-
The Little Princesses
- The Story of the Queen's Childhood by Her Nanny, Marion Crawford
- Narrated by: Sophie Roberts
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Politics & Activism
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $17.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Palace Papers
- Inside the House of Windsor - the Truth and the Turmoil
- By: Tina Brown
- Narrated by: Tina Brown
- Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“Never again” became Queen Elizabeth II’s mantra shortly after Princess Diana’s tragic death. More specifically, there could never be “another Diana”—a member of the family whose global popularity upstaged, outshone, and posed an existential threat to the British monarchy.
-
-
Tina Brown reads her book
- By Karen on 04-26-22
By: Tina Brown
-
Elizabeth & Margaret
- The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters
- By: Andrew Morton
- Narrated by: Marisa Calin
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were the closest of sisters and the best of friends. But when, in a quixotic twist of fate, their uncle Edward Vlll decided to abdicate the throne, the dynamic between Elizabeth and Margaret was dramatically altered. Forever more Margaret would have to curtsey to the sister she called "Lillibet". And bow to her wishes. Elizabeth would always look upon her younger sister's antics with a kind of stoical amusement, but Margaret's struggle to find a place and position inside the royal system - and her fraught relationship with its expectations - was often a source of tension.
-
-
Enlightening
- By Laurie on 04-21-21
By: Andrew Morton
-
The Royal Governess
- A Novel of Queen Elizabeth II's Childhood
- By: Wendy Holden
- Narrated by: Katharine Lee McEwan
- Length: 15 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1933, 22-year-old Marion Crawford accepts the role of a lifetime, tutoring the little Princesses 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 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.
-
-
A Gossipy Work of Speculative Fiction
- By sharon on 09-09-20
By: Wendy Holden
-
Queen Mary
- The Official Biography
- By: James Pope-Hennessy, Hugo Vickers
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 24 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Queen Mary died in 1953, James Pope-Hennessy was commissioned to write an official biography of her - unusual for a queen consort. Queen Mary's life, contrary to popular belief, was essentially dramatic, and she played a far more important and influential role in the affairs of the British monarchy than her public image might have otherwise suggested. Using material from the Royal Archives, private papers, and Queen Mary's personal diaries and letters, Pope-Hennessy's biography was a remarkable portrait of a remarkable woman and received rave reviews across the press.
-
-
Excellent! UPDATED review after 2nd listen.
- By Geri A on 07-31-21
By: James Pope-Hennessy, and others
-
The Royal Nanny
- A Novel
- By: Karen Harper
- Narrated by: Melanie Crawley
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
April 1897: A young nanny arrives at Sandringham, ancestral estate of the Duke and Duchess of York. She is excited, exhausted - and about to meet royalty. So begins the unforgettable story of Charlotte Bill, who would care for a generation of royals as their parents never could. Neither Charlotte - LaLa, as her charges dub her - nor anyone else can predict that eldest sons David and Bertie will each one day be king. LaLa knows only that these children, and the four who swiftly follow, need her steadfast loyalty and unconditional affection.
-
-
Loved it!
- By Jasper Van Wyk on 08-05-20
By: Karen Harper
-
The Real Diana
- By: Lady Colin Campbell
- Narrated by: Sophie Roberts
- Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Royal insider Lady Colin Campbell sets the record straight on many of the most controversial aspects of Diana's turbulent life. In The Real Diana, she reveals that the reason she knew so much about what went on behind the palace gates was because Diana herself was the source. Drawing upon these confidences - as well as on conversations with countless people who knew Diana and with Diana herself in the final years of her life - Lady Colin Campbell combines true insight with true compassion to bring us the most intimate and revealing portrait of the Princess of Wales.
