Marion Crawford was the governess of the Queen and Princess Margaret when they were children. But she is more famous for being one of the first insiders to write an intimate account of royal life by publishing The Little Princesses.
She was born on June 5, 1909 in Woodside Cottage near Kilmarnock in Ayrshire. The daughter of a mechanical engineer's clerk, her father died when she was a year old. Her mother remarried when she was six and the family then moved to Dundermline in Scotland.
She trained as a teacher at Moray House Training College in Edinburgh, (now part of Edinburgh University) and she had originally intended to become a child psychologist. While on leave from her studies, she worked as a temporary governess to the children of Lord Elgin and tutored the daughter of Lady Rose Leveson Gower; the sister of Elizabeth, Duchess of York (later the Queen Mother). Two weeks after meeting the Duke and Duchess, she was asked to take on the education of Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, who were five and two at the time. She joined the royal household in 1933 and stayed for sixteen years. Affectionately named 'Crawfie' by her royal charges, she taught Bible, History Grammar, Arithmetic, Geography, Literature, Poetry, Music, Drawing, Writing and Composition.
She became engaged to George Buthlay, a divorced Major from Aberdeen. Fifteen years her senior, he had served in the Middle East during the war. They were married on September 16, 1947 in Dunfermline Abbey. She retired in 1949 to a grace and favour residence, Nottingham Cottage, at Kensington Palace and was made a Commander of the Victorian Order in January 1949 by King George VI.
At the time royal servants were paid very little and it was thought that serving royalty was its own reward. Convinced by her husband that she was being taken advantage of, she went against Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother's) wishes by writing The Little Princesses. As a result, she was shunned by the royal family and their circle. She went on to publish a life of Queen Mary (The Queen Mother) in 1951. In 1952 and 1953, she sold her name to a series of articles: Queen Elizabeth II, Happy and Glorious and Princess Margaret. She also had her own weekly column 'Crawfie's Column' but her career as a royal columnist ended when, on June 16, 1955, Woman's Own published her personal accounts of the Trooping the Colour and Royal Ascot; events which had been cancelled due to the National Rail Strike.
Her husband died in 1977 and she spent her remaining years in seclusion in Aberdeen, making one suicide attempt in old age. She died at Hawkhill House, an Aberdeen nursing home on February 11, 1988. No member of the royal family attended or sent condolences.
© Marilyn Braun 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Contact Form
Featured Post
If being royal is so extraordinary, why do the royals want to be ordinary?
Being royal is clearly not all it is cracked up to be. Gilt here and there. Liveried footmen abound. Church bells ring on your birthday. Red...
Search This Blog
Popular Posts
-
The final arrival in the royal marriage race that began with the death of Princess Charlotte in 1817, she was a first cousin of Queen Victor...
-
I have already written a blog post about what Baby Boy Cambridge will be called , . Apparently William and Kate did not read it, choosing a ...
-
I've never been one of those people who is very good at making up my own mind, especially when it comes to things that are outside of my...
-
Fresh off my post encouraging Catherine to develop her royal role sooner rather than later, imagine my chagrin when discovering an article i...
-
It seems every few days brings another breathless headline: Prince Harry still estranged from his father and brother! As if we’re all waiti...
-
Embed from Getty Images Continuing on with the 'OMG what was I thinking when I wore this?' theme, we have a ballerina length danc...
-
Today is a historic day for the monarchy in the Netherlands. Queen Beatrix announced that she would abdicate in favor of her son, Prince Wil...
-
As the sister of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Pippa Middleton is in an unenviable situation. In many ways, she cannot win and it is unfo...
No comments:
Post a Comment