After the devastating read, Foal’s Bread, I needed something jolly. And what could be better than the royally fun Mrs Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn?

What happens when Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, has had enough of protocol? She takes a train ride. On her own. While The Queen is enjoying her incognito outing, it’s mayhem at the Palace. An unlikely group of Palace staff (including two of the Queen’s most trusted household staff members, William and Shirley; one of her loyal ladies in waiting, Lady Anne; an equerry fresh from the battlefields of Afghanistan, Luke; a young equestrienne who minds the horses in the Royal Mews, Rebecca; and Rajiv, an Etonian poet who’s moonlighting as a tabloid photographer) are the only ones who know of her disappearance. They vow to find her and bring her back to the palace before MI6 turn her Scottish sojourn into a national crisis.

“We’re going to have a look-see. We’ll have her back here in a pair of pumps and tiara, ready to receive, in twenty-fours, won’t we?” Continue reading →