-
-
Narrator
- By MG on 04-18-22
-
The Palace Papers
- Inside the House of Windsor - the Truth and the Turmoil
- By: Tina Brown
- Narrated by: Tina Brown
- Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“Never again” became Queen Elizabeth II’s mantra shortly after Princess Diana’s tragic death. More specifically, there could never be “another Diana”—a member of the family whose global popularity upstaged, outshone, and posed an existential threat to the British monarchy.
-
-
Tina Brown reads her book
- By Karen on 04-26-22
By: Tina Brown
-
Elizabeth & Margaret
- The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters
- By: Andrew Morton
- Narrated by: Marisa Calin
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were the closest of sisters and the best of friends. But when, in a quixotic twist of fate, their uncle Edward Vlll decided to abdicate the throne, the dynamic between Elizabeth and Margaret was dramatically altered. Forever more Margaret would have to curtsey to the sister she called "Lillibet". And bow to her wishes. Elizabeth would always look upon her younger sister's antics with a kind of stoical amusement, but Margaret's struggle to find a place and position inside the royal system - and her fraught relationship with its expectations - was often a source of tension.
-
-
Enlightening
- By Laurie on 04-21-21
By: Andrew Morton
-
The Royal Governess
- A Novel of Queen Elizabeth II's Childhood
- By: Wendy Holden
- Narrated by: Katharine Lee McEwan
- Length: 15 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1933, 22-year-old Marion Crawford accepts the role of a lifetime, tutoring the little Princesses 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 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.
-
-
A Gossipy Work of Speculative Fiction
- By sharon on 09-09-20
By: Wendy Holden
-
Queen Mary
- The Official Biography
- By: James Pope-Hennessy, Hugo Vickers
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 24 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Queen Mary died in 1953, James Pope-Hennessy was commissioned to write an official biography of her - unusual for a queen consort. Queen Mary's life, contrary to popular belief, was essentially dramatic, and she played a far more important and influential role in the affairs of the British monarchy than her public image might have otherwise suggested. Using material from the Royal Archives, private papers, and Queen Mary's personal diaries and letters, Pope-Hennessy's biography was a remarkable portrait of a remarkable woman and received rave reviews across the press.
-
-
Excellent! UPDATED review after 2nd listen.
- By Geri A on 07-31-21
By: James Pope-Hennessy, and others
-
The Royal Nanny
- A Novel
- By: Karen Harper
- Narrated by: Melanie Crawley
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
April 1897: A young nanny arrives at Sandringham, ancestral estate of the Duke and Duchess of York. She is excited, exhausted - and about to meet royalty. So begins the unforgettable story of Charlotte Bill, who would care for a generation of royals as their parents never could. Neither Charlotte - LaLa, as her charges dub her - nor anyone else can predict that eldest sons David and Bertie will each one day be king. LaLa knows only that these children, and the four who swiftly follow, need her steadfast loyalty and unconditional affection.
-
-
Loved it!
- By Jasper Van Wyk on 08-05-20
By: Karen Harper
-
The Real Diana
- By: Lady Colin Campbell
- Narrated by: Sophie Roberts
- Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Royal insider Lady Colin Campbell sets the record straight on many of the most controversial aspects of Diana's turbulent life. In The Real Diana, she reveals that the reason she knew so much about what went on behind the palace gates was because Diana herself was the source. Drawing upon these confidences - as well as on conversations with countless people who knew Diana and with Diana herself in the final years of her life - Lady Colin Campbell combines true insight with true compassion to bring us the most intimate and revealing portrait of the Princess of Wales.
-
-
Narrator
- By MG on 04-18-22
-
Prince Philip's Century
- The Extraordinary Life of the Duke of Edinburgh
- By: Robert Jobson
- Narrated by: Sam Dastor
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For decades Prince Philip shared the Queen’s burden of office without upstaging her, always privately providing reassurance and advice but never overstepping the boundaries of his supporting role. It was an unforgiving position - a challenge for anyone - but one that he met head on. He remained the Queen’s adviser and closest confidant and was known as such the world over. That said, he was wise enough to recognise his limitations and the constraints of his role.
