*With a foreword by former BBC Royal Correspondent Jennie Bond*

The touching and ground-breaking story of the Queen''s childhood as told by her nanny, revealing the royal family''s life before The Crown.

Now, more than ever, the Royal Family''s private lives are no longer private. Marion Crawford, or ''Crawfie'', as she was known to the Queen and Princess Margaret, became governess to the children of the Duke and Duchess of York in the early 1930s, little suspecting she was nurturing the future Queen.

Beginning at their quiet family home in Piccadilly and ending with the birth of Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace in 1948, Crawfie tells how she brought the princesses up to exist in their royal world, whilst also exposing them to the reality of underground trains, buses and swimming lessons.

First published in 1950, The Little Princesses created an instant furore: Crawfie was demonised by the press and the Queen Mother - who had been a great friend and who had, Crawfie maintained, given her permission to write the account - never spoke to her again.

''A unique insight into the isolated childhood of the future queen and her sister'' Daily Mail