Review: Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn

Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn is a fictional account of Britain's Queen Elizabeth's "escape" from the Palace and the chaos that ensues in its wake. The Queen is suffering from a malaise - the effects of getting older, losing her Mother and sister, and weathering difficult years in which the monarchy was torn apart in the press have taken their toll.  The Queen is not herself and on a bit of whim wanders out outside the Palace walls and, energized by her rare independence, she takes off on a train to Edinburgh to see her  beloved Royal Yacht Brittania  which is docked there after being put out of commission. The Queen's staff set out to find the missing monarch and their caper is laugh out loud funny but also offers keen observations of the class system in England and the power of tradition in the face of progress.

The Queen is yearning for a visit to her "happy place" - the Royal Yacht Brittania which was put out of commission in 1997 by the bean counters that manage the Privy Purse. The Queens resents that privileges such as the yacht have been stripped from the monarchy in the name of pleasing the public who wanted to ensure that the Queen and her family paid their share.  She has moved with the times but not always willingly. She wanders off the grounds of the Palace and gets taken with the idea of heading to Edinburgh like any commoner  - via the train.  On the train, she sits, incognito, with some passengers and learns a little about how "her people" really live.

It is interesting to see the Queen step out of her cosseted life with all her handlers; but the stars of this book are the Queen's staff.  Their respect for the Queen and the monarchy are clear throughout but there is a also a bit of tension brought on by the differences created by class.  The protocol of who can do what for the Queen and the hierarchy in the royal staff is fascinating. In the midst of all this formality, each member of staff is dealing with their own hardships and challenges ranging from coming to terms with their sexuality to facing their elders years alone. The challenges and each member of staff's way of coping with them play out over the course of their pursuit of the fleeing Queen. These subplots add a little, but not too much, gravity to an otherwise comical novel.

I truly enjoyed this book - the Anglophile in me loved reading about the monarchy and its customs. The premise is, of course, a little unbelievable but the alternating story lines of all the staff added a little reality to this story to create an excellent balance.  Interestingly, as much as the book pointed out the archaic customs of the Monarchy and showed how insulated the Queen can be, it also humanized the Queen.  I don't know, but doubt, that the Queen has read the book but I have to imagine she wouldn't be completely opposed to it as it shows her as a hard working public servant who cares for her family but mostly for her country and its people.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss