Review written and read live on the bookshow by Ro Bennett 23rd July 2015
I
hadn’t planned to review this book this week, but coincidentally I have been
listening to it via the library One Click Audio Service. I haven’t finished the
book yet, but had already started to listen before I heard about the Royal Visit
on Tuesday so since it is so topical I thought I would review it today.
I
was ambivalent about this novel because of the title and was worried that it
might be a bit tasteless. However I decided to give it a go as it sounded light
hearted and funny and I like to listen to books which make me smile when I am
doing housework chores. I have liked some of Sue Townsend’s previous books,
especially the Adrian Mole books and I thought, ‘Well I can always delete it if
it’s awful”.
I
didn’t realise that this is a sequel to the book The Queen and I, which
was written in 1992 and was an outlet for her republican sentiments. Queen
Camilla was written in 2006, so they’re not recent publications. Nonetheless
the author’s perspectives on political issues are still relevant and very
astute.
Neither
did I realise that Sue Townsend died in April last year aged 68.
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.
Exchanging
Buckingham Palace for a two-bedroomed semi in Hell Close (as the locals dub it),
caviar for boiled eggs, servants for a social worker named Trish, the Queen and
her family learn what it means to be poor among the great unwashed. But how have
they survived the past thirteen years, as England became an increasingly unhappy
and fearful place. Prince Charles has been living quietly on the bleak council
estate with his wife and love of his life, Camilla. He enjoys gardening and
poultry keeping while Camilla spends her days doing as little as possible. But
life is about to change... Charles refuses to follow his destiny unless his wife
can be Queen - and public opinion suggests the people would rather have Jordan
than Camilla on the throne. But no sooner has Prince William offered himself as
the next monarch, than one Graham Cracknall of Ruislip emerges - claiming to be
Charles and Camilla's secret love child, and therefore the rightful heir to the
crown…
The
Flowers Exclusion Zone (FEZ) where the Royals have been sent is an open prison
in all but name, the residents are electronically tagged, their every move
recorded. It’s an eclectic mix of criminals, druggies, parasites, the
hardworking exploited and impoverished, the morbidly obese and anyone the
government consider persona non grata or a threat - 40% of the population.
Prince
Philip has had a stroke and now lies in a care home almost forgotten. The Queen
goes to visit daily but the nurses are absent, not paid well enough to risk
their backs lifting him to change the sheets, or too rushed or too indifferent
and very understaffed. So when the Queen and her family are confined to house
arrest, Philip ends up with no care apart from a man in a wheelchair who can't
get near enough to the bed to give him food or even some water. Considering this
was written in 2006, it’s dreadful because this is just what is happening in
some care home, somewhere today.
There
is also a Big Brother style surveillance system and an all-pervasive computer
called Vulcan which knows what you bought last and what music you like, but
occasionally makes dreadful errors and puts two million pounds in someone's bank
account by mistake or sends death certificates to all the pensioners. Very
reminiscent of the Internet today! Whenever I go online there are adverts of
items I have recently looked at or bought recently, so that is spookily accurate
too.
So,
although a light and funny read, it’s also a perceptive social statement. It’s a
credit to our country that such a book, even in its mocking of our traditions
and highlighting social ills and mocking the hypocrisy in the government and
satirically portraying different aspects of society can be written and enjoyed,
and no one is threatened, imprisoned, stoned or beheaded.
The
narrator is Patricia Gallimore and she is absolutely excellent. She mimics the
Queen, Prince Charles and Camilla really well and also has amazing different
accents for the other characters, really making them come to life. I’m
thoroughly enjoying it.
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