The Queen and I (novel)
First edition
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| Author | Sue Townsend |
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| Illustrator | Martin Honeysett |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Methuen |
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Publication date
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1992 |
| Pages | 239 |
| ISBN | |
| Followed by | Queen Camilla |
The Queen and I is a 1992 novel/play written by Sue Townsend.
The setting is the United Kingdom, after the 1992 General Election, 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.
After a People's Republican Party government is elected by the British people, who were influenced by subliminal messages sent through their TV sets by members of the television technicians' union manipulated by Jack Barker, the Royal Family has to leave Buckingham Palace and must move to a council estate. Barker, as the new Prime Minister, transforms Britain into a republic and dismantles the monarchy.
In Hellebore Close (aptly known as "Hell Close" to its longtime residents), the new home of the Royal Family, they learn to cope with the normal day of ordinary people. The Queen – now called Mrs Windsor – is not allowed to take all her beloved corgis to her new home in "Hell Close", only Harris is with her and Charles has to learn that you can't keep horses in a council house garden. The Queen is visited by a social worker but refuses to let her in. She learns how to use a zip or buttons and that five hours of waiting to see a doctor in an ordinary hospital is not unusual. She gets to know that living with a small pensioner's income is hard and that you have to organize your budget. On the whole, the Queen quickly learns to cope with the situation and later does not want to go back to Buckingham Palace because of all the duties that would await her there.
On the other hand, her husband Philip cannot cope with the situation. He refuses to eat, is annoyed by sharing a bed with his wife and would like to be anywhere but in Hellebore Close.
Charles, former Prince of Wales, discovers his great love for gardening. While he and his wife Diana, Princess of Wales, begin affairs with their neighbours, their children, William and Harry, think the whole situation is an adventure. Later Charles is imprisoned and sentenced for attacking a police officer, a crime he did not actually commit. His sister Anne takes up with a local handyman. Prince Andrew, Duke of York, is briefly mentioned to be serving aboard a submarine under the Arctic ice cap. Their neighbours, who are at first sceptical, eventually include the ex-royal family in their society and help them as much as their own circumstances allow.
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