The Royal Nanny: A Novel

I realize many others enjoyed and appreciated this book, so I realize I may be in the minority here, but I found it deadly dull. As someone who appreciates great examples of both nonfiction and historical fiction, and as a rabid appreciator of anything Edwardian, I expected and wanted to like this book, but was so bored I was quickly ready to move on to something else.

The goody two shoes-ish nature of Charlotte was tedious, and I found the writing and situations formulaic. Just not for me, even among characters I know and appreciate from history. So I have to disagree that all Anglophiles will love this ...this one, for one, didn't!

And that is exactly what happened here. The author had a good enough true story in that of Charlotte Bill as head nanny to the future kings of England and their siblings. But, she introduced a fictional character and made him too instrumental to the real events that actually took place. Not to mention, the author made suppositions about Charlotte Bill's heart and desires. I found the fictionalized interweaving of this fictionalized character in with real events too distracting.

This is a must read book. Have plenty of tissues with you. This is a true story. It's a story about Queen Elizabeth 11's father and his siblings Nanny. Charlotte Bell became the children's Nanny when David was four years old and Bertie was two. Their sister Mary was soon to be born. Charlotte would be the family's Nanny until the last child, Johnny, died in 1919. Johnny was a special child. Because of him being different his father wanted to send him away. Charlotte kept this from happening. He became her child to rear. It interesting how the Royal Families have to have perfect children and no defects otherwise the imperfect child is sent away and never to be seen or heard from again .

The subject matter was interesting, but the narrative is so boring! The underlying love story was sad, the way in which royals interacted was sad, the treatment of children was sad. The writing was pedantic at best. Even as a very low cost kindle book, i cannot recommend this.

"The Royal Nanny" was a bit of a surprise to me, in that I found it so enjoyable. As I read, I gained a clearer understanding of the inter-relatedness of the royal families of Europe. I am now reading a novel about Tatiana, the second oldest of Czar Nicholas's daughters, and the historical facts in the current novel align precisely with those presented in "The Royal Nanny." This, to me, is one of the best reasons for reading--you get to refresh your knowledge of history in a most pleasant way!

If you are one of the many people who love seeing photos of the young Prince George and Princess Charlotte on your Facebook page or when you see William and Kate and their beautiful children on the cover of People magazine must buy it, then Karen Harper's new novel, The Royal Nanny, is for you.

Harper based her historical novel on the true story of Charlotte Bill, the royal nanny to the children of the Duke and Duchess of York, who eventually became King George V and Queen Mary, grandparents to today's reining British monarch, Queen Elizabeth.

The children called Charlotte Lala, and she came to the family as an assistant to the main nanny, until Lala discovered that she had been mistreating David and Bertie, who would one day go one to become King Edward VIII, best known as the man who abdicated the throne to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson, and King George VI, whom we know best from Colin Firth's portrayal of him in the Oscar-winning movie, The King's Speech.

Lala was devoted to her charges, including four more born after the boys. When the Duchess was giving birth to a baby named John, she had a very difficult birth and feared that she wouldn't live through the birth. She begged Lala to promise to always care for the baby and Lala agreed.

Lala became very attached to baby Johnnie, and as he grew, John appeared to be different from the other children. He had trouble sitting still, and he was slow to learn. Today, we would probably place him somewhere on the autism spectrum.

As Johnnie got older, he began to have seizures. These seizures frightened everyone, and doctors recommended that John be sent away to be cared for. But Lala would not allow that to happen. She appealed to the Duke and Duchess, and promised that she would care for John herself. Eventually, John and Lala were moved from the family home to a smaller home nearby, where Lala cared for him.

Lala gave up her entire life to care for the children, never marrying. She had feelings for Chad, a young man who worked on the family estate, but her sense of duty got in the way of her happiness.

Fans of Downton Abbey will love The Royal Nanny. You get such a sense of what life was like as a servant and as child in a royal household. History fans will enjoy it too, as we see David and Bertie's childhood lives, and how they grew up into the men they became.

Harper has some interesting insight into why David would marry Wallis Simpson and abdicate, she believes that he was attracted to women who dominated him.

In what could have been stock portrayals of real people, Harper brings out their humanity. The Duke loved his son Johnnie, and was torn about sending him away to avoid a scandal. The King and Queen are shown to be particularly fond of their grandchildren, just like every other grandparent. The King plays games with melting pats of butter and the Queen shares her love of small glass animal figurines with her grandchildren.

I found the relationships among the royals and their extended family members who ruled in Germany and especially Russia intriguing. We tend to forget that the Windsor family had such close ties to the rest of Europe and how that affected them during times of war.

The Royal Nanny is an utterly fascinating fictional look at a real historical character, and Anglophiles will want to put this one on their TBR list. I highly recommend it, and I'll be looking for more information on the real Charlotte Bill.

The subject matter was interesting but the writing is terrible! There are random words missing, incorrect references to characters, i.e.; the queen or princess, and numerous redundancies. Overall it was disappointing.

While the story has some fun details that are superficially rooted in historical fact (the remaining details being imagined, well within the author's rights), I had to force myself to finish the book because of the appalling Mary Sueness of the title character (please Google Mary Sue fiction if you are unfamiliar with the term). Everyone loves her, she's brilliant at everything, she's present at - and plays pivotal roles in - every conceivable historical event. It just became so absurd that it took me out of what could have been an interesting take on historical fiction.

This novel is the “memoir” of the royal nanny to the future Kings of England. It is well written, engaging, and allows you to see the English royals from a servant’s perspective, though she really becomes almost family to some of the family. I didn’t know about the youngest epileptic son who plays a prominent roll in this book. If you love English history, this novel about the raising of Queen Elizabeth’s uncles, father and aunt is well worth reading.

A fictionalized story of Prince Johnnie, who was largely kept secret by the Royal Family because of his epilepsy. This novel does a good job of showing the ambivalence of feeling had for "a cripple," as Johnnie was seen. An engaging read, if you are a fan of the current Royal Family, you will enjoy this book as a precursor to the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.