Fern Britton - 'I wrote to Prince Charles and invited him to my school play'

Virgin Radio

13 Jun 2022, 07:59

The TV presenter and author was obsessed with The Royal Family at a young age.

Fern Britton has written nine novels set in Cornwall, all of them top 10 bestsellers, but now she's turning her hand to historical fiction with her new book, A Good Servant.

Released last week by Harper Collins, the story concerns the life and times of Marion Crawford, the adored governess of Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. Fern, 64, appeared on The Graham Norton Show With Waitrose this weekend to tell Graham all about it.

"I was a bit of a strange teenager in that I was fascinated by The Royal Family even then," said Fern. "I used to write to Prince Charles. I used to write to him and ask if he'd like to come and see my school play. Sadly he couldn't, but I always got a letter back saying 'No, he can't. He's busy'. But I use to read about The Royal Family all the time, and I've been thinking about Marion Crawford's story since I was about 25.

She continued; "Then about 12 years ago, I thought that would make a good book. But I was at the beginning of my writing career, and I didn't have the confidence at that stage to think I could put it together. And then lockdown happened. And I thought, 'Okay, let's do it...'"

Fern told Graham more about the life of Marion Crawford, or 'Crawfie' as she was affectionally known. Often known as the first servant to cash in on the private lives of The Royals, Crawford was ostracised by The Royal Family after writing a book entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, believing that the Queen Mother (as she became) had given her blessing to the project.

She hadn't. Marion was ostracised and The Royal Family never spoke to her again.

"I want to restore her reputation," says Fern. "In my opinion she was tricked into saying a few nice little anecdotes about the princesses for little articles to go into newspapers and magazines in America to boost The Royal Family's popularity over there. She said, 'Yeah, I'll do that as long as my name isn't attached and as long as The Queen approves' and then suddenly, a book was published to great acclaim. But she was considered to have kissed and told and the drawbridge went up. She only realised that had happened when she didn't get a Christmas card from The Queen."

The book attempts to fill in the gaps in Crawford's story, combining what is known about her and what Fern has deduced from years of reading about her.

Fern continued; "She lived her life after the book came out very lonely, very wealthy - the book got her a lot of money - but very lonely and sad. She helped bring these children up and I want I want her reputation restored. We ought to understand she didn't do the book out of malice. She did it out of love."

A Good Servant is available to buy now.

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