This novel starts on April 9, 1992 (and the book was first published in 1992) with the election. Voila, the anti-monarchist Republican party wins and the royal family is given a very short time to relocate to two bedroom semis (aka semi-detached, aka duplex, welfare housing, and to live on a pension along with paupers and it's illegal to call them by royal titles or treat them any differently than anyone else this is completely unbelievable since not only did the then-Princess Diana have her own wealth, but the British royal family all have private holdings, but of course the humour is set up on the myth that they own nothing of their own.) where we see who rises up to the occasion, who doesn't and how various people react. I disagree that the late Queen would have laughed at this (so it claims on the book). 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?” Personally, I don't think she went far enough and perhaps if had been written even a few years later, when the wheels were falling off the Royal Family, we might have had a more daring and anarchic novel. I agree with other reviewers that the ending was a cop out but it was flagged up in the opening chapter! I don't know why so many people missed it, there really wasn't any attempt to disguise it. I will refrain from saying what it is though, just in case I get accused of revealing spoilers! When it was originally published in 1992 I borrowed a copy from my Mother and devoured it cover to cover. I was only 10 or 11 years old at time, but having read it in subsequent years it has only gotten funnier. Nichtsdestotrotz sind einige Ideen sehr nett und haben mir leichte, seichte und somit angenehme Unterhaltung beschert, vor allem die politischen Implikationen am Ende des Buches mit dem Ausland sind eine gute Idee.

Eine grandiose Ausgangssituation: Die Republikaner haben die Wahlen gewonnen, die königliche Familie wird von einem auf den anderen Tag abgesetzt, ihrer Titel und Ämter beraubt, deren Vermögen verstaatlicht, und muss nun in vom Staat zur Verfügung gestellten Sozialwohnungen hausen. Dabei werden sie in das übelste Viertel von London - namens Hellbore (from hell and boring) verfrachtet, wo sie in die indigene Sozialschmarotzerbevölkerung integriert werden sollten - so ala Familie Flodder trifft Windsor.The Queen and her brood are evicted and have to live amongst the great un-washed on a council estate in housing that falls far below par. As they come to terms with their situation, the Royals meet fantastic characters and deal with the predicament in their own ways (not necessarily how you’d first expect). With The Queen in a pensioners bungalow and the Queen Mother having ‘meals on wheels’, it’s a book that keeps you laughing, crying and reeling in despair from beginning to end. Spiggy, a short man who fitted the carpets for the Queen and starts a relationship with Princess Anne. We really needed to see a family from the council estate taking on their royal lifestyles for comparison purposes. The novel begins in 1992, set just after the general election of the same year, where the House of Windsor has just been deprived of its royal status by the People's Republican Party, and its members made to live like normal citizens.

Having grown up on council estates, I think that some poor people are lazy, incompetent, spiteful and unhelpful, just like better off people. That being said, poor people can be just as noble, self-sacrificing and friendly as anyone with more money. The Queen and I is a hilarious satire on modern Britain and an exploration of what it really means to be human, by the bestselling author of the Adrian Mole series.You won’t be needing much. Just the bare essentials. You won’t be making personal appearances, will you?” The reason why this lost a star from me is because I found the ending to be somewhat weak and disappointing. I had suspected that it may turn out that way but I was really hoping that it wouldn't. The ending took some of the shine off what had been a really enjoyable read up to that point. If it had ended differently, I may well have given it a 5 star rating. I wanted to use this book, partly as an antidote to all the ardently royalist activities that were organised for the week, and also to encourage critical thinking amongst the children about the concept of monarchy and social fairness. We had some very interesting discussions about societal hierarchies as a result of reading this text! The Queen is our central character and she is called the Queen all through, though her family are swiftly just Margaret, Anne, Charles etc. and Princess Diana features too. Harry and William are, like a corgi, swiftly off behaving like young hooligans with the other hooligans. Anne befriends someone who asks to keep his horse in her garden, while Charles is delighted to do some gardening. Poor Philip becomes extremely depressed and the QM drifts off to a past world of memories. Our heroine the Queen has to learn how to open cans, feed her family and fit into a tiny council house, but we see her persevere and adapt, taking in her stride the full spread of life from births to death. If you enjoyed Sue’s other offerings such as ‘Adrian Mole’, this certainly won’t disappoint. Her easy and engaging style of writing really puts you in the story to empathise with and laugh at the characters.

When a Republican party wins the General Election, their first act in power is to strip the royal family of their assets and titles and send them to live on a housing estate in the Midlands. No other author could imagine this so graphically, demolish the institution so wittily and yet leave the family with its human dignity intact' The Times Imagine if the UK became a Republic and the Royal Family were sent to live on a housing estate and told to live like ordinary Britons. How would they cope? How would they adapt? This very scenario is explored in this rather funny little story by Sue Townsend. This was the first book that I have read by this author and it came highly recommended by a friend. On the whole I found it a really enjoyable read. This is such a funny read and although dated, it is still pretty relevant today - and shows the holes in our society. There is no major plot line and to be honest not a lot does happen in the book, but the observations of the Royals, the council estate dwellers and how they live together is fabulous. There are some really moving parts, some very funny parts and in places, it really makes you consider our society.

urn:lcp:queeni00town:epub:cd3f3837-e46b-48d2-8909-ae8dffe5140e Foldoutcount 0 Identifier queeni00town Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t4jm2vs3x Isbn 0749313528 It is then revealed that the whole story was a nightmare. The Queen wakes to find that the Conservatives have won the election instead, as indeed actually happened, and John Major has remained Prime Minister.