This book popped up on my radar in the early summer and I have been looking forward to it ever since. Like many, I love all things royal and Queen Elizabeth has been such a mysterious figure for me. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for her growing up not expecting to be queen only to have the position basically thrust upon her.

Which is why this book sounded so interesting. I liked the idea of getting a glimpse into the younger years of Queen Elizabeth, even if it was a fictionalized account of her younger years.

This book focuses on Elizabeth’s governess, Marion Crawford, who served the crown until Elizabeth married Prince Philip and I was eager to dive in to satisfy my curiosity.

Summary
Sunday Times bestselling author Wendy Holden brings to life the unknown childhood years of one of the world’s most iconic figures, Queen Elizabeth II, and reveals the little-known governess who made Britain’s queen into the monarch we know today.

In 1933, twenty-two-year-old Marion Crawford accepts the role of a lifetime, tutoring their Royal Highnesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose. Her one stipulation to their parents the Duke and Duchess of York is that she bring some doses of normalcy into the sheltered and privileged lives of the two young princesses.

At Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and Balmoral, Marion defies oppressive court protocol to take the girls on tube trains, swimming at public baths, and on joyful Christmas shopping trips at Woolworth’s. From her ringside seat at the heart of the British monarchy she witnesses the upheaval of the Abdication and the glamour and drama of the 1937 Coronation.

During the war, as Hitler’s Heinkels fly over Windsor, she shelters her charges in the castle dungeons (not far from where the Crown Jewels are hidden in a biscuit tin). Afterwards, she is there when Elizabeth first sets eyes on Philip. But being beloved governess and confidante to the Windsor family has come at a cost. She puts her private life on hold until released from royal service following Princess Elizabeth’s marriage in 1947.

In a majestic story of love, sacrifice, and allegiance, bestselling novelist Holden shines a captivating light into the years before Queen Elizabeth II took the throne, as immortalized on the popular television series The Crown. (summary from Goodreads)

Review
Even though I went into this one knowing it was a fictionalization of real people and events, I love books that are based on real people and events even if some of the facts are manipulated to suit the story. I truly felt as though the characters had authenticity and were realistic. I didn’t feel as though the author’s liberties with the characters or story were ever misleading or unbelievable. I thought that the author did a nice job staying true to the real life figures while still managing to write an enjoyable story.

Seeing major historical events through the lens of Marion was great! Marion’s character was very forward thinking and intelligent which made seeing these various historical events though her perspective, feel different. Not different bad, but different in that her reaction and perspective of these events just felt new in a way. It’s hard for me to articulate exactly how it was different—I just felt that it was. Maybe it was because Marion more of a modern woman and her perspective felt more like that of a modern woman? Either way I fully enjoyed reading about history with a Marion twist! I also spent a lot of time researching different events and people which I thought was a diverting aspect of the novel but yet fun all the same.

The only thing that I struggled with this book though was the ending. It was a great read and I think that Marion’s story was wonderful as was her character, but I also struggled with the fact that it wasn’t a traditional ending. By traditional ending I mean a happy one. Not every book needs to end on a high not of course, but because I liked Marion so much, I hoped that her story would have a more fitting ending. I don’t want to give anything away for readers but I felt a little unsatisfied with the ending and I don’t know if that was because I was hoping for a more positive outcome for Marion or because I just always want a happy endings.

In the end, I gave this one 4 stars because I loved the subject matter and story but would have liked a different take on the ending.

Book Info and Rating
Hardcover, 368 pages
Published August 25th 2020 by Berkley (first published August 2020)
ISBN 0593101324 (ISBN13: 9780593101322)
Free review copy provided by publisher, Berkley, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and in no way influenced.
Rating: 4 stars
Genre: historical fiction

Marion Crawford is not well known, but the fictionalized story of the governess to Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret offers a different perspective on the Queen's early years.

Marion was a young, progressive student at a Glasgow teachers college planning to improve the prospects of children in the slums through education when she was persuaded that she could do even more good by influencing the policy makers. Crawfie, as the children nicknamed her, became their governess when Elizabeth was six and Margaret only two and remained with them until after Elizabeth's marriage. As governess she spent far more time with them than the king and queen and attempted to expose them to as much normal life as possible, taking them on the bus and on shopping expeditions at Woolworth and staying with them at Windsor Castle during the war, comforting them in the bomb shelter at night and introducing them to evacuee children. She shaped a future queen and devoted her youth to them, but as adults they moved on and left her behind.

Pensioned and forgotten by the royal family, she relived those happy years by writing a book about her life with the princesses. She was ostracized by the family and died alone and forgotten.

Ultimately this is a sad book and overly long but it is an interesting backstairs look at the queen's early life.

Oh my, I am a huge fan of the television series The Crown and this book brought it all back to me on why I love everything Queen Elizabeth II. The spunk, the regalness (is that a word?), and the history of Lilibet becoming Queen Elizabeth II. The added bonus is that there is the history of WWII, which is my favorite era to read about, and how it affected the Royals.



I loved Mrs. Crawford. She took a privileged upbringing and taught the princesses how to appreciate the everyday people. She taught them history, reading, and all the other regular school topics but she also showed them how the everyday people lived and most of all Marion Crawford gave the princess love and a mother. Marion gave her whole life to the Royals and the Princesses. She loved them, protected them, and taught them right from wrong. This was not the life she had envisioned for herself but she excelled at what she did.



The story of Marion and the princesses is a new story to me. I am now looking for more about the governess and the Royals.

Thank you for letting me have a change to read and review. I think I am in the wrong head space for historical fiction right now with all the political madness happening. It's just too much for my brain. I was in a completely different mental zone when I requested. I really appreciate you approving me and giving me a chance though!

The Royal Governess tells the controversial story of Marion Crawford aka Crawfie, Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret’s governess of 16 years. I really enjoyed learning more about her and more about the Queen! Overall I found the book to be a tad too long and often hard to follow. We jump through the years, albeit chronologically, without mentioning the ages of the princesses. While the book mentions what year you’re in, you’re left to do the math yourself or guess from the activities they are participating in, how old the girls are. I also found the many wink-wink moments to be annoying. For example, mentions of “Elizabeth loves a man in uniform” or Marion’s photographer love interest saying that “one day perhaps a princess will marry a photographer.” I think some reader might find these moments clever but I personally found them to be too much and they happen much too often. I gave this book 3 stars because on the whole I found it interesting and it intreigued me to do more readin on Crawfie!

Wendy Holden has imagined a wonderful novel about the governess who took care of Queen Elizabeth and her sister Margaret from when they were children until Elizabeth's marriage to Phillip. Marion Crawford's main interest in college was working with underprivileged families but she's offered the position to care for the little Princesses and she camp pass it up. "Crawfy" becomes as close to the girls as a mother, bringing them out of their sheltered lives to make excursions into the real world. She's with them at the start of World War II, and finds herself sheltering the Princesses in the Windsor Castle dungeons during the bombing. She becomes part of the family and one of the main people in the Princesses' lives. Crawfy is so involved that she almost misses out on having a private life of her own. This was a moving story told in rich detail that made it a treasure to read.

I am afraid I did not enjoy this book as much as I had thought I would. I admired Marion’s values and determination to help others less fortunate, her drive was admirable. I enjoyed the parts of the book that focused on Marion and Elizabeth and operation normal. The rest of the book was a little too gossipy my liking.

An entertaining read, filled with a famous cast of characters, this is the story of the royal princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret, Crawfie. Wendy Holden has written. While we learn lots about the princesses, we also learn about Crawford’s fall from grace when she wrote a book about her experiences as royal governess and the royal family never spoke to her again because of her betrayal.

The Royal Governess is Wendy Holden’s historical fiction account of a governess and two royal children. Marion Crawford, known as Crawfie to the young to-be-Queen Elizabeth and her sister Margaret, was the governess to the princesses for 14 years. Hired in 1933, the 23-year-old Crawford worked to bring some normalcy into the lives of the girls.

During her tenure, she was an eyewitness to much of what was going on in the British empire including the abdication of Edward, the Prince of Wales, and the coronation of Elizabeth’s father. She was responsible for the girls’ safety during WWII by sheltering with them in the dungeon. Crawford’s own life was on hold until Elizabeth married Philip in 1947. Crawford went on to write a book about her experiences, much to the dislike of the Royal Family.

Those who have enjoyed such programs as The Crown will enjoy witnessing the young princesses growing up through the eyes of their loyal governess.

Wendy Holden is a British writer whose next book will be about Wallis Simpson.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting August 27, 2020.