-
-
Better Editing?
- By Uberinth on 02-20-22
By: Robert Jobson
-
The Queen's Secret
- A Novel of England's World War II Queen
- By: Karen Harper
- Narrated by: Bianca Amato
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this riveting novel of royal secrets and intrigue, Karen Harper lifts the veil on one of the world’s most fascinating families and how its “secret weapon” of a matriarch maneuvered her way through one of the most dangerous chapters of the century.
-
-
It doesn’t deserve a review.
- By Kevin Graves on 02-05-21
By: Karen Harper
-
Before the Crown
- By: Flora Harding
- Narrated by: Edward Killingback, Imogen Wilde
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1943: As war rages across the world, Princess Elizabeth comes face to face with the dashing naval officer she first met in London nine years before. One of the youngest first lieutenants in the Royal Navy, Philip represents everything she has always been taught to avoid. Instability. Audacity. Adventure. But when the king learns of their relationship, the suitability of the foreign prince is questioned by all at court. He is the risk she has never been allowed to take. The risk not even the shadow of the crown will stop her from taking.
-
-
Enjoyable
- By Mellisa on 09-20-21
By: Flora Harding
-
King's Counsellor
- Abdication and War: The Diaries of Sir Alan Lascelles
- By: Sir Alan Lascelles, Duff Hart-Davis
- Narrated by: Pip Torrens
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Assistant Private Secretary to four monarchs, 'Tommy' Lascelles had a ringside seat from which to observe the workings of the royal household and Downing Street during the first half of the 20th century. These fascinating diaries begin with Edward VIII's abdication and end with George VI's death and his daughter Elizabeth's Coronation. In between we see George VI at work and play, a portrait more intimate than any other previously published.
-
-
One of the most enjoyable audiobooks I've heard.
- By Elizabeth on 04-14-21
By: Sir Alan Lascelles, and others
-
George V
- Never a Dull Moment
- By: Jane Ridley
- Narrated by: Joanna David
- Length: 22 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From one of the most beloved and distinguished historians of the British monarchy, here is a lively, intimately detailed biography of a long-overlooked king who reimagined the Crown in the aftermath of World War I and whose marriage was an epic romance.
-
-
great but long listen
- By aleks r on 02-23-22
By: Jane Ridley
-
Matriarch
- Queen Mary and the House of Windsor
- By: Anne Edwards
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 16 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The life of Princess May of Teck is one of the great Cinderella stories in history. From a family of impoverished nobility, she was chosen by Queen Victoria as the bride for her eldest grandson, the scandalous Duke of Clarence, heir to the throne, who died mysteriously before their marriage. Despite this setback, she became queen, mother of two kings, grandmother of the current queen, and a lasting symbol of the majesty of the British throne.
-
-
Interesting, informative, and insightful
- By Dr. Lance Moore on 06-08-17
By: Anne Edwards
-
The Last Queen
- Elizabeth II's Seventy Year Battle to Save the House of Windsor
- By: Clive Irving
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A timely and revelatory new biography of Queen Elizabeth (and her family) exploring how the Windsors have evolved and thrived as the modern world has changed around them. In 2021, the Queen Elizabeth II finally appears to be at ease in the modern world, helped by the new generation of Windsors. But through Irving’s unique insight there emerges a more fragile institution, whose extraordinarily dutiful matriarch has managed to persevere with dignity, yet in doing so made a Faustian pact with the media.
-
-
Disappointed
- By Karen S on 02-07-21
By: Clive Irving
-
17 Carnations
- The Royals, the Nazis and the Biggest Cover-Up in History
- By: Andrew Morton
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For fans of the Netflix series The Crown, a meticulously researched historical tour de force about the secret ties among Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, the Duke of Windsor, and Adolf Hitler before, during, and after World War II. Andrew Morton tells the story of the feckless Edward VIII, later Duke of Windsor, his American wife, Wallis Simpson, the bizarre wartime Nazi plot to make him a puppet king after the invasion of Britain, and the attempted cover-up by Churchill, General Eisenhower, and King George VI of the duke's relations with Hitler.
