The Republican Government has won the British election and the first thing on their agenda is to get rid of the Royal Family. It doesn't take long until they all have been sent off to live on Hell Close Estate where they have to live off benefit and whatever they can. This is not necessarily an easy thing for anyone and even less so if you are the Family.And for the people already on the estate the question is: "How do you talk to someone whose head you are used to licking and sticking on envelopes?"
I must admit that I was never one for the Adrian Mole series but I wanted to read this book by Sue Townsend as 1) I'm a sucker for the British Royal family - but no I don't buy any kind of paraphernalia with their pictures on and 2) I think The Queen seems to be really witty and she is very fond of dogs and horses... and that's got to count for something!
This book is fantastically funny. I don't know the Royal Family very well (at all) but doesn't seem to be an all together inaccurate description of their characters*. Some will have read it to make fun of and laugh at the Royal family but that is not how I read or perceived it to be. The Queen and her family may be a very privileged group of people but they're still a family and families need a strong matriarch, The Queen, and matriarchs can deal with a lot of things. So when I say that it's a fun book, then that is what I mean, they may be put in funny circumstances but you're not laughing at them. well, that's not what I did - we'll have to wait and see what Boyfriend thinks after he's done with it as we're not exactly of the same opinion when it comes to the Royal family but I think he's softening up a bit...
* an argument based on what I know, which has come from various reports and interviews - some which are not very favourable and some that are.
