Fun with the Queen

This will be my last post about her majesty, I promise. I want to share a few books that poke fun at the Queen – one, not so gently. Read on, I’ll explain ~~

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

Quite by accident, the Queen of England stumbles upon the bookmobile that visits Buckingham Palace each week. To be polite, she checks a book out from the traveling library and what follows is a charming story in which HRH develops quite an obsession with books and sends the palace into an uproar.

With her new love of reading, neither she nor eventually England will ever be quite the same in this quietly humorous short novel. The Queen discovers Jean Genet, Nancy Mitford, E. M. Forster, Emily Dickinson, Alice Munro, Proust, Charles Dickens, Dostoevsky. She has difficulty with Jane Austen because that writer is so concerned with social distinctions. Ar first, she is put off by the verbosity of Henry James(something she has in common with any reader I have ever known) and I have to agree with her question:

Am I alone in wanting to give Henry James a good talking to?

The Queen’s newfound love of reading quickly concerns both the royal household and her staff. She’s no longer interested in her duties and has started arriving late to engagements (even Parliament). And like all readers, the Queen often laments about her full days of meetings, wishing instead she could be at home reading. She perfects reading in her coach, keeping the book below the window level so as to maintain the royal wave as she travels.

She eventually comes to question the prescribed order of her world and loses patience with the routines of the monarchy. With her reading, she gains a new widening perspective which soon leads to surprising (and very funny) consequences for the country at large.

The Uncommon Reader pokes gentle fun at the proper behavior and protocol at the palace. Mr. Bennett encapsulates, in a subtle and clever way, the isolation and insularity of a royal’s life. This short novella, imagines that the Queen discovers a way to break out of the bubble with the joy of reading.

Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn

A very similar novel, in both tone and style – with a mimic cover.

Mr. Kuhn even refers to the Bennett novel:

“‘Did you read the one about The Queen becoming a reader?’ said the woman in spectacles to the young man at her side.`I did enjoy that one. So funny. And of course, being a reader myself, I liked that side of it.’”

From the back cover:

After decades of service and years of watching her family’s troubles splashed across the tabloids, Britain’s Queen is beginning to feel her age. She needs some proper cheering up. An unexpected opportunity offers her relief: an impromptu visit to a place that holds happy memories—the former royal yacht, Britannia, now moored near Edinburgh. Hidden beneath a skull-emblazoned hoodie, the limber Elizabeth (thank goodness for yoga) walks out of Buckingham Palace into the freedom of a rainy London day and heads for King’s Cross to catch a train to Scotland.

But a characterful cast of royal attendants has discovered her missing. In uneasy alliance a lady-in-waiting, a butler, an equerry, a girl from the stables, a dresser, and a clerk from the shop that supplies Her Majesty’s cheese set out to find her and bring her back before her absence becomes a national scandal.

Mrs. Queen Takes the Train abounds with dry, British humor and witty social commentary. Mr. Kuhn tackles homelessness, terrorism, race relations, and mental illness. What I found fascinating was how the author gave the Queen a human side (she does yoga and attempts a computer) but still maintains the respectful dignity due a British monarch. You can read my full review of this delightful little novel HERE

Death at Buckingham Palace by C. C. Benison

I read this years ago, back when I was working 60+ hours a week, and at the end of the day, my mind was mush. In those days, I would turn to light, cozy mysteries to relax me to sleep at night.

Death at Buckingham Palace starts with the Queen literally tripping over a dead body in the palace and an unlikely housemaid Jane Bee works with the Queen to uncover secrets of the highest order. The time period is a few years after the Queen’s “annus horribilis” and before the death of Princess Diana. Lots of humor (footmen streaking naked through the palace), upstairs and downstairs drama, a film crew doing a documentary on life at the palace, and plenty of red herrings for Jane to sort through. A fun look inside the palace (there’s even a map of the layout) and tongue-in-cheek humor.

I’ve kept this little paperback all these years, which means I meant to re-read it – I do remember really enjoying it. There are two more in this “Her Majesty Investigates” series – Death at Sandringham House and Death at Windsor Castle.

C. C. Benison is the nom de plume for the Canadian award-winning author Doug Whiteway…who under the same pseudonym also wrote the father Christmas series, which includes Twelve Drummers Drumming, Eleven Pipers Piping, Ten Lords A-Leaping — well you get the drift. I admit I read at least one of those, as well – back when I devoured cozy mysteries to unwind.

The Queen and I by Sue Townsend

Remember at the beginning of this rather long post, I hinted one of these books was not so gentle when having fun with the Queen? Well, actually The Queen and I is actually not directly critical of the Queen but of the royal institution itself. It does however, embark on making fun of the Queen trying to become a regular Brit.

What if anti-monarchists win the UK election and their first action is to transfer the royal family into low-income housing and told they must live like ordinary Britons? How would they cope and adapt?

This very scenario is explored in this very funny, very British tale by Ms. Townsend. The family is ‘relocated’ to Hellebore Close the missing letters in the street sign leave “Hell Close”), a council estate somewhere up the M1. Elizabeth is assigned a social worker, Phillip gets clinical depression, Charles grows a ponytail and ends up in prison, and Anne starts see a carpet installer named Spiggy.

When it was originally published in 1992 this satire was considered an edgy and irreverent exploration of the role of the monarchy, and it does, indeed, highlight the question of the relevancy and value of the ancient British institution.

I think I’ll re-read The Queen and I, as I remember it was amusingly bittersweet, as well as thought-provoking and insightful. Here’s some of the things I underlined from my first reading:

Upon her first, nervous journey on a bus, the driver quips to the Queen “aw c’mon lassie, let yourself go. You’ve got a face on you like a wet Sunday in Aberdeen.”

Then there is this exchange as they settle into the housing estate:

“Mr Barker, there is no mention of dogs here,” said the Queen.
“One per family,” said Jack.
“Horses?” asked Charles.
“Would you keep a horse in a council house garden?”
“No. Quite. One wasn’t thinking.”
“Clothes aren’t on the list,” said Diana, shyly.
“You won’t be needing much. Just the bare essentials. You won’t be making personal appearances, will you?”
Princess Anne rose and stood next to her father. “Thank God for that! At least something good has come out of this bloody shambles — Are you all right, Pa?”