The British Monarchy has always fascinated me, and this was an interesting twist to the story of the Windsor family, told from the perspective of the children and their nanny.

My latest book was a Friday download from the @bookclubgirl Facebook group. Thank you!

I’m a big historical fiction fan, especially the early 1900s, so I was eager to read The Royal Nanny. The story follows Charlotte Bill (Lala) the nanny to Queen Elizabeth II’s father and aunt/uncles. Lala essentially raises the children and fights to keep Johnnie (the youngest) with her instead of being institutionalized. Johnnie had epilepsy and learning difficulties, at the time these children were usually sent away.

I found the history interesting, I didn’t know of Johnnie prior to the book. It was interesting how much pull Lala was able to have and to see the royals from an outside perspective.

The romance with Chad didn’t really work for me and was unnecessary. A few parts of the book dragged but overall the pacing is good.
I’d recommend this book to fans of The Crown or The Kings Speech and historical fiction.

Well researched. Good historical.
Sad.
Good look into life behind the scenes of royal life and how a "civilian staff employee" became a beloved member of the family. (w/in protocols)
To be honest, I can't always remember who's who in the royal's but i know that i knew nothing about Johnnie. That was interesting to learn about him.

Lala was the real nanny who served for many years and when i looked her up, alot of the narrative followed the facts which is always good in a historical.

But it did lag in the middle was slightly boring now & then.


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2643400002?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

While I have covered many different historical fiction stories, this story of a young nanny who comes to work for the royal family is the first for me. Charolette Bill comes to Sandringham house in 1897 to serve as under nurse to 2 royal children with another baby on the way. Circumstances change quickly when she discovers that the head nurse is abusing the oldest boy,David, who also happens to be the heir. She finds herself as head nurse in care of three children. Three become six as Charolette, affectionately known as Lala, serves loyally through the years. She finds her beacon of light after the sixth and last child, Johnnie, is born. A chronically sick child, Johnnie is intellectually disabled and he starts having seizures. Seen as an embarrassment, and a liability he is shunned to a degree by the family, but Lala loves him and looks after him as if he were her own. Forsaking romance and a chance at life of her own Lala serves the family and Johnnie imparticular. This is a really interesting story, that tells a little known tale of the royal British family, and in the background historic events such as WW1 play on. I had a fun time reading this and it should appeal to fans of historical fiction and British family histories. Review posted to Litsy, Amazon, LibraryThing, Facebook, and Goodreads.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved learning about the royals. I love history and this book made it seem very real and was really interesting.

This book provided insight to a lifestyle that is entirely different than what students in the U.S. experience. The relationship is there, but with the nanny rather than parents. Very good gook.

The Royal Nanny is an interesting, informative novel about the royal children of King George and Queen Mary. A Great read!

I enjoyed The Royal Nanny. Looking into how children of Royals were raised in the 1890’s through WWI is so interesting. The children, David and Bertie, both to become future Kings of England were really raised by a nanny. “Lala” Charlotte Bill was hired as an under nurse maid. She discovered and reported that David was being abused by the head nanny. Who was fired. Lala devotes her life to them and their two younger siblings especially Johnny who had many problems. Not an easy life for her and also for the children who do not have a normal parent-child relationship. I appreciate the research that the author did to write this book. I do think the book might have been better without the love interest. I have found myself thinking about this book after I finished. Thank you Harper Collins , The Book Club Girls, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. It is a novel, but I was very interested in the truth behind the story and was happy to see that it is very close to the actual story of the nanny and her royal charges. It was a story of devotion and love and helped me finally straighten out all the royal relatives.

The story of a royal nanny for the duke and duchess of York. Charlotte Bill becomes the nanny of David (Prince Edward), Bertie ( King George V), Mary, two others, and John. Charlotte stays with John until his death at thirteen. John is also known as the Lost Prince.

The writing is crisp and based on facts. It gives a glimpse into life at Sandringham, Tsarist Russia, and Queen Victoria’s offspring. Charlotte holds the children’s affection, but is a substitute for the royal parents. She shows her loyalty and unconditional affection to her charges.

A must read for lovers of British royalty and history

The Royal Nanny immediately drew me in. With the initial conflict with the Head Nanny and strength of the main character, I knew that it would be an interesting read. My heart broke for the main character several times throughout the book, but none more so than at the ending. I am still mourning the ending, I really wish it were different.

The book is a fictionalized story about the nanny to the British royal family of King George V and Queen Mary, Charlotte Bill, nicknamed "LaLa". I found the historical aspects of the book fascinating & in most cases based on actual facts, also covering connections with King Edward VII and Queen Alexandria, and Tzar Nicholas & Alexandria and their children before their assassination. The account of the childhood of the future King Edward VIII and King George VI left one pondering their later life decisions and obstacles.
The second half of the book was more interesting than the first as it revolved around LaLa's relationship to the youngest child, Prince John, who suffered from epilepsy and other developmental issues. John died in his teens and the story line as to the individual members of the Royal family's interactions with him and their ways of coping with his disabilities was quite riveting. The part of the book that did not impress me was LaLa's love interest in a groundskeeper on the estate, Chad. This relationship was not based on actual facts and did not really ring true. One minute they took walks together, with an occasional kiss & the next he was proposing in a very unappealing, demanding way. When she turned him down due to her obligation to the Royal children, he promptly married someone else. He still kept turning up and pursuing her even though he was married, which did not speak well to his character, but the story still romanticized the affections between him & LaLa. Later in the book, their relationship seemed more realistic, when Chad was free to pursue her, but I felt that this detracted from the main story.

