Clara Knight

Clara Cooper "Allah" Knight (1879–1946) was an English child caregiver and the nanny of Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother) and Princess Elizabeth of York (later Queen Elizabeth II).

Early career Knight was born near the Hertfordshire home of the Bowes-Lyon family, Her father was a tenant farmer from Whitwell, Hertfordshire, and her brother farmed the earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne's land at St Paul's Walden Bury.

The Bowes-Lyon family employed Knight as a nanny for their children when she was seventeen, and she spent the rest of her life raising the family's children and grandchildren. Her charges included Elizabeth and David Bowes-Lyon, children of the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. and the nickname stuck for the rest of her life. Knight moved into the York family residence at 145 Piccadilly, where she was allocated the top floor. She raised Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret until their adolescence.

Knight was a "no-nonsense" nanny who set up a rigid schedule for Princess Elizabeth lest she grow up into a spoiled adult, from breakfast at 7:30 until bedtime at 19:15. Elizabeth's companion Lady Elizabeth Cavendish described Knight as "formidable".

Nannies were expected to stay single, and Knight never married; she was referred to as "Mrs" by virtue of her senior position among the family's staff. Knight was tall and noble-looking. She was never photographed out of uniform Knight was said to have never taken a holiday, but she did take one every year.

Knight was still employed by the royal family when she died at Sandringham House on 2 January 1946. Queen Elizabeth and her daughters attended Knight's funeral at St Paul's Walden. Knight's collection of dolls and clothes worn by her royal charges remained in her family until it was auctioned in 2017.