Marion Kirk Buthlay CVO (née Crawford; 5 June 1909 – 11 February 1988) was a Scottish educator and governess to Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth II) and Princess Margaret. Known then by her maiden name, Elizabeth and Margaret affectionately called her Crawfie. Crawford worked for the Royal Family from 1933 to 1949. Upon her departure, she agreed to write The Little Princesses, a book which told the story of her time with the family. Though given tentative approval by the royal family to publish anonymously, Crawford was completely ostracised by them after her writing appeared under her name; she left Nottingham Cottage, her grace and favour house, and no member of the family ever spoke to her again.

Crawford was born the daughter of a mechanical engineer's clerk, at Gatehead, East Ayrshire, on 5 June 1909. She was raised in Dunfermline, Fife, and taught at Edinburgh's Moray House Institute. While studying to become a child psychologist, she took a summer job as the governess for Lord Elgin's children. This led her to take a role in the household of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth), as the Duchess was a distant relative of Lord Elgin. After one year the arrangement was made permanent.

Crawford became one of the governesses of Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret. Following the abdication of King Edward VIII in 1936, the Duke of York ascended the throne as King George VI, and Elizabeth became the heir presumptive. Crawford remained in service to the King and Queen, and did not retire until Princess Elizabeth's marriage in 1947, Crawford herself having married two months earlier. Crawford had already delayed her own marriage for 16 years so as not to, as she saw it, abandon the King and Queen.

Upon her retirement in 1948, Crawford was given Nottingham Cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace, as a grace and favour home. Queen Mary, the princesses' grandmother, also provided it with antique furniture and flower prints as a mark of her appreciation.

After their wedding, Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh conducted an overseas tour, visiting Canada and the United States of America. Shortly afterwards, Bruce and Beatrice Gould, editors of the large circulation American magazine Ladies' Home Journal, contacted Buckingham Palace and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to seek stories for publication across the Atlantic. Although the approach was refused by the Palace, the British government proved keen on the idea and suggested Marion Crawford, as the recently retired governess of the princesses.

In April 1949, having heard of the offer, Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) wrote to Crawford, saying:

I do feel, most definitely, that you should not write and sign articles about the children, as people in positions of confidence with us must be utterly oyster. If you, the moment you finished teaching Margaret, started writing about her and Lilibet, well, we should never feel confidence in anyone again.

However, the Queen did give a carefully qualified approval for her to anonymously provide some assistance, writing: