Best genietbaar, met empathie geschreven, -pen zeker niet gedoopt in gif,-, schetst beeld van Queen en Charles als wezens met gevoelens, vooral tegenover hun honden. Prima portrettering van honden en hun relaties en rangorde. Parallele wereld: mensen - honden. ( )

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, 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. ( )

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

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. ( )

I quite liked the book, though I didn't think it was as brilliant as "The Queen and I". The dog storyline just didn't do it for me.