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The Queen and I - Referat
The Queen and I
Today, I am going to tell you about the book “The Queen and I” written by Sue Townsend a British bestselling author. The book was first published by Methuen in 1992.
The story deals with the conservative Royal family in Great Britain which is sended to a ghetto district and has to live there in poor houses without money and the old rich life in Buckingham Palace.
It’s the morning of april the 10 th 1992, when a Republican party wins the General Election in Great Britain and Jack Barker becomes Prime Minister.
From that day on , Jack Barker changes the ways in which the monarchy has ruled the country for many years before.
The Royal family has to leave the Buckingham Palace against their will.
They have to leave all their money, their horses, cars , furnishings and servants at the Palace or in the other estates.
They have to move to Hellbore Close, a district in where many people get welfare aid and which is under permanent observation by the police.
The hole family is shocked about the situation and the housing conditions of Hell Close.
The houses are very small and dirty, the full contrast to their lives in their estates.
From that time on , all things are in a muddle.
Prince Philip is depressed, Diana and Elisabeth have no idea how to do the household, Charles falls in love with his neighbour Beverley Threadgold, a pauper, William and Harry find friends from an anti-social environment , Anne, the Queen’s daughter falls in love with a fat and bad smelling man called Spiggy and Queen mother finds a friend in her neighbour Philomena.
The economy of Britain seems to rise and Jack Barker is a hero for the British population, but there are still about one million people, whom want the Queen with her monarchy back. They call themselves B.O.M.B. (Bring our Monarchy back) .
At that time, the Royal family is in a wretched situation, Prince Philip is in a psychatry, because he couldn’t bear that he has to life in the ghetto and has to life as the normal pensioner Philip Mountbatten. The Royal dog Harris was lost and Charles had to go to prison, because he has beaten a policeman in Hellbore Close.
Queen Mom dies and all the obliging neighbours organize the funeral and build a coffin for her.
It’s very sad for the Royal family, because they have no money to present Queen Mom a appropriate funeral.
Charles has the permission to go to his grandmother’s funeral and makes use of this to flee into the Scottish Highlands.
At that time Jack Barker knows that Britain’s economy is at the end and so he thinks that he could sell England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to the Japanese and wants to proclaim his decision to the population at the next day.
On that time the Queen gets a letter from B.O.M.B boss Eric Tremaines wife in which she gets to know, that her son Edward was kidnapped and Andrew, her other son was in the polar ice cup with a submarine.
The Queen was shocked about the news and fell into a little depression.
Her daughter Anne helps her to forget all the trouble around her and invites her into a restaurant.
In the Restaurant, the Queen gets to know what happened to Great Britain , her son Edward and her dog Harris.
Jack Barker proclaims, that he has sold Great Britain to the Japanese Emperor and that the Emperors daughter married Sir Edward Windsor, Elisabeth’s son.
She was incredulous and when she saw her little dog Harris in the arms of the Japanese woman called her daughter-in-law from that moment on, she was full of hate!
The last chapter of the book the author breaks up , that the Queen wakes up at April the 10 th 1992, turns her television on and gets to know, that the Conservatives have won the General Election.
The book shows, that not only the British Royal’s have no idea how the living conditions on the world but especially in their own countries are and that they only know how it is to be rich and have many servants around oneself.
In a review in the world wide web a reviewer said, that Queen Elisabeth and her relatives would not be amused about that book.
But I think, that this book will shock them at first but then they will maybe think about what the living conditions in some parts of Great Britain really are and what they can do against together with the parliament.
Now some words especially to the grammer and the special English used in this book:
In my opinion, the book is very hard to understand and the English the characters use is very special and full of mistakes.
If you read this book, you should be informed about the Royal Family too.
Everybody told me, that this is a very funny story about the Royal’s but I think the black humour is too hard to understand for pupils aged like you and me, but if you are blessed with good English and know much about the English culture, then you will have much fun with this book.
Vocabulary
District – Viertel (Stadt-)
Furnishings – Einrichtung To inform about – benachrichtigen /informieren
Servants - Diener
Estate - Anwesen
Muddle- durcheinander
Pauper - Sozialhilfeempfänger
Asocial - asozial
Anti –social environment – asoziale Umgebung
To be wretched - erbärmlich
To bear - ertragen
obliging – zuvorkommend /hilfsbereit
Funeral - Beerdigung
Coffin - Sarg
Appropriate - angemessen
Permission - Erlaubnis
To make use of s.th. – Gebrauch machen von etwas
Proclaim- bekannt machen
Emperor - Kaiser
Daughter-in-law - Schwiegertochter
Incredulous - skeptisch
Break up – auflösen
The Royal Family
Queen Mum
Elisabeth II. Windsor Margaret Windsor
(Queen) (Princess)
married with
Philip Mountbatten Lord Snodon
(Prince)
parents from
Charles married with Diana (†) Children: William and Harry
Anne divorced from Major Marc Philips Children : Sara and Peter
Edward in 1992 not married and no children
Andrew in 1992 not married and no children
Dieses Referat wurde eingesandt vom User: Anika
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