Why the Royal Family were right to ostracise Crawfie

 In 1932, Marion Crawford, a psychology student, was hired by the Duchess of York (who was later to become Queen Elizabeth and The Queen Mother) to teach her two daughters, then the Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) and Princess Margaret. Forming a close bond with the two princesses, she stayed with the family for over seventeen years. In 1950, Crawfie (as she was nicknamed by Princess Elizabeth) published a tell-all book about her time with the Royal Family. Deeply hurt and confused, the Princesses and King and Queen never spoke to her again. It appears that years later, Crawfie had regrets about this and tried in vain to contact them. Her efforts were relentlessly ignored. Crawfie passed away in 1988 without reconciling with the Royal Family. 

Some members of the Royal Family and Bowes-Lyon family (the family of the Queen Mother) thought that the Royal Family were too harsh on Crawfie. Compared with other tell-alls, such as Paul Burrell, and even Diana, Princess of Wales and Prince Charles in their respective tv interviews, Crawfie's book was harmless. However, I argue that the Royal Family were right to cut Crawfie out. The Queen Mother had asked Crawfie not to write anything about the children in upcoming publications (the fact that she said she could contribute to articles anonymously did not give her permission to write a tell-all book). In 'The Little Princesses', Crawfie openly documents about the children, even calling Princess Margaret 'plump'. She divulges private conversations such as the fact that Princess Elizabeth hoped to be pregnant before her first wedding anniversary. While making the children relatable by saying they sometimes fought with each other, she had betrayed their trust; trust, that was never earnt again. 

If the Royal Family had forgiven Crawfie what sort of message would that send to the rest of the staff? That privacy can be breached and employees can say whatever they want and to heck with the consequences? They had to cut Crawfie out in order to send a message. Moreover, Crawfie continued with her writing of the Royal Family until 1955 and was substantially paid for her writings with the knowledge that the Royal Family were hurt by her actions. It is also important to remember that this was 1950 where the Royal Family were perceived as almost God-like; practically no one before that time had spilled secrets on the Royal Family and so Crawfie's writing marked a watershed.

Jennie Bond in her forewood in 'The Little Princesses' said it was difficult to deduce as to why Crawfie chose to spill all. A close reading of the book shows a clear answer; Crawfie felt under-paid and under-appreciated by the Royal Family. Her pension was not enough and she had postponed her marriage, to an untrustworthy George Buthlay (a serial cheater who had persuaded Crawfie to capitalise on her relationships with the Royal Family), for over eight years in order to look after the two princesses. She simply wanted more money and more appreciation and went about it the wrong way. 

It may have seemed cold to cut Crawfie out but with this unprecedented publication the Royal Family had to protect themselves. And ironically, as Crawfie said in her book, 'royalty deserve every penny for the loss of privacy they have'.