I would like to thank Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

In 1933, young and idealistic Marion Crawford takes on a temporary position as governess to her Royal Highnesses Elizabeth and Margaret. The position turns into seventeen years of dedicated service. Marion’s main priority is to introduce the sheltered and privileged princesses to “normal” life. She takes them on the Tube for outings, to shop at Woolworths for Christmas gifts, to public swimming pools, and more. To the shock of the nanny, she even makes them wear play clothes her mother makes instead of frills. During her employment, Marion witnesses the upheaval of the abdication, has interesting conversations with Wallis Simpson, keeps the princesses sheltered at Windsor Castle during the Blitz, has a front row seat at Elizabeth’s marriage to Philip and coronation, and most other historical events, which affected the country and the world.

The Royal Governess is based on Marion Crawford’s memoir, The Little Princesses, which was publicly ignored by the royals but sheds light into Queen Elizabeth’s formative young years, and that of her family. Who would have thought young Elizabeth had compulsive behaviors or her parents played eccentric games with her and her sister or that Mrs. Simpson was so interesting? The novel, however, is also about Marion, who denies herself marriage and children to take care of the princesses whom she loves as though they were her own blood, only to be shrugged off as another civil servant when the princesses and their parents have no more need for a governess.

As a fan of The Crown, I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Royal Governess, which took me back even further into the life of the royal family and fueled my inner gossipy side with fascinating insights and tidbits. For anyone who is as curious like me, The Royal Governess is an interesting must-read.

Reviewed for the Historical Novel Society

I have decided to not finish this book after 30%

I'm having a really hard time connecting to Marion. She seems to think she is so much better than everyone else, including her employers, and it is hard to like her. I am far enough into the story that I should feel like something is happening, but it seems that nothing is.

I wasn't sure what I would think about this book when I requested it from Netgalley. The cover kept catching my eye and it is set during a time period (1930s-1940s) that I love to read. But I'm not really into following celebrity gossip. I hoped since the main character is the governess and not her royal charges, that it would be an interesting historical narrative and not a tell-all.

Thankfully it was more of the former. Though it did have some flavoring of a tell-all.

I don't know much about the royal family and whenever they crop up in novels that I read I always have to look up the relationships. I have to say that that King George and King Mary are portrayed a bit differently than in a cozy mystery series I'm reading in which they are occasional characters.

I really connected with Marion Crawford and couldn't help feel for her. She has such a good heart, and unfortunately, good-hearted people are often taken advantage of. I almost cried when she, at last, seemed to find a man who loved her, but he only wanted the pension and status that he thought a governess of the future queen would get. I'm not sure she fully realized that he was using her, or perhaps she couldn't fully admit to herself that once again she'd put her trust in the wrong man. Her whole story is kind of sad. Especially since it didn't have to be.

The royal family isn't always shown in the best light in this book. I knew (thanks to Downton Abbey and the cozy mystery series) that George and Mary's son David, the Prince of Wales was a disappointment since he kept involving himself with married women. But I knew little of the Duke and Duchess of York, the parents of Queen Elizabeth II. It was interesting to see their life before they took the throne.

Before they became King and Queen, the Yorks tried to have a normal family life - pillow fights in the mornings and games in the evenings with their children, even gardening on the weekends. Crawford remarks that this didn't seem like normal family life. I thought it was pretty typical for a family, but perhaps in the early 1930s, with so much poverty and unemployment, it was not. If they were modern for family life, they were still old-fashion in many other areas: the girls should marry well and to do that they didn't need math.

I learned things about the princesses as well. Apparently, Elizabeth has a touch of OCD when anxious. Margaret was a terror as a child.

I remember an episode of Downton Abbey where Ivy and Daisy are discussing the nanny - how lonely a life as a nanny must be because they are not a member of the family but they don't belong with the rest of the servants either. This sentiment is especially true for Marion Crawford as the governess. When they were just the Yorks, she often ate with the family and her bedroom was near of the family's rooms, giving her the impression that she belonged. While the rest of the servants basically ignored her.

I kept hoping for real happiness for Marion Crawford. It was this desire that had me reading large chunks of the story at a time. I quickly read this book in a matter of days. When I finished it, I was surprised by how much I really enjoyed the book. I wondered how much of it was true and was happy to see Holden had included the resources she used.

My review will be published at Girl Who Reads on Tuesday, Aug. 25 - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2020/08/the-royal-governess-by-wendy-holden.html

Did you ever wonder about the childhood of Queen Elizabeth II? What kind of schooling did she go through to prepare her for the life ahead of her? How much did her uncle's actions affect her?

