Charlotte Bill

Lala began her employment as the under-nurse to the York children. Working under the head nurse, she was shocked at the nurse's treatment of the royal children. The nurse appeared to resent every new addition to the nursery and neglected the second son, Bertie, later King George VI, to the point that he became ill as a result.[2] The head nurse had originally been a nursemaid to the Duke and Duchess of Newcastle and earned a good reference. However, when Lala expressed her concerns, it was revealed that the woman was childless after her husband had deserted her and was therefore suffering from a warped and frustrated maternal instinct.[2] She was promptly dismissed in 1897, and Lala was appointed in her place.[2]

As the children grew up, she became especially close to the youngest child, Prince John, who suffered from epilepsy and learning difficulties caused by possible autism.[3] Although the Prince originally stayed at York Cottage, the compact residence of his mother and father, a separate household was established for him in 1917, and they moved to nearby Wood Farm on the Sandringham Estate.[3] Lala nursed Prince John (Johnnie as he was called in the family) until his death from a severe epileptic seizure on 18 January 1919, following the end of the First World War. It was Lala who telephoned Queen Mary to inform her of his death, and she and the King travelled from Buckingham Palace to Wood Farm to see their dead son. Lala attended his burial at Sandringham Church, where he was interred next to Prince Alexander John of Wales, the infant son of Queen Alexandra, Johnnie's grandmother.[1]

She remained devoted to the memory of the young prince right up to her own death on December 13, 1964, at the age of 89. She died in a hospital in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. On one visit to her house, The Duke of Windsor noticed that the first object he saw when he walked into Bill's house was a large photo of Johnnie as a toddler on her fireplace mantel.

Her character appears in the film The Lost Prince, where she is played by Gina McKee.[3][4]

A novel called The Royal Nanny by Karen Harper recounts the story of Charlotte Bill (Lala/Mrs. Lala) and her time with the royal children.

• Reynolds, K. D., ‘John, Prince (1905–1919)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 3 Feb 2008
• Van Der Kiste, John, George V's Children (Sutton Publishing, 2001) ISBN 0-86299-816-6