Queen Camilla

This is a continuation of Sue Townsend’s previous book about the Royal Family, “The Queen and I”. Now I haven’t personally any knowledge of Camilla’s personality since I don’t live in Britain and do not continually see her on TV; but since I note and admire the author’s amazing grasp of the personalities of the other Royals, I trust that her depiction of Camilla is equally accurate.

Britain has turned into a totalitarian 1984-like society with Jack Barker as Prime Minister. Council estates have been converted into Exclusion Zones “where the criminal, the antisocial, the inadequate, the feckless, the agitators, the disgraced professionals, the stupid, the drug-addicted and the morbidly obese” live. The Royal Family, show more those who have not fled abroad, are living in the Flowers Exclusion Zone (I don’t know which category of the above-stated unfortunates they fall into.)

Prince Charles regularly wins the Best Kept Garden Award, whereas his neighbours’ garden is “an eyesore of old mattresses --- and festering rubbish bags”.

The residents of the Exclusion Zone are required to wear an ankle tag and carry an identity card at all times. Their movements are monitored by the security police on CCTV screens. Difficulties occur for the Queen when she forgets to take her identity card with her, though, of course, everyone knows who she is.

“When Camilla’s tag had been fitted --- she had said, with her usual cheerful pragmatism ‘I think it flatters my ankle beautifully.’ By contrast, Princess Anne had wrestled two security police to the floor before a third officer had finally managed to attach her tag.”

Jack Barker laughed when his government was accused of being totalitarian. He wasn’t a Stalin or a Mao; it wasn’t his fault there were no viable opposition parties.

Now I haven’t read “1984” recently, but the society Sue Townsend here depicts seems to be just as Orwell predicted. With a mere click on a switch Inspector Lancer has access to full, detailed information about a specific citizen.

For example:
“Bronchitis every winter, otherwise healthy. Menstrual cycle: first week of every month, complains of severe pain. History: Unsettled at nursery school, constantly cries for mother, At four years --- vocabulary v. poor, when shown a picture of a cow could not name it.”

The book is filled with dogs and these communicate avidly with each other and their owners; the author provides us with an interpretation of their various utterances.

“(Camilla to Charles)
‘Darling, do you think a dog knows it’s a dog?’ asked Camilla.
‘It depends what you mean by know’, said Charles.
Freddie (one of Camilla’s dogs) snapped, ‘Of course I know I’m a bloody dog. I eat from a bowl on the floor. I shit in the street ---.’”

It looks now (with the way things are going in 2017) as though Sue Townsend also had prophetic gifts. Australia is now to be the first country in the world to introduce compulsory tagging of all persons so authorities will be able continually to keep checks on the activities of each individual.

Jack Barker makes it illegal to have more than one dog per household, so the rest must be disposed of. The Royals all have several dogs so this affects them greatly. And the vociferous dogs themselves also have something to say about the matter.

The leader of the Conservative party Boy English, wants to restore the monarchy and thus set Queen Elizabeth back on the throne: she, however, has plans to abdicate. It turns out that Charles and Camilla have an illegitimate son, Graham, a rather unsympathetic person, born years ago; he is now second in line to the throne.

The book is impeccably well-written and divinely funny. We learn about all the quirks of the Royal Family; the Queen is in the forefront, as in the previous book. The book is exquisitely readable and I can highly recommend it. show less

Queen Camilla is the sequel to Townsend's hysterically funny 1992 novel, The Queen & I. Thirteen years on, the Royals are still living in Hellebore Close, but now, however, the former estate of council houses has been made over into an "Exclusion Zone" where suspected terrorists, sexual perverts, the morbidly obese and other unsavory groups of people are house to keep them from contaminating the normal law-abiding public.

In a portrait of the nanny state run amok, Townsend paints a portrait of politicians who live by the public opinion polls & use the media to distort that public opinion. In this mirror, the Royals, especially the Queen, seem to stand head & shoulders above the crowd.

Unlike the first book, Townsend's humor in this volume show more seems dripped with acid, not unlike John Mortimer's in his Paradise Postponed & Titmus Regained novels. Perhaps this is just a reflection of the times when subjects that used to a source of fun are now too serious (or irritating) to be mocked without a sense of hard feelings. show less

England is now a monarchy and the royal family is living in an exclusion zone with criminals, the insane and the morbidly obese. Whilst the Prime Minister, Jack Barker, wants to implement anti-dog laws, the leader of the opposition pledges to restore the monarchy if elected. However the Elizabeth Windsor is not sure she wants to be Queen again and there is the small matter of Charles and Camilla’s long lost son. An amusing romp.

Something of an absurdist comedy, the Royal Family is still in Hell Close but Life as They Know It is threatened by the Cromwellian Government's plan to out-law dogs.

Only a change of regime will save the monarchy's beloved canine pals and the leader of the Opposition has plans to restore the house of Windsor - but who will rule?

Elizabeth abdicates: Charles is unwilling to assume the crown but his oldest son William is more than keen. However, a long-lost son, the result of a brief fling between Charles and Camilla back in the 60s, makes himself known.

Despite his illegitimate status there is no bar in the new England to his succeeding to the throne - a potential disaster because he is a frightful oik.

All's well that end's well - at show more least for the nation's dogs. The Republicans are overthrown, the new dog laws are repealed and the Royal Family are given a job to do in Windsor Castle where they form a living tableau for the edification of paying gawkers.

The book is mildly amusing although we do miss Princess Diana's single-minded selfishness and the Duke of Edinburgh; a little too dark and bitter though to be really funny. show less

In order to understand this story comprehensively, I advise you to read The Queen & I first. If you don’t want to go through the hassle to turn 200 pages before reading Queen Camilla, you can purchase The Queen in Hell Close. It is a chapbook of The Queen & I. If you could get it, that would save a lot of your time. Most of the characters are introduce in The Queen & I and this novel vaguely explain why the Queen was thrown out of Buckingham Palace.

I love the fictitious politics imagined by Townsend and the complexity of the royal family. The ability of the dogs to communicate to each other makes this who story interesting. Conversations of the dogs are put in human words, and that is the funniest part.

I was surprised by the show more character of Graham Cracknell, Prince Charles and Camilla’s illegitimate child. I got myself worried in between the story that Cracknell would eventually rule England.

Most of all, I love the way Sue Townsend present her story. It's worth every cent you pay for it.

http://reading-now.blogspot.com/2007/02/queen-camilla-sue-townsend.html#links show less

I loved the Queen and I, so I had high expectations for the sequel. I was, however, a little bit disappointed. Townsend has obviously chosen for a more critical approach, which is good, but not why I wanted to read the book.
Also, she doesn't seem to make a choice about the feelings of Charles and Camilla for each other. Do they annoy each other, or do they love each other?
I hated the ending. So many plotlines still hanging...what happened to Gin and Tonic, what happened to Dwayne, etc etc etc. We will never know.

a rare laugh-out-loud book. Poor Prince Charles among the proles, struggling to find the right tone in his note to the milkman.