-
-
Dangerous fools
- By Vivien Tarkirk-Smith on 03-23-15
By: Andrew Morton
-
Elizabeth the Queen
- The Life of a Modern Monarch
- By: Sally Bedell Smith
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 21 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the moment of her ascension to the throne in 1952 at the age of twenty-five, Queen Elizabeth II has been the object of unparalleled scrutiny. But through the fog of glamour and gossip, how well do we really know the world’s most famous monarch? Drawing on numerous interviews and never-before-revealed documents, acclaimed biographer Sally Bedell Smith pulls back the curtain to show in intimate detail the public and private lives of Queen Elizabeth II.
-
-
A Personal Look at a Great Queen
- By Ashleesgirl21 on 09-14-12
-
The Royals
- By: Kitty Kelley
- Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck
- Length: 20 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They are the most chronicled family on the face of the globe. Their every move attracts headlines. Scores of books have tried and failed to penetrate the royal facade. Now Kitty Kelley has gone behind palace walls to provide the first three-dimensional, comprehensive, and evenhanded portrait of the men and women who make up the British Royal family.
-
-
Ties the Tin Can On Them
- By Laurie on 11-07-17
By: Kitty Kelley
-
Queen of Our Times
- The Life of Queen Elizabeth II
- By: Robert Hardman
- Narrated by: Robert Hardman
- Length: 25 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shy but with a steely self-confidence; inscrutable despite ten decades in the public eye; unflappable; devout; indulgent; outwardly reserved, inwardly passionate; unsentimental; inquisitive; young at heart. All of these describe Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned through more seismic social change than any monarch since 1066. Robert Hardman has already examined the Queen as a modern monarch and her role as a stateswoman abroad. Now, he wraps up the full story of one of the undisputed greats in a thousand years of monarchy.
By: Robert Hardman
-
Battle of Brothers
- William and Harry - The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult
- By: Robert Lacey
- Narrated by: Tim Frances
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From best-selling author and historical consultant to the award-winning Netflix series The Crown, an unparalleled insider account of tumult, secrecy, and schism in the royal family.
-
-
Same book, different title
- By Rhonda E Watson on 10-23-20
By: Robert Lacey
Publisher's Summary
Originally published in 1950, The Little Princesses was the first account of British Royal life inside Buckingham Palace as revealed by Marion Crawford, who served as governess to princesses Elizabeth and Margaret.
A 22-year-old teacher recruited to look after the Duke and Duchess of York's young daughters in 1931, Marion Crawford - affectionately known as "Crawfie" by her charges - spent 16 years with the Royal family as the children's governess. From King Edward VIII's abdication of the throne in order to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson and King George VI's subsequent crowning and all the way to Elizabeth's courtship and marriage to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Crawfie's memoir offers an intimate and revelatory perspective of Elizabeth and Margaret's childhood during one of the most momentous eras in British history.
Initially honored as a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order for her loyal service to the crown, Crawfie was later demonized by the press and ostracized by the royal family for the rest of her life as a result of The Little Princesses' publication. When compared to the modern media's relentless obsession with the House of Windsor, Crawfie's touching account of Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret's youth presents a poignant reminder of how much life has changed for the British Royals.
More from the same
What listeners say about The Little Princesses
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rebecca
- 02-13-22
Treacle
My book club picked "The Royal Governess" which didn't appeal and since I couldn't borrow it, I thought my money would be better spent on the source material.
The contradiction between the titular plural Little Princesses and singular Queen's Childhood of the subtitle is indicative of the disconnect between this fawning account and reality.
Crawford's maundering does provide some insight into the phenomena of the royal family, but I suspect a fictional account would have been more informative to someone interested in the subject.