"What a totally charming book. Queen Elizabeth II is feeling her age and is understandably depressed. Her beloved mother and her sister died within a month of each other, her children have nearly driven her mad with their escapades, affairs, bad behavior , and divorces, Windsor Castle burned, her royal yacht (where she spent some of her happiest times) has been decommissioned, the royal train is about to go, and the popularity of the monarchy is at an all-time low. It seems that the one bright spot in her life is her increased flexibility brought on by the yoga classes that her son, Prince Edward, pressured her into taking. One afternoon, she impulsively goes over to the Royal Mews to spend some time with her beloved horses. Noticing that the Queen is cold, Rebeccah, who works at the stables, insists that the Queen slip on her hoodie--complete with a skull and crossbones on the back. On her way back into the Palace, two painters, not recognizing the Queen, refuse her entrance through freshly painted doors and the Queen suddenly finds herself outside of the Palace grounds. On an impulse, she decides to travel to Edinburgh, Scotland where the decommissioned Britannia is now a tourist attraction. Who pays attention to a little old lady in a hoodie? Apparently, no one. Trying to prevent the public from discovering that the Queen has apparently run away, the Queen's dresser, a lady-in-waiting, a butler, an enquerry, Rebeccah, and a clerk from a London cheese shop join forces to find the Queen, protect her, and return her to Buckingham Palace before any one realizes that she is gone. Along with the tale of the runaway Queen, the author looks at areas of class and racial tension in modern England as well as tensions between upstairs-downstairs members of the staff, the government and the Royal Family, and the young and the old. Readers who enjoyed The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett, as I did, will certainly fall under the spell of this book."
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Judy (5 out of 5 stars)