To be fair before I continue, I will admit I am a huge fan of all things royal. All generations and all things royal. I love historical fiction and combine that with my love of royal things then you have entered my wheelhouse! Through the eyes of a governess who always strived to educate those who education could elevate themselves out of their circumstances, ends up devoting her life to trying to educate the future monarch. And she forsook her own life and at a certain point due to a decision she made she was ostracized and this is her story before she was "kicked" out of the firm.

I loved getting the insider look of all the royal homes and the day to day royal life through a character that got a close view of the workings of the royal family. Marion Crawford tried to give the royal children real world experiences in the hope that when they became "rulers" they would have a realistic world view of their subjects and the people that lived in the country in order to make good decisions for the greater good. I loved how she tried to give Elizabeth and Margaret well rounded educations, I believe that she probably contributed to Elizabeth's likability across the world.

Although fiction, I appreciated that this book was rooted in truth and my hope is that there is a lot of truth to back up this story. After reading this book, I am intrigued to read the book that Marion authored herself and the one that changed her life and standing with the royal family.

If you have read The Gown by Jennifer Robson, you would love this book, if you loved this book you should go read The Gown!

I have read many books about the British royals. This book will be embraced by historical fiction fans of the royal family. I learned a great deal about the lives of Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret. I can’t wait to recommend this novel.

"The Royal Governess" by Wendy Holden was a really great way to hold me over while I wait for more episodes of "The Crown" to air sometime, maybe, who knows, it's a pandemic right now. Since "The Crown" starts with the queen's ascension to the throne and skims past her childhood, I really enjoyed getting that part filled in here, especially from the perspective of her surprisingly liberal governess and her pretty darn tragic life. It was both different and still exactly what I needed to give me my royal family fix. It gave insight into the life of royalty, but also examined the ironies of their way of life and how it affects all the "lesser" people around them. It was very well-written, well-researched, and really held my attention while encompassing nearly all of this woman's adult life. It's definitely not the happiest of reads, because this woman's life was not very happy, but she contributed a lot to the childhood of the woman who is now our queen and reading about what she did and experienced was definitely worth it.

I love historical fiction especially when I know of the characters. I feel like I can see everything playing out in my head. That was definitely the case with The Royal Governess. I hadn’t ever put any thought into Queen Elizabeth’s childhood. So it was fascinating to delve into it and how she may have dealt with everything that happened in her life. Adding to it the Royal Governess herself who very few people have heard of but was a real person. And just like everyone in history the victors rewrite it all & don’t include people they no longer favor. This is true for Marion who no doubt played a huge role in Princess Elizabeth’s young life and we’ll never truly know how much of a role she played in who she became as an adult.

A fictionalized account of Miss Crawford, the governess for the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret of England. This story begins with the girls being young and goes toward their adulthood. The book includes the story of Miss Crawford's downfall with the Royal Family. For anyone interested in historical fiction or the English Royal Family.

I was so excited to read this book. I loved the description and it really peaked my interest. Unfortunately, I felt it was hard to get into and I chose not to finish the book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free digital advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review. This was a pleasant book to read. The main character (the governess) was interesting and I enjoyed reading about the lives of the royals. I felt that it may not have been as well researched as I would have liked - I found myself wanting to know what was fact and what was fiction. It certainly made me want to read the memoir that it is based on: The Little Princesses by Marian Crawford. All-in-all it's a light, enjoyable read.

The story follows the youthful lives of Elizabeth and her sister, Margaret Rose, and is told from Marion’s perspective.

I know “The Crown” is all the rage, and I love a good historical fiction so this was right on my radar!

The novel follows the historical timeline of the girls' lives, as Marion takes them on experiences the royal family wouldn’t normally go on- to experience life outside the castle.

Marion originally wanted to be a teacher with the youth in slums, where she felt as if she could make a great impact, but wow what a jump (for the need of money in a difficult time) to go from that to the castle! She intended for the job to be temporary, but ended up pausing her own life to 17 years to care for the girls.

During the timeline of the novel, she experiences an abdication, and coronation of Elizabeth’s father, World War II evacuations (and hiding in dungeons!) and SO much more. It is really interesting to see how Marion’s mind shifts through these events, as she comes to the realization that it is her duty to continue to educate the girls, even if it means pausing her own life dreams and wants.

I appreciate the fictionalization of some experiences, while holding true to historical documents’ expression of characters and events. It was a great blending of history and fiction!