The Royal Governess
A Novel of Queen Elizabeth II's Childhood
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- USD 9.99
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- USD 9.99
Descripción editorial
During the childhood years of Queen Elizabeth II, one of the most famous women who ever lived, a young governess helped shape her into the icon the world knows today.
In 1933, twenty-two-year-old Marion Crawford accepts the role of a lifetime, tutoring the little Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose. Her one stipulation to their parents is that she bring some doses of normalcy into their sheltered and privileged lives.
At Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Balmoral, Marion defies stuffy protocol to take the princesses 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 trauma of the Abdication, the glamour of the Coronation, the onset of World War II. She steers the little princesses through it all, as close as a mother.
As Hitler’s planes 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 present when Elizabeth first sets eyes on Philip, her future husband.
But being beloved confidante to the Windsor family comes at huge personal cost. Marriage, children, her own views: all are compromised by proximity to royal glory. In this majestic story of love, sacrifice and allegiance, bestselling novelist Holden brings to life the early years before Queen Elizabeth II became monarch.
“This captivating page-turner whisks readers back in time to Buckingham Palace in 1933…A majestic story that delves into the incredible life of Queen Elizabeth II before she took her place on the throne.”—Woman’s World
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Holden (A View to a Kilt) offers a charming story of a real-life teacher who served as governess for the future Queen Elizabeth II and her sister, Margaret. In 1932 Edinburgh, 20-year-old reform-minded Marion Crawford is a teacher in training determined to help improve the lives of the children who live in the city's slums, where the literacy rate is close to zero. Marion also chafes at the corporal punishment meted out in the classrooms she observes, and at the teachers' insistence that British colonial subjects are "uncivilized." When Marion's teaching college principal recruits her to teach the princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret, then six and two, Marion initially declines until she is persuaded that her lessons would impact the country's future. Marion's interactions with royalty, whose routine is often scripted and unfolds "like a play," range from intimidating through enlightening to amusing, such as the princesses' mother's impromptu mimicking of a film star. Throughout, Marion remains mindful of the divide between herself and her clients ("A freshly brushed carpet is fit only for royal feet," says a footman) as she works to liberate their minds from the royal coterie with trips around London. Holden grounds the story of Marion's attempt to help the princesses understand all classes of English society with rich historical details, and develops Marion's character as she navigates her true calling amid staggering privilege. This lively historical tale will please fans of the English royal family.
