The Royal Nanny
Summary (from the publisher): Based on a seldom-told true story, this novel is perfect for everyone who is fascinated by Britain’s royal family—a behind the scenes look into the nurseries of little princes and the foibles of big princes.
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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.
But the greatest impact on Charlotte’s life is made by a mere bud on the family tree: a misunderstood soul who will one day be known as the Lost Prince. Young Prince John needs all of Lala’s love—the kind of love his parents won’t…or can’t…show him.
From Britain’s old wealth to the glittering excesses of Tsarist Russia; from country cottages to royal yachts, and from nursery to ballroom, Charlotte Bill witnesses history. The Royal Nanny is a seamless blend of fact and fiction—an intensely intimate, yet epic tale spanning decades, continents, and divides that only love can cross.
Review: Charlotte Bill is still a young nanny when she arrives at Sandringham, home to the Duke and Duchess of York. She begins caring for young David, Bertie, and their new little sister and is soon made the head nurse. As the family grows to include three more royal sons, Charlotte, known by her charges as Lala, cares and loves them as their own. Her unique position gives her access to royalty and prominent international figures, as well as the secrets of the royal family. Although Lala loves all the York children, she is most devoted to the youngest, John, who is unwell and plagued by epilepsy from a young age. Lala devotes her life to her Johnnie and all the York children, who recognize her as the caring and devoted mother figure of their childhood.
This is the second novel I have read by Karen Harper, having previously read Mistress Shakespeare. Harper does a credible job with her historical fiction and finds unique subjects, rather than rehashing the same historical figures often written about. Indeed, Charlotte Bill is a little known historical figure and she did devote her life to the York family and especially young Johnnie. As portrayed in the novel, Charlotte did have a hand in exposing the mistreatment of the children by the head nurse in charge when she arrived and was appointed head nurse when the other woman was dismissed. Charlotte is an example of an early type of career woman in that she devoted her life to her career, which meant she never married or had a family of her own. Harper does a great job of imagining the tension she may have experienced through this choice in the fictional creation of Chad. Despite her desire to marry, Charlotte feels an immense sense of duty and love for her royal charges and is also aware that her income is greatly needed to help support her aging parents.
However, with the notable exception of Chad, Harper fails to give Charlotte any depth beyond her job. Her home, family, childhood, and early career are summarily passed over. Charlotte is not depicted visiting her family in a single scene. After her time as nanny for the royals is over, the last several decades of her life are skipped over. Although clearly the focus of this novel is on her most important job, it would have given Charlotte more depth and realism to make her a fully fledged individual with a life before and beyond nanny to the York children.
It was interesting to see how Harper portrays David, the heir to the throne, as conflicted and self-important even early on and from the eye's of his childhood caretaker. Chad tells Charlotte that David is "jealous of your love and attention for his younger brother, whom he considers damaged and unimportant compared to him." Charlotte's argument that David was attracted to women who resembled his first nanny, the one that was so cruel to him and poor Bertie, is verified by historical record and his marriage to the domineering Wallis Simpson. Likewise, Johnnie and Charlotte's encounter with Theodore Roosevelt was based on factual events as were their interactions with the doomed Ramonov children. As someone with great insight and inside information into the royal family, Charlotte Bill provided an interesting narrator and a unique perspective on the British royal family in the early twentieth century.
Stars: 3
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