The Good Servant: From the No.1 Sunday Times bestselling author comes a sweeping Royal historical fiction romance novel to escape with in summer 2023!

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This fictionalised account of a real story follows Marion Crawford, a young Scottish woman who finds herself becoming the governess for the tiny Princesses, Lilibet and Margaret, and follows her years with them, until an awful misunderstanding occurs, causing her to be cast out of the Royal fold, after many, many years of devoted service. Marion’s time with the family lasted until 1949 and she retained favour for some time afterwards until she was taken advantage of by some unscrupulous people who wanted to buy her “inside stories”. Of course today, the Royal Family’s private lives are far more well documented but in the 1950’s it was quite different and as the first servant to cash in on the private lives of the royals, Crawfie was ostracised by the royal family and they never spoke to her again. Whilst it is widely accepted that she had been under the influence of George Buthlay, who she married in 1947, Marion was absolutely devastated when she realised the implications and she never really recovered, living the rest of her life under a cloud away from everyone she had once been so close to. Although this book is loosely based around the facts (due to limited information in the public realm) you can see that the author has done a great deal of research and I loved the fact and fiction mix.

Marion’s funeral in 1988 was a lonely one. There were no wreaths from the Royal Family. Her royal pension was paid until the day she died”. Escape this summer with this sweeping love story about family secrets and the heart-breaking decision of choosing between your head and your heart… Reader’s love The Good ServantFern Britton has chosen to portray a sympathetic view of Crawfie, a young woman who instead of studying to be a child psychologist, left her home in Dumfermline to raise the two princesses. We will never know the true nature of the relationships between servants and monarchy, nor what was said and what each individual was motivated by, so I have chosen to side with Fern, opting for the version that this very loyal and extremely naive young lady truly loved her Royal charges. I have also chosen to believe that she gave up much of her own life to serve this family and only fell dramatically out of favour because she let others less scrupulous than her, namely the scoundrel (and eventual husband) George Buthlay, lead her to make a huge mistake. I just cannot process how beautifully this story was told, I must confess I didn’t go into this read expecting much as I hadn’t heard anything of this book and only knew of the author from tv presenting but I will certainly be reading more from her. Her writing flows so easily and it was such an enjoyable read.

In 2006, the song, “The Fern Britton Experience”, which featured in the album, Hang The DJ was named after her by the UK DJ Shitmat. She hosted the reality television show, Soapstar Superstar, and the British Soap Awards 2006. At the Royal Albert Hall, on 31 May 2007, Fern Britton presented the Classical BRIT Awards and also co-presented the British Soap Awards that year. I really enjoyed the correspondence throughout the book. It was an interesting way to glean information. Locations and dates headed each chapter, which I found very helpful. Yes, I know it isn't 100% accurate, but I was hooked from the beginning and I read the whole book in pretty much a day! Loved it! Overall, I think this book will appeal to people who enjoy TV shows like The Crown or perhaps Downton Abbey, but it is not a book for anyone who already knows the story well.

Publication Order of Hidden Treasures Books

In a departure from perhaps what we known Fern Britton for in terms of writing, she has branched into historical fiction. Historical fiction very much in reality. A family saga beginning at the end of the first and continuing through second world war, as it begins in 1918 with Clara Bolitho fighting for her family. Later in 1947 Hannah, Clara’s daughter, is falling in love for her very first time, but with the wake of World War Two underway, she must now protect her baby Caroline. Moving ahead to 2020, Caroline is living quietly on the Cornish coastline, but there’s devastating family secret that threatens to rear its head. Will she be able to get past it, can they all overcome this hurdle, and what will become of the daughters of Cornwall? The book starts in 1932, when Marion Crawford, a bright, ambitious young teacher, accepts a summer job looking after the children of Lord & Lady Elgin. Lady Elgin was the sister of the Duchess of York and this summer job led to Marion being introduced to the Yorks, and offered the job of governess to Princesses Elizabeth & Margaret. We see Marion Crawford from 1932 in Dunfermline. She is intent on studying child psychology at Glasgow University (would this have been open to women in the 1930s, or even available as a subject at all?). The Governess role to the royals opens up as a summer job. Marion accepts and is then in effect stopped by the Duchess of York from disengaging. What started as a holiday job comes to occupy 17 years -- the best years of her life -- in the education and surrogate parenting of the princesses. Most of the book presents events in the 1930s, including the 1936 Abdication and the outbreak of war in 1939. The story is well and engagingly presented. The war years themselves are skipped over very lightly. I'm not sure why, as there is much of the life of the maturing Elizabeth in particular that could have been presented. We see the marriage of Elizabeth to Philip of Greece in 1947 and, shortly thereafter, the wedding of Marion and George. This had been delayed for ten years by the Queen, who didn't want to lose Marion as governess to her daughters.

I was not expecting this ! I’ll be honest I expected a good read but I did not expect to fall in love with this book!!This was an easy, if far from scintillating read. If the definition of a good servant is loyal, hardworking, trustworthy and discreet then Marion Crawford for the majority of her career fulfilled the brief, only to fall at the last hurdle. I’ll leave it to you to decide whether or not it was her dogged pursuit of her own happy ever after that hastened her demise but I know which side of the fence I’m sitting on! Marion “Crawfie” Crawford, a governess to the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, for the most part sacrifices her own happiness, nuptials and education, to become a dedicated and loyal servant to the monarchy. This story has its host of characters, including Crawfie’s husband who is a drunkard and liar, the other Royals, staff and other characters. And with time, she stoically pushed her own desires aside. Like postponing her marriage for over ten years. Even though the other employees warned her that she is just one of the staff in the royal household, she would do anything for the monarchy. And she would do anything for her no-good husband too. Not without the consequences for her life and her relations with the royals.