Royal companion to George the V's ' forgotten' son turns 105.
A grand lady with a noted past is Letty, who is currently celebrating her 105th. birthday this week, she is the niece of the former
Royal nanny,' Lalla '
Letty Nutland’s aunt Lalla Bill nursed King George and Queen Mary - youngest son Prince John, known as 'Johnny' who suffered from epilepsy and was regarded as a potential embarrassment to the royal family. Prince John was hidden away from the public view in Norfolk on the Sandringham estate.
Frequently became a play companion too the
young Princes, on one occasion Letty recalls
auntie Lolla took her for a trip in a horse-drawn carriage sitting opposite Prince John and the young Prince Edward, who latter became Prince of Wales and went onto being King Edward the 8th.
Prince Johnny died at the age of 13 in 1919 on the Sandringham estate, and Edward famously abdicated in 1936 after refusing to end his relationship with Wallis Simpson the American divorcee. Johnny’s story is told in ' The Lost Prince' by Stephen Poliakoff's triple Emmy award-winning drama.
' Letty is very proud of her Auntie Lalla and still talks about the royal family now and again' –said Lorraine Beale owner of 'The Cottage Rest Home.' She was born in Bromley, Kent, and can still remember the German air-ships flying over the town during the First World War. She remembers hearing the bombs go off, a blast dislodged a picture that hung on the wall in her bedroom.
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