17 secrets the royal nanny won’t tell you

Norland nannies, including the royal nanny, are ‘strongly advised’ to undertake at least 15 hours per year of continuing professional development to ensure they are keeping up to date with the latest best practices of child care and early years research.

When the royal nanny who cared for Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret wrote a tell-all book, The Little Princesses: The Story of the Queen’s Childhood by Her Nanny, it caused a huge scandal, according to Care.com. These days, it would be unlikely a royal nanny would be hired without signing a confidentiality/non-disclosure agreement, the effect of which would make it impossible to write a tell-all book about her experiences as royal nanny.

Read on for the times the royal family was brutally honest with the media.

“Former royal nannies have been able to offer their views, make suggestions, and use their professional skills,” according to Care.com, but these days, royal nannies tend to be expected to play an even more significant role in raising the royal children. In fact, one aspect of Norland’s training is about how to advise parents and to navigate the politics of advising parents about how to properly care for their children.

It’s a sad state of affairs that child care work carries far less prestige than many other types of work. By contrast, the work of the royal nanny tends to be highly valued, royal nannies are highly respected, the job of royal nanny (or any trained English nanny, really) is one of high prestige.

Check out these etiquette rules everyone in the royal family must follow.

While the royal nanny is charged with caring for the young Royal Highnesses, she’s also encouraged to give them as ‘normal’ an experience as possible. ‘She lets the kids be kids,’ Town and Country writes of Nanny Maria. And sometimes that means getting right onto their level with them, participating in such activities as riding bikes with them in the park.

While corporal punishment (spanking and the like) is accepted parental behaviour in ordinary families (although not necessarily the best course of action, according to experts), it is not permitted to be carried out by the royal nanny. In fact, Norland College specifically forbids it. That said, a stern talking-to would be acceptable if a child’s behaviour requires correction.

The royal family hires only one royal nanny, even when there are three or more children, as is the case with William and Catherine’s brood. That being said, the royal nanny is far from the only royal staff member charged with taking care of the needs of the tiny royal highnesses. So Nanny Maria is assisted by a team of nursemaids to oversee the health of the kids, domestic staff members to clean up after everyone, a travel team for tours, an event planner, and a chef to prepare the royal chicken nuggets.

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Source: RD.com