She wants it to be known that her life in service is remembered with deep honour.

Yours faithfully,

Peterkin, Smith and Thompson Solicitors

Sir Alan Lascelles had not cried when his son, John, or his wife, Joan, had died. He had kept his courtier’s stiff upper lip always intact in public, while inside his heart was left with an irreparable schism.

But now, opening the tin and finding one woman’s memories of a faded life and time, he bent his head and let his tears run free.

Buckingham Palace, 12^th February 1988

‘Have you read The Times, Mummy?’ Queen Elizabeth II asked over the breakfast table.

‘Not yet, darling,’ replied the Queen Mother.

‘Mind if I take a look?’

‘Help yourself.’

Lilibet picked it up and began reading.

The Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth II, and Princess Margaret sat in comfortable silence, munching toast and reading their chosen papers, until Lilibet dropped the Times.

‘What is it, dear?’ the Queen Mother asked.

‘Marion Crawford has died.’

The Queen Mother continued with her Daily Mail. ‘Who?’

‘Crawfie – remember, our governess. She has died.’

‘Oh dear.’ The Queen Mother was enjoying the Daily Mail’s diarist and gossip monger Nigel Dempster.

‘Her obituary says that she died peacefully in an Aberdeen nursing home and that she had attempted suicide twice before,’ Lilibet read solemnly.

‘Why on earth would she do that?’ the Queen Mother asked.

‘Should we send flowers?’ Lilibet asked.

‘I don’t think so,’ her mother replied. ‘Better not to make a fuss.’

AFTERWORD

This is a fictionalized account of a true story.

Marion Crawford, AKA Crawfie, Governess to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and her younger sister, Her Royal Highness Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, is known by many: the employee who felt her duty to the royal family very keenly, and yet in retirement sold the story of their lives in her infamous book, The Little Princesses.

Why did she do it?

Was she coerced?

Was it out of a desire to make money?

Or was it simple spite?

Whatever the reason, her story has fascinated me for a very long time. What makes a person do the unexpected? And how could the royal family banish her from their lives and break her heart in the process?

During my research for this book, I have read as many sides of the story I could find and have kept to the essential facts as closely as I could. However, none of us will ever know the exact conversations that occurred during this time, the exact relationships formed, so I admit to creating many fictional conversations and events.

During my research, I read the diaries of Sir Alan ‘Tommy’ Lascelles, who was assistant private secretary to King George V, King Edward VIII, and private secretary to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II. He was one of the courtiers who oiled the wheels of royal life and had a hand in controlling many royal scandals. He worked to keep the monarchy strong and safe. Reading his writings, some of which are very funny, I found a man who respected his work but also saw through the pomp of royalty. He saw the royal family as mere humans, making a mess of their lives, as we all do, and covering up their flaws.