Overall, I enjoyed the book but would have liked to focus more on Charlotte's life with the Royals, without a fictional love interest.

I enjoyed this book although there were a few things that were off for me, mainly how the main character gave up her whole life outside of work and how the love interest was very flat until he just blew up one day.

The Royal Nanny by Karen Harper was one of those historical fiction books I really love - the richly developed and written story of a real historical person which is both engaging and deeply grounded in historical fact. The storyline revolves around Charlotte "Lala" Bill, a woman who served as nanny for the British Royal family from 1897 until 1919 and was instrumental in the raising of the six children of King George V (1865-1936) and Queen consort Mary (1867-1953), including future kings, Edward VIII (1894-1972) and George VI, (1895-1952) as well as Princess Royal Mary (1897-1965), Prince Henry (1900-1974), Prince George (1902-1942) and Prince John (1905-1919). To put that in context, the book covers the current Queen's father (George VI aka Bertie), her grandparents (George VI and Mary) and her great grandparents (George VII and Alexandra).

Let me stop here with a quick disclaimer: I am most definitely NOT an anglophile - other than a college course in English history about 40 years ago, everything I know about the royal family comes from either The Crown, The King's Speech or People Magazine. Yeah, I'm one of those people, so keeping track of the characters was something of a challenge - especially since they nearly all changed names as they made their ascent toward the throne. I admit to keeping a post-it note with names nearby during this read. So, I have no authority when it comes to deciding whether or not the intimate details and conversations contained in this book are historically accurate. If you're a huge fan of the Royal Family, you're enjoyment of this book might be completely different.

The Royal Nanny is written in the first person voice of Mrs. Lala, and is, in many ways, a love story between this wonderfully caring nanny and her charges, especially Prince John. And it is a really sweet love story, at that. The author does a terrific job of bringing the reader into the narrator's head space and heart, and both showing and telling the foundations and boundaries of love built between the main character and the many other people brought into the storyline. The writing is authentic, the dialog is believable, and the voice is consistent with a character who develops and grows throughout the course of the book. Charlotte is neither Mrs. Piggle-Wiggles nor Nanny McPhee, but a whole person I quickly came to cheer for an empathize with and admire.

The larger cast of characters consists mainly of actual members of the Royal Family, and they, too, are presented as fully-developed and flawed people. We don't get deeply into their personal struggles - this book really isn't about them individually - but the author does a good job of creating a context into which the main character can tell her story. I think that's especially well done in the character of Prince John, who is a presented as both an epileptic -which is historical fact - and a child with mental and emotional developmental delays and challenges - which is, apparently, harder to confirm through official documents. But again, the story is about Lala and her overarching relationship with the family, and although John is a large part of that relationship, it is not the whole.

I really enjoyed this book, I liked how the author stayed true to the characters and the time, but also imagined how things might have been personally for a nanny to the Royal Family in a very different historical time than we live in today. The Royal Nanny didn't attempt to sling any mud at the family, or tease out private skeletons - there was no agenda - just a well-written, perfectly-paced and thoughtful story of a woman who chose to spend her life serving others, and the impact that service had on her and the people she served.

This review was based on an advance copy read.

Loved getting a glimpse into the royal family. Lala is a kindhearted nurse (nanny) that help raise the royal children in the late 1800s-to WWI. Excellent character development. You get a sense of what each little royal was like and could place yourself in their house. Only draw back was it was slow going at times.

I enjoy reading about the inner workings & relationships within royal families as well as some who have a position as a nanny. This book provided both, mixing a slight bit of imagination & reality. As a young girl, Charlotte Bill, arrived to nanny the young royals. Little did she know how much she would impact history by her loving care & upbringing. If you like an insider's look of royal goings-on & a story of a loving nanny & her relinquishing her life for others you will love this hard to put down read. Download from NetGalley

Thanks to NetGalley and the Book Club Girls for the chance to review this book. I'd give this book 3.5 stars. It's a historical fiction story of Charlotte "Lala" Bill, the royal nanny at the turn of the last century.

Stars: This was a quick read for me, and the storyline kept me engaged. I wasn't familiar with the history and childhood of David and Bertie and their siblings. Definitely a good escape from reality.

Wishes: I wish Harper's writing was a little simplistic. She repeats themes by telling, not showing.

As a young nanny, Charlotte Bill royally embraces her job.. Sandringham, the ancestral estate of the Duke and Duchess of York sets the scene for newly crowned Mrs. Lala to become the head nanny for the heirs to the throne.

While she governs the children with a firm yet loving hand, Lala's charges become her surrogate children. Charlotte struggles with a foreboding feeling that the children ache for their parents' affection.

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review Karen Harper's novel. Harper brilliantly weaves fact with fiction and utilizes Lala as an insider's perspective into the royal family. Historical fiction fans will enjoy traveling along with the family and crying with them during joys and sorrows.

Rating 3.5 rounded up as a 4 starred review

What a great peek into royal life as told through the eyes of Charlotte Bill, otherwise known as LaLa. What a wonderful royal nanny she was to the children especially to Johnnie who was neglected in many ways by his parents who saw him as a blemish upon the family. Charlotte made sacrifices especially in the area of settling down with her own love in order to be there for these children who she knew needed her. I loved seeing royalty from this point of view.

Although I don’t usually enjoy historical fiction, I actually enjoyed reading this book. Obviously based on the British Royal family and the roles of the nannies that bring up the royal children. Children are to be seen and not heard. Of course there is some romance between two of the leading characters and the story revolves around their roles as nanny and game keeper on the large estate.