland. “It also noted that, to this day, there is no record that [Queen] Elizabeth II ever made contact with her old nanny again,” the documentary states. “The Queen does have this harsh side when it comes to defending the principles that she thinks matter,” Lacey added. “It was a formative experience that contributed to the seriousness with which she always approached her job,” adding, “ruthlessness, some people may call it.”
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5 The Queen Learned a Lesson, Says the Source
“The breaking of trust, at a very early age, I think, was a real lesson to the Queen,” added Eve Pollard, former editor at the Sunday Mirror and the Sunday Express. “Don’t get too close to people you are not sure of, make sure that you can rely on them, make sure they will never tell. Make sure there’s a loyalty there, and often, make sure they’re from a background that would be as horrified about kiss-and-tell, as you would yourself.”