    marion crawford, cvo (5 june 1909 â 11 february 1988) was a scottish governess. she was an employee of the british royal family, and taught the children of king george vi and his wife, queen elizabeth, princess elizabeth (the future queen elizabeth ii) and princess margaret, who gave her the nickname "crawfie". crawford was the named author of the book the little princesses, which told the story of her time with the royal family.http://www.amazon.co.uk/the-little-princesses-childhood-crawfie/dp/0752849743 after the book was published in 1950,originally published in the uk by cassell & co ltd and in the us by harcourt, brace and company. current us edition: the little princesses: the story of the queen's childhood by her nanny [sic], marion crawford. new york: st. martin's press, 2003. isbn 0-312-31215-6. the current us title is erroneous; crawford is quite clear that she was never the "nanny" for the princesses (a position held by a woman named clara knight, called "alla"), but was instead their governess, responsible for their education outside the nursery. she was banished from court (forced to leave her "grace and favour" house) and neither the queen nor any other member of the royal family ever spoke to her again. ==early life and royal governess== crawford was born into a working-class scottish family on 5 june 1909. she was raised in dunfermline, fife and taught at edinburgh's moray house institute. while studying to become a child psychologist, she took a summer job as the governess for lord elgin's children. this led her to take a role in the household of prince albert, duke of york, later george vi, whose wife, the duchess of york, was a distant relative of lord elgin. after one year the arrangement was made permanent. crawford became one of the governesses of princesses elizabeth and margaret rose of york.{{cite news|last=lacey
1909_births 1988_deaths 20th-century_women_writers Academics_of_the_University_of_Edinburgh British_monarchy Commanders_of_the_Royal_Victorian_Order Governesses People_from_Dunfermline Royal_nannies Scottish_biographers Scottish_educators Scottish